DIY Making vs. Actual Formulating: They Are Not the Same Thing

There is a big difference between making a product and formulating a product.

And honestly, this is one of the most important conversations indie makers need to have before they start selling lotions, creams, serums, cleansers, micellar waters, gels, toners, or anything else that contains water.

Because a lot of people use the word “formulating” when what they really mean is “following a recipe.”

That is not meant as an insult. DIY making has value. It is how a lot of people start. It teaches basic ingredient handling, weighing, melting, mixing, pouring, packaging, and observation. There is absolutely a place for that.

But DIY making and actual cosmetic formulating are not the same skill set.

And confusing the two is where people get into trouble.

DIY Making Usually Starts With a Recipe

DIY making is often recipe-based.

You find a formula, tutorial, kit, base, or beginner recipe, and you follow the instructions. Maybe you swap one oil for another. Maybe you change the fragrance. Maybe you adjust the butter blend or add a botanical extract because it sounds nice.

That can work fine for simple products, especially anhydrous products like body butters, balm sticks, oil blends, sugar scrubs, salves, and some bath products.

Those products can still have risks, but the system is usually simpler. There is no internal water phase to preserve. There is usually less pH dependency. There is less emulsion structure to build. There are fewer opportunities for the whole product to collapse because one ingredient was incompatible with another.

That does not mean anhydrous products are automatically safe or beginner-proof.

They still need proper ingredient selection, safe fragrance usage, oxidation control, packaging compatibility, contamination control, and realistic shelf-life expectations. If the product will be used in the shower or exposed to wet hands, microbial risk becomes a much bigger concern.

But compared to a water-based lotion, cream, serum, toner, or cleansing water, the system is usually less complex.

Formulating Means Designing the Whole System

Actual formulating is not just choosing pretty ingredients.

It is not just adding allantoin, niacinamide, peptides, extracts, fragrance, and a preservative into water and hoping it behaves.

Formulating means designing a complete system.

That system includes:

• The water phase

• The oil phase

• The emulsifier system

• The preservative system

• The pH range

• The chelation system

• The viscosity and rheology system

• The active ingredient compatibility

• The packaging choice

• The manufacturing process

• The testing plan

• The expected shelf life

A formula is not just an ingredient list. It is architecture.

Every ingredient has to make sense in the product type, at the selected percentage, at the intended pH, in the chosen packaging, with the preservation strategy, and under real-world consumer use.

That is where DIY and formulation separate.

DIY asks, “Can I make this?”

Formulation asks, “Can this product remain safe, stable, preserved, functional, elegant, and repeatable from batch to batch?”

Those are very different questions.

Why Water-Based Products Scare Makers

There is a reason you see so many handmade body butters, soaps, oils, scrubs, balms, and anhydrous products — and fewer well-made lotions, face creams, emulsified cleansers, micellar waters, and serums.

Water changes everything.

Once water enters the formula, microbial risk becomes a central part of the design. The FDA states that cosmetics do not have to be sterile, but they must not contain harmful microorganisms, and microbial counts need to remain low. Water-containing products also need appropriate manufacturing controls, including attention to the quality of water used as an ingredient.

That means a water-based product needs more than “I added a broad-spectrum preservative.”

A preservative is not magic.

It has to be compatible with the formula. It has to work at the formula’s pH. It has to be used at an effective level. It has to be supported by good manufacturing practices, clean packaging, appropriate chelation when needed, and a formula environment that does not fight against preservation.

A poorly designed product with a preservative is still a poorly designed product.

Preservation Is Not Optional

This is where a lot of “natural” product thinking goes sideways.

Some makers want to avoid preservatives because they think preservatives are harsh, toxic, unnatural, or not aligned with their brand story.

That sounds good in marketing, but it is not good formulation science.

Cosmetic products can become unsafe if contaminated with harmful microorganisms such as bacteria, yeast, or mold, and the FDA specifically highlights microbial contamination as a cosmetic safety concern.

A water-based cream, toner, cleansing water, gel, serum, or lotion needs preservation. Period.

And no, vitamin E is not a preservative. Essential oils are not a reliable preservation system. Grapefruit seed extract is not a professional preservation plan. “Keeping it in the fridge” is not preservation. Making tiny batches is not preservation.

If the product contains water, aloe juice, hydrosols, floral water, botanical infusions, proteins, gums, sugars, extracts, clays, or other microbe-friendly ingredients, the preservation strategy needs to be intentionally designed.

Testing Is Part of Formulating

Another difference between DIY making and actual formulating is testing.

