Equipment

​

If you are making natural skincare and beauty products for yourself then you can easily use equipment that you have in your kitchen at home.

​

If you are making natural skincare and beauty products to sell to the public then you need to maintain extremely good standards of hygiene and health and safety (to comply with the Good Manufacturing Process - see Cosmetic Certification page) and you should have a complete set of equipment that you use ONLY for making your skincare products.

​

Use laboratory grade glass equipment or stainless steel for the majority of your equipment. You can use plastic but I found that these discolour and the surface can damage easily causing scratches which can harbour bacteria. Good quality items are not expensive and KINGSCIENTIFIC.CO.UK  and BETTEREQUIPPED.CO.UK do some great items at reasonable prices. You can buy stainless steel kitchen equipment online at specialist kitchen sites and John Lewis sell a good range.

​

Some of the raw ingredient suppliers also sell some specialist equipment, check out the Ingredient Suppliers page for details. You can start with just some basic equipment and expand your range as you start to make larger batches of products. Glass items should be heatproof which is why buying laboratory equipment is useful.

​

Equipment list for making skincare products

​

• High quality set of digital scales. I have two sets. One large set which is easy to put big containers on if you are making multiple recipe quantities and a smaller set of mini-scales which are very sensitive and can measure down to 0.01g. The mini-scales are used for measuring small quantities of ingredients, often powders, and are really useful if you are developing just a small amount of product at a time in the early days.

• Glass measuring beakers. These come in a range of sizes and you'll need a variety of sizes. King Scientific sell a really useful glass beaker set with 5 different sizes included.

• Glass measuring cylinders. These come in varying sizes and have 1ml incremental measures marked on them and usually have a pouring spout.

• Glass stirring rods - I use the ones with the paddle type end.

• Glass funnels of varying sizes. 

• Glass spirit filled laboratory thermometer. Get a reasonable length one (12" or so). 

• Bain-marie. This is for melting ingredients over hot water and not direct heat. John Lewis do a good stainless steel one for about £30.

• A metal whisk.

• An electric hand whisk (if you fancy making whipped body butters).

• An electric stick blender (for creams and lotions).

• Heatproof bowls in stainless steel or pyrex.

• Measuring sets for cups and spoons. Many recipes you find online will give measurements in cups and spoons so it is useful to have a set handy. If you are making natural skincare products to sell to the pubic you will need to weight all your ingredients and not rely on measures.

• Silicone spatulas, large and small.

• Silicone moulds (if you are making soaps, bars or bombs).

• Tongs with a silicone or similar grip at the end for handling hot items. You can use a glove but I find them unwieldly.

• PH strips - some products may need testing for their PH, but the recipes will tell you if you need these paper strips.

• Containers for your products. Check out the container suppliers list below but some of the raw ingredient companies sell containers, and sometimes in much smaller quantities too and you can see a list of those companies on the Ingredient Suppliers page.  

• A white lab coat. You can use an apron if making products for your own use but a lab coat is more hygienic if you are selling products. You also need to keep the lab coat freshly washed so it's best to have more than one if you are planning on making a lot of products.

• Safety glasses. These help stop splashes from getting in the eyes.

• Disposable hair cap. You need to ensure that your hair is kept covered if you are making products to sell to the public. 

• Disposable syringes. Very useful if you use pure vitamin e oil which is thick, sticky and hard to measure, but also useful for other ingredients. Available in different sizes from BETTEREQUIPPED.CO.UK.

• Disposable gloves. Use powder free ones.

​

​

Container suppliers for cosmetic or natural skincare products

​

You can try all sorts of containers from airless pump dispensers (great for creams), glass jars, glass, aluminium and plastic bottles and rollerball dispensers. Many come with varying closure options such as pumps, screw caps, flip-tops, sprays and pipettes so make sure you select the appropriate dispensing method for your product. For instance, that the opening is wide enough for you to get your product in and the dispensing method easy for the customer to get the product out?

 

I have listed below some container suppliers below for you to look at. Usually, the more you buy the cheaper the unit prices becomes.

​

Amphora Aromatics

(amphora-aromatics.com) 

​

Ampulla

(ampulla.co.uk)

​

Aromantic

(aromantic.co.uk)

​

Fresh Skin

(freshskin.co.uk)

​

​

Equipment suppliers for cosmetic or natural skincare products

​

King Scientific

(kingscientific.co.uk)

​

Better Equipped

(betterequipped.co.uk)

​

Aromantic

(aromantic.co.uk)

​

​

Packaging suppliers for cosmetic or natural skincare products

​

If you sell natural skincare online then you need to make sure your products are safe in the post or courier delivery system so they will need to be wrapped well. Take a look at the following suppliers who have a variety of different packaging options. 

​

Packaging Products Online

(packagingproductsonline.co.uk)

​

Packaging Chimp

(packagingchimp.co.uk)