Labelling your cosmetic products correctly is very important. There are European guides for what needs to appear on your labels that you should refer to. We have listed the most common kind of label requirements to help you produce your labels.
If you’re selling cosmetics to the public then you should make yourself aware of the laws. When selling on a commercial basis ignorance of the law is simply not accepted.
All of your products will fall under the same category that requires a descriptive label of the contents included within. The label must not be able to fall off, so permanently stuck to your cosmetic containers and it should be easy to read for all. Putting tiny 3pt text is not acceptable.
Your label should include the following data:
- List of ingredients
- Name and address of manufacturer or supplier
- Date of minimum durability (“best before date”) or a “Period After Opening” (PAO)
- Warning statements and precautionary advice
- Batch number or lot code
- Product function (when appropriate if use is not obvious)
- The amount of contents (weight or volume)
First off, there should be a heading marked “Ingredients”. The ingredients of the cosmetic product should be included on the outer packaging, but if there is no outer packaging it should appear on the main container.
The ingredients should be in an ordered fashion, with the top title ingredients being listed first. Ingredients should be listed in order of weight, with concentrations less than 1% in any order after the main ingredients.
You’ll need to clarify the correct terminology for the ingredients, many chemicals share similar names and there needs to be a uniformity between brands.
The INCI (International Nomenclature for Cosmetics) lists the correct terminology on their website. This uniform content means that users don’t get confused and keeps ingredients easy to identify.
If you are producing certain cosmetics with ingredients such as “parfum or aroma” then you do not need to list the various individual ingredients for the perfume or flavour.
Ingredients colouring agents, shown by “CI” followed by it’s number can be listed at the bottom, beneath the other ingredients.
Products that come in multiple shades, must show the “+/-” symbol or the words “may contain” before the list of colours.
Ingredients of a nano proportion must include “(nano)” after the ingredient.
The name and address of the manufacturer or supplier is required on the primary container, plus it’s also required on any outer product packaging. This must include the country details if the country of origin is outside the EEA.
Any product in the cosmetic industry should include the usable lifespan of the product. This is either a best before date or a period after opening.
For the period after opening there is a specific logo that you can place on your labels that is internationally recognisable.
If the product has a lifespan of less than 30 months from the date of manufacturer, you must include a “best before” date or a “POA (Period after opening)” logo and date.
The POS logo is far more common as cosmetics generally last for a long time on the shelf unopened.
Date Markings
The date is defined is when the product no longer provides its intended function or no longer meets the safety requirements of the cosmetic regulations.
You can format the best before date in a few different ways. It’s often abbreviated to save on space. “Exp, Best Before End, BBE” are common references to the date. You can also use the Egg timer logo with the date beneath in Month/Year format.
Once the product has been opened by the consumer for the first time, the product will have a certain usable shelf life before it’s unsafe to use or loses its useable properties.
To display this timeline, you use the ‘open pot’ logo with the months noted in the middle of the logo, on the pot. The number should be followed by “M” that defines months.
Some products need special instructions and warnings. These might be messages about how to store or dispose of the product, or about the ingredients. Warnings such as “avoid eye contact” might be used on some cosmetics.
To keep a track on the history of a product a batch number is essential. This will usually reflect a date, department or other tracking based information. You should be able to track the batch by the number and have all the product history to hand.
This figure should reflect the weight or volume at the time of packaging. If you’re selling in the UK and Europe, you’ll need to include grams or millilitres. Other markets vary so make sure you check on your selling countries standards.
The EU requires the “e” icon followed by the weight or volume. “e” stands for Estimated which should be done in accordance with the average system of measures used in the EU.
Some items do not need the symbol, such as free items and samples less than 5g or 5ml.