DIY often stops when the product looks good.

Formulating does not.

A product can look beautiful on day one and fail two weeks later. It can separate. Thin out. Grain. Grow mold. Change odor. Shift pH. Lose viscosity. Break under heat. Fail in the package. Become contaminated during use.

That is why stability testing, microbial testing, and preservative efficacy testing matter. Preservative efficacy testing is used to evaluate whether a product can resist microbial growth over time, and stability testing looks at things like color, odor, pH, viscosity, texture, and physical integrity.

This is also why “I made it last night and it feels amazing” is not enough.

Feeling good on the skin is one data point.

It is not proof that the product is stable, preserved, safe to sell, or ready for customers.

A Beginner Formula Can Still Be Useful

Now, let’s be clear.

Beginner recipes are not automatically garbage.

That is too broad and too lazy of a statement.

A beginner formula can be useful when it is designed properly, taught responsibly, preserved correctly, and presented honestly for its skill level.

The problem is not that beginner formulas exist.

The problem is when beginner recipes are treated like finished commercial products without the maker understanding why the formula works, where it can fail, what cannot be substituted, how it needs to be processed, and what testing it requires before sale.

A recipe teaches you steps.

A formula teaches you a system.

That is the difference.

Copying a Formula Is Not the Same as Understanding It

There is also a huge difference between copying a formula and understanding a formula.

You can copy a lotion formula and still have no idea why the emulsifier was chosen.

You can copy a toner formula and not understand why the pH matters.

You can copy a serum formula and not know whether the active ingredients are compatible.

You can copy a cleansing water and not understand solubilization, preservation, clarity, residue, packaging, or eye-area safety concerns.

That is why “just give me a formula” thinking is so limiting.

A copied formula may produce a product.

But understanding the formula allows you to troubleshoot, improve, scale, test, modify, and defend your choices.

That is where real formulation begins.

Water Is Not a Cheap Filler

Another myth that keeps makers stuck is the idea that water makes a product cheap.

That is not how formulation works.

Water is not automatically a filler. In many products, water is the delivery phase. It hydrates, dissolves water-soluble ingredients, supports humectants, allows emulsions to exist, creates lighter textures, improves spreadability, and makes many active systems possible.

A properly formulated lotion, serum, cream, gel, or toner can be more complex and more expensive to produce than a simple anhydrous butter.

Why?

Because you may need emulsifiers, stabilizers, humectants, chelators, preservatives, pH adjusters, viscosity modifiers, processing controls, and testing.

The water is not what makes the product cheap.

Poor formulation makes a product cheap.

Natural Does Not Mean Unpreserved

This is another hard truth.

If your brand is built around “natural,” that does not excuse poor preservation.

Natural and safe are not the same word.

Natural and preserved are not opposites in the way people often claim. A product can use naturally derived ingredients and still require a robust preservation system. A product can have a natural marketing position and still be formulated responsibly.

Customers do not benefit from a product that sounds clean but is unstable, contaminated, or poorly protected.

A safe product is more important than a romantic label claim.

Every time.

Why Actual Formulating Takes More Effort

Actual formulating takes longer because you are not just making one batch.

You are building a product that needs to be repeatable.

That means you need to ask harder questions:

What is the target pH?

What is the preservative range?

Will this active tolerate the formula environment?

Will the emulsion stay stable at warm temperatures?

Will the viscosity hold over time?

Will the fragrance destabilize the system?

Will the packaging protect the product?

Will the consumer introduce water into the jar?

Will the product survive shipping?

Will it still look, smell, feel, and perform the same after several weeks or months?

That is formulation.

It is not glamorous every day. It is not always fast. It is not always exciting.

Sometimes it is documentation, testing, reworking, adjusting, and admitting that the first version was not good enough.

But that is the work.

Selling Raises the Standard

Making a product for yourself is one thing.

Selling it to other people is another.

The moment you sell a cosmetic product, your responsibility changes.

You are no longer just experimenting in your kitchen. You are putting a product into someone else’s hands, on someone else’s skin, in someone else’s bathroom, shower, purse, travel bag, or skincare routine.

That means your standard has to be higher than “it worked for me.”

Under MoCRA, the responsible person is required to ensure and maintain records supporting adequate safety substantiation for cosmetic products, using scientifically robust data where applicable.

That does not mean every small maker needs to become a giant corporation overnight.

But it does mean you need to stop thinking like a hobbyist if you want to sell like a business.

