Skinterest was engaged by an Australian formulating and contract manufacturing organisation that was experiencing problems with a range of existing products they had developed in-house and successfully sold across Asia.

The formulation was selling well in the Asian market, however following an increasing number of customer complaints it was found the formulations were unstable. Skinterest undertook a review of the existing formulation and process to identify the root cause by performing physical assessments and stress tests, developing a qualitative test method for identifying batches that were unstable. This test method was then used to assess laboratory scale batches that were prepared with formulation and process modifications. Test results were then used to determine what changes would be required to correct the stability issue, without sacrificing the existing consumer acceptability or commercial sales.

Over four years later, skinterest continues to work alongside the organisation, performing formulation robustness analysis (FRA) on newly developed formulations and both technical and physical support to their in-house formulator, as well as actively developing new formulations.

skinterest was contacted by an Australian contract manufacturer regarding providing ongoing consulting chemist services.

As part of this agreement, skinterest reviews customers new product briefs, drafts formulations using stocked ingredients for preparation and further development by employed R&D assistants and provides hands-on experimentation and support.

In addition to development services, skinterest resolved quality-related issues related to existing products, identifying potential root cause/s and proposing corrective actions and resolving quality-related formulation issues that require rework.

Saul utilised his comprehensive understanding of R&D systems and program knowledge to create a series of programs that facilitated and semi-automated documentation processes, including the preparation of sample information forms with integrated web links, label ingredients lists, regulatory formula composition, formulation costing and COSMOS compliance checking. Saul also wrote detailed R&D procedures to clearly outline the R&D process for the benefit of laboratory staff and performed staff training.

skinterest continue to provide 1-2 days per week consulting services to this organisation over four and a half years following the initial contact.

In 2020, skinterest was invited to collaborate with an Australian contract manufacturer and a global biotech organisation to undertake method development and validation of a new microbiological testing technology application for skincare and cosmetics. The technology was targeted at replacing traditional ‘plate testing’ methods used for the enumeration and detection of microbes including bacteria, yeasts and moulds, reducing consumables and increasing turnaround times for results.

In addition to providing technical support and expertise to the contract manufacturer, the skinterest laboratories hosted the collaboration with an array of biological testing equipment housed at the Lilyfield laboratory for the duration of the method development and validation.

Following the successful validation, the contract manufacturer successfully commissioned the technology in their facility the following year.

Developed three natural, flavoured and coloured children’s toothpastes for an Australian baby brand, including creating the formulations and performing stability and compatibility testing in addition to water activity testing to justify preservative-free claims. Following a tendering process with two local manufacturers there was a $0.4/unit variation in pricing, across a 30,000 units order, this delivered a $36,000 saving across the three variants on the first pipeline fill order alone, these savings quickly covered product development costs.