The methodology, principles, and credentials that shape every Purodem programme — how we design our courses, how we assess our students, and the professional standards we teach.
Purodem teaches formulation as a professional discipline. That commitment shows up in the way we design our courses, the way we assess our students, and the standards we apply to our own work.
This page sets out those standards in detail. It covers how we build our curriculum, how we assess and feed back on student work, the professional principles we teach across every programme, the credentials of the people teaching them, and the framework we’re developing to formalise these structures further.
For the broader Purodem story — what we teach, who founded us, and where we’re heading — see the About page.
Every Purodem programme is built from first principles. Modules are sequenced to develop understanding progressively — beginning with the foundations of ingredient function, formulation structure, and safety, and moving from there into applied practice and independent reasoning.
Four principles guide how we design our curriculum.
Students build a working understanding of ingredients, materials, and formulation logic before moving into applied technique. This sequencing matters — it produces formulators and practitioners who can adapt their knowledge to new contexts, rather than rely on memorised recipes.
Our courses connect rather than separate. Cosmetic and therapeutic formulation, essential oils, vegetable oils, hydrolats, and plant actives are taught as interconnected aspects of one craft — so students can draw across them as their practice requires.
We teach formulation and therapeutic application with scientific rigour, while remaining open to the traditional and holistic perspectives that have shaped this field. Where evidence is strong, we emphasise it. Where tradition offers value alongside science, we present both clearly.
Each module is built around defined learning outcomes, so that students understand what they’re studying, what competence they’re developing, and how each element contributes to wider professional practice.
Assessment at Purodem is applied. We use case-based methods that reflect how formulation actually works in practice — students reasoning their way to a finished formulation, with safety, ingredient understanding, and therapeutic intent all in play — rather than isolated recall.
Students are asked to demonstrate:
Feedback comes directly from tutors throughout each programme. The aim is not just to grade work, but to strengthen understanding, refine reasoning, and build the confidence that independent practice requires. Students are not left to study in isolation — interaction and applied feedback are built into the structure of every course.
Therapeutic and cosmetic formulation carry real responsibility. The work affects the people who use the finished products — and the practitioners and formulators who make them. Our standards reflect that.
Dosage, contraindications, stability, and preservation are taught as foundational rather than optional. Students learn to formulate in ways that protect end-users and reflect current safety thinking in cosmetic and therapeutic practice.
Therapeutic application of essential oils is grounded in evidence-informed reasoning, careful dosage, and clear professional boundaries. We teach essential oil therapy as a professional practice with limits, not a universal solution.
Students are taught to understand the scope and limits of their practice, and to refer appropriately when a situation calls for medical or specialist input. Knowing where one’s scope ends is part of professional competence.
We teach formulation and therapeutic reasoning in language that is accurate and proportionate to what the evidence supports. Overstated benefits and unsupported claims aren’t part of how we teach the craft.
Purodem is founded and led by Deana Kassim, who teaches across every current programme.
Deana brings more than twenty years of experience in botanical formulation, essential oil therapy, and structured education. Her teaching combines scientific understanding, traditional and holistic perspectives, and applied formulation experience — an integrative approach that shapes how Purodem courses are designed and delivered.
Professional credentials and memberships include:
Alongside formal qualifications, Deana brings substantial professional experience in essential oil practice, natural skincare formulation, and small-batch botanical product development. That practical background informs both the structure of Purodem’s courses and the direction in which the school continues to develop.
Purodem is structured to grow beyond any one teacher. We are developing a network of mentors drawn from our graduate community — experienced alumni who contribute to student support, course content, and ongoing programme refinement. This mentor network supports continuity beyond any single tutor, strengthens the school’s connection to current practice, and reflects our long-term direction: a school of formulation whose teaching, standards, and methodology are documented, transferable, and built to last.
Purodem is developing a more formal standards framework across our diploma courses. This work supports our longer-term commitment to professional credibility, transparent course structures, and meaningful recognition for students who complete our training.
Four areas are in active development.
We are developing credit-rated modular structures for our diploma courses, with each module carrying defined credit values aligned with established UK educational frameworks. Credit-rating provides clear external reference points for the depth and demand of each module, supporting recognition, comparability, and (where relevant) transferability.
Our developing framework will articulate Guided Learning Hours (GLH) — the time spent in tutor-led study — and Total Qualification Time (TQT), which includes independent study, applied formulation work, and assessment preparation. These structures give students a clear view of the time commitment and depth involved in each programme, and allow Purodem qualifications to sit within recognised time-based frameworks used across professional and vocational education.
Each module is being mapped to specific learning outcomes describing what students know, understand, and can do on completion. Defined learning outcomes support meaningful assessment, let students evaluate their own progress against clear benchmarks, and provide the structural basis for any future formal accreditation we may pursue.
Our standards work draws on established frameworks for professional and vocational education in the UK, including the Regulated Qualifications Framework (RQF) and Ofqual level descriptors. Purodem courses are not currently regulated qualifications, but designing the framework in alignment with recognised level descriptors supports clarity, credibility, and the option of formal external recognition where appropriate in future.
This is considered, ongoing work. Our current courses continue to be delivered to the standards described above; the framework development strengthens and formalises the structures around them, rather than changing what we teach.
We aim to be transparent about external recognition.
The Professional Essential Oil Therapy (PEOT) Diploma is recognised by the International Federation of Aromatherapists (IFA) as an accredited training programme, with Purodem listed as an approved school. This recognition applies specifically to the PEOT programme and reflects its design within the IFA’s framework.
Our Diploma in Natural Skincare Formulation is delivered to the same internal standards described elsewhere on this page, but is not currently externally accredited by an awarding body. Our forthcoming Integrative Therapeutic Formulation qualification is being designed in alignment with RQF level descriptors as part of our wider standards framework development.
We consider this transparency more useful to prospective students than vague accreditation language. The standards that underpin our courses — curriculum design, assessment, professional principles, tutor support — are defined and applied consistently, regardless of whether external validation is currently in place.
Our courses are designed to be entered at the level that matches where you are now.
View the NSF Diploma — beginner-friendly cosmetic formulation.
View the PEOT Diploma — advanced essential oil therapy practice.
Read about ITF — our forthcoming qualification in therapeutic formulation.
About Purodem — founder, approach, and where we’re heading.