So, Is It Unrealistic to Sell Face Creams, Serums, or Cleansing Waters?

No.

It is not unrealistic.

But it is unrealistic to think those products should be approached the same way as a whipped body butter or an oil blend.

Face creams, serums, toners, micellar waters, cleansing waters, gels, and emulsions can absolutely be made and sold by indie formulators.

But they require more education, better documentation, stronger preservation strategy, more careful ingredient selection, and appropriate testing.

They are not impossible.

They are just not beginner shortcuts.

And that is the part people do not always want to hear.

The Real Difference

DIY making is learning how to make.

Formulating is learning how to design.

DIY making can teach you technique.

Formulating teaches you decision-making.

DIY making follows instructions.

Formulating understands why the instructions exist.

DIY making may create a product.

Formulating creates a product system.

Both have a place. Both can be valuable. But they should not be confused.

Because when we confuse them, we get products that look pretty, smell good, and feel nice on day one — but were never properly designed to survive real use.

And that is not good enough.

Not if you want to sell.

Not if you want customers to trust you.

And definitely not if you want to call yourself a formulator.

Final Thought

There is nothing wrong with starting as a DIY maker.

Most of us start there.

The problem is staying there while pretending you are formulating.

If you want to make simple products for yourself, DIY is fine.

If you want to sell water-based products, emulsions, serums, cleansing waters, or advanced skincare, then you need to step into actual formulation.

That means learning the system.

Testing the system.

Documenting the system.

And being honest about what you know, what you do not know, and what still needs to be proven before that product ever reaches a customer.

That is the difference between making something that looks good today and formulating something that is actually worth selling.

Sources & Reference Material

The following sources were used to support the technical discussion around cosmetic product safety, preservation, microbial risk, water-containing formulations, testing, and regulatory responsibility.

FDA — Product Testing of Cosmetics

The FDA explains that cosmetic products are not required to be sterile, but they must not contain harmful microorganisms and should be manufactured in a way that keeps microbial contamination under control. This source supports the discussion about why water-containing products require more careful formulation, preservation, and manufacturing practices.

Source: U.S. Food & Drug Administration. Product Testing of Cosmetics. https://www.fda.gov/cosmetics/cosmetics-science-research/product-testing-cosmetics

FDA — Microbiological Safety and Cosmetics

The FDA identifies microbial contamination as a cosmetic safety concern and explains that cosmetics can become contaminated with bacteria, yeast, and mold. This source supports the section explaining why preservation is not optional for lotions, creams, toners, cleansing waters, serums, and other water-containing products.

Source: U.S. Food & Drug Administration. Microbiological Safety and Cosmetics. https://www.fda.gov/cosmetics/potential-contaminants-cosmetics/microbiological-safety-and-cosmetics

FDA — Modernization of Cosmetics Regulation Act of 2022

The FDA’s MoCRA information explains the responsibilities of cosmetic companies, including safety substantiation requirements for cosmetic products. This source supports the discussion about how selling products raises the standard beyond personal DIY use.

Source: U.S. Food & Drug Administration. Modernization of Cosmetics Regulation Act of 2022. https://www.fda.gov/cosmetics/cosmetics-laws-regulations/modernization-cosmetics-regulation-act-2022-mocra

Certified Laboratories — Preservative Efficacy Testing for Cosmetics

This source explains preservative efficacy testing and why it is used to evaluate whether a cosmetic product can resist microbial growth over time. It supports the section explaining that adding a preservative is not the same as proving the product is adequately preserved.

Source: Certified Laboratories. What Is Preservative Efficacy Testing (PET) for Cosmetics?

https://certified-laboratories.com/blog/what-is-preservative-efficacy-testing-pet-for-cosmetics/

Cosmetic Formulation Logic Applied

In addition to the sources above, the blog post applies standard cosmetic formulation principles, including:

• Water-containing products require a compatible preservation system.

• Preservatives must be selected according to formula type, pH, ingredient compatibility, and use conditions.

• Emulsions require structural design, not just mixing.

• Stability, microbial quality, packaging, processing, and consumer use all affect whether a product is suitable for sale.

• Anhydrous products are generally simpler systems than emulsions and water-based products, but they are not automatically risk-free.

These principles are consistent with professional cosmetic formulation practice and are used throughout the blog post to distinguish between recipe-following, DIY making, and true formulation design.

Excel Spreadsheet on "Cosmetic Formulation Language - Maker to Formulator", can be found here, on my Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/new-blog-post-vs-158859210?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link

~Lissa~