Articles

Useful material on cosmetic chemistry, ingredients and growing your business

Surfactants in cosmetics: what lies behind the texture of your cream

Have you ever wondered why a cream for £30 and a cream for £300 can contain almost identical active ingredients, yet feel completely different on the skin? It’s not brand magic. It’s about the molecules that stand between oil and water. Literally. Surfactants.

9 min3 Jun 2026

#surfactants #emulsions

Science

Oxidation of essential oils in a finished cosmetic product: the invisible enemy of a fresh scent

Oxidation of essential oils in a finished cosmetic product: the invisible enemy of a fresh scent. At the “Walker Formulation Academy” school, we are convinced that understanding chemistry is the foundation of responsible formulation, and the topic of essential oil oxidation in finished cosmetics deserves a separate and honest discussion. Most aromat

10 min2 Jun 2026

#oils and butters #stability

Business

Cosmetic chemist vs. cosmetic formulator: what's the difference and how to build a career in the industry

Imagine: you are holding a cream that melts perfectly into the skin, leaves a silky feeling, and doesn't pill under foundation. Who created it? The answer is not as obvious as it seems. Behind every successful formula stands not just one person, but a whole chain of specialists — and confusing them is a mistake.

8 min1 Jun 2026

#business

Formulas

Hydrophilic cleansing oil: how to choose the best one and how HLB works

If you want to understand how to choose the best hydrophilic cleansing oil — whether for formulating at home or professional development — you should start not with marketing descriptions on labels, but with chemistry. A hydrophilic oil is not just an "oil that washes off with water." It is a carefully balanced

8 min28 May 2026

#oils and butters #actives #emulsions

Formulas

DIY homemade lip balm: safety, shelf life, and troubleshooting

Creating a homemade lip balm seems like a simple task: melt the wax, add oils, and pour into tubes. But this apparent simplicity hides several serious risks that are rarely mentioned in recipe articles. Oils oxidize. Essential oils, which seem harmless at

9 min26 May 2026

#safety #preservation #oils and butters

Science

What’s on the label vs. what’s behind it: a breakdown of cosmetic ingredients

Imagine: you’re holding a serum that costs £30. On the front of the packaging, in large letters, it says: “10% niacinamide, hyaluronic acid, peptides.” Something inside you says: this should work. But a cosmetic chemist, looking at that same label, sees a completely different story — and it doesn’t always have a happy ending.

8 min24 May 2026

#INCI and labels #actives #business

Formulas

Seasonal face serum: recipe and formula for every climate

Most formulators create a serum once and use it all year round. This works, but it is not optimal. In January and July, skin lives in fundamentally different conditions: different air humidity, different temperatures, and different levels of transepidermal water loss (TEWL). If you want to...

9 min24 May 2026

#oils and butters

Formulas

DIY facial toner: chemistry, formulations, and everything a cosmetic formulator needs to know

DIY facial toner is one of the first products most home formulators start with. It may seem like just water with a few additives, but behind this simplicity lies serious chemistry: choosing solvents, managing pH, proper preservation, and the precise selection of actives.

9 min22 May 2026

#actives #for beginners

Ingredients

Superpeptides: how machine learning is changing collagen and skin peptides

When scientists from the University of Manchester and the No7 brand announced the creation of a 'superpeptide', the cosmetic community reacted with mixed feelings: some spoke of a revolution, others of marketing. But behind the loud headlines lies some truly interesting chemistry. We are talking about a fundamentally new approach

9 min20 May 2026

#actives

Science

The chemistry of interactions: why an anti-ageing face cream formula is more than just a list of ingredients

When a formulator first creates an anti-ageing face cream formula, the initial impulse is to add all the best ingredients at once: retinol, vitamin C, peptides, AHA acids, and niacinamide. The logic is clear: the more actives, the more effective the cream. But this is exactly where most formulas quietly "die" — not at the emulsification stage

10 min18 May 2026

#actives #lab technique

Ingredients

Neuropeptides in cosmetics: skin peptide reviews, mechanism of action, and formulation

Peptide cosmetics are no longer a niche topic: today, they are one of the fastest-growing segments of active ingredients. But while signal and matrikine peptides are already well-known to cream formulators, neuropeptides — and especially melanocyte-stimulating compounds — remain a gap even for ex

9 min16 May 2026

#actives #stability

Science

Organic cosmetics: what it is and how to formulate according to real standards

When a customer picks up a bottle labelled "organic," they expect something clean, safe, and close to nature. But for a formulator, this word represents an entire system of standards, restrictions, and technological solutions that cannot be ignored. Organic cosmetics — what is it from the perspective of

9 min14 May 2026

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