When you first start formulating (aka making your own professional-grade cosmetic products), you step into a whole new world – one where you decide exactly what goes onto your skin, and where you’re no longer limited to what’s sitting on a retailer’s shelf.
As a natural formulator in particular, you get to work with an extraordinary range of botanical ingredients from leaves, seeds, oils, butters, plant extracts, and turn them into custom lotions, creams, serums, cleansers, balms, oils, and so much more.
This is incredibly exciting and empowering – but it can also feel a little overwhelming at first. Where do you even start? Which ingredients do you actually need? And what do all those ingredient categories really mean?
In this guide, we’ll walk you through the 10 key cosmetic ingredient types you’re most likely to encounter as a beginner formulator. You’ll learn what each does and how it’s used in natural formulation, so you can go ahead and order your first ingredients and start formulating with confidence!
Top 10 natural cosmetic ingredients for beginner formulators
Below are the top 10 natural cosmetic ingredients you’re most likely to encounter and use as a beginner formulator.
Think of these as your formulation staples: just like you have essential ingredients in your kitchen that you return to again and again, these are the building blocks you’ll use throughout your formulation journey.
These ingredients also form the foundation of almost every cosmetic product you can imagine, and we’re incredibly excited for you to try them.
1. Butters
Let’s start with butters. Botanical butters are a cornerstone of natural skincare formulation and among the most versatile ingredients you’ll ever use.
With butters, you can create balms, facial and body oils, serums, creams, lotions, whipped body butters, massage bars, and so much more.
Botanical butters come from the seeds, nuts or pips of plants. Most are solid at room temperature but melt on contact with the skin due to their natural fatty acid composition. Popular botanical butters include shea, cocoa, mango, avocado and cupuaçu. You can also learn about other butters below:
15 tips on formulating with shea butter
Butters are excellent at supporting the skin barrier and locking in moisture. They help reduce transepidermal water loss (TEWL), improve skin elasticity and protect the skin from environmental stressors. Many are also rich in antioxidants and other beneficial compounds, such as vitamins and phytosterols.
From a formulation point of view, butters also act as thickeners and stabilisers, helping give your products body and structure, and keeping them stable throughout their shelf life.
You might come across hydrogenated butters when browsing ingredient suppliers – examples include coffee butter. olive butter or even green tea butter. These are chemically processed to mimic solid butters.
While some natural certification standards accept hydrogenated butters, they don’t offer the same range of beneficial compounds as unrefined botanical butters, as the hydrogenation process strips away the plant’s beneficial properties. For this reason, we recommend using unrefined butters (and other ingredients) whenever possible.
2. Waxes
Next up are waxes. Waxes are natural ingredients derived from plants or animal sources, such as beeswax. They’re especially useful in oil-based (anhydrous) products like lip balms, body butters, solid deodorants and stick formulations.
Waxes provide a protective, occlusive layer on the skin, helping to lock in moisture and prevent dehydration. In formulations, they also play an important functional role: they harden products, adjust melting points, improve stability and can add shine, which is particularly useful in lip products.
While waxes might seem purely functional at first, they’re a fascinating category to explore, especially if you enjoy formulating solid or semi-solid products. They’re generally gentle on the skin and have a low risk of irritation.
You can learn more about how to formulate with waxes below:
Examples of natural waxes you could use include beeswax, candelilla wax (a popular vegan alternative), carnauba wax, rice bran wax, as well as a variety of floral waxes like jasmine, rose, and mimosa wax. How amazing do these sound?
3. Botanical oils
Next are botanical oils – a much-loved and essential category of natural cosmetic ingredients. Derived from plants, nuts and seeds, botanical oils are rich in fatty acids, antioxidants and vitamins, making them ideal for nourishing and protecting the skin.
With botanical oils, you can create facial oils, body oils, serums, lotions and creams – and countless other formulations besides.
There are hundreds of other botanical oils for you to choose from, each with its own unique skin feel and properties, and you can explore some of our team’s favourites below:
Top 10 botanical oils every formulator needs
Why not try ordering a few oils from these posts and try them on your skin? We recommend starting with jojoba oil, which closely mimics skin sebum; rosehip oil, which is rich in essential fatty acids; and sweet almond oil, which is great for sensitive skin. Notice how each oil absorbs, how it feels and how your skin responds.
This hands-on experiment is one of the first steps that turns you from a recipe-follower into a true formulator.
4. Botanical extracts & actives
And now, for one of the most exciting categories in natural skincare formulation: botanical extracts and actives!
Botanical extracts and actives are concentrated ingredients derived from plants that bring specific benefits to your formulations. They come in multiple forms, from glycerites to macerates to CO2 extracts to botanical powders and vitamins.
Common natural examples include calendula macerate, naturally-derived vitamin C, vitamin E, retinol alternatives, aloe vera powder, rice bran powder, hyaluronic acid, sea buckthorn CO2 extract, and so much more.
Unlike oils or butters, which primarily moisturise and nourish the skin, extracts target particular skin concerns like ageing, pigmentation, irritation, or inflammation. They are often where the “magic” happens in skincare – a few drops can turn a simple lotion or serum into a product with visible results.
Think of botanical extracts as the spices in cooking: a little goes a long way, and they allow you to customise and elevate your formulations.
5. Hydrosols (floral waters)
Next are hydrosols.
Also known as floral waters, hydrosols are gentle, aromatic waters produced during the steam distillation of plants for essential oils – and you should definitely keep some around your formulation stash.
Popular examples include rose, chamomile and lavender hydrosols.
Hydrosols carry a subtle imprint of the plant’s properties and are much milder than essential oils, which makes them ideal for sensitive skin and for beginner formulators. They are also wonderfully versatile.
Many hydrosols have hydrating, soothing, calming or balancing properties, depending on the plant they come from. You can use them directly on the skin or add them to toners, facial mists, lotions, creams and serums.
Why not try ordering a few and trying them out on your skin? Some good starting points include rose, lavender, and neroli (orange blossom).
When buying hydrosols, double-check that you buy genuine ones. Some products on the market are simply essential oils diluted in water and don’t offer the same benefits.
We cover this topic in more detail in these posts:
6. Emulsifiers
If you want to make creams, lotions or serums, then you’ll need emulsifiers.
Emulsifiers are naturally-derived ingredients (made from vegetable oils/fats, then processed) that allow oil and water to mix into a stable emulsion. Most cosmetic products are emulsions, so mastering this skill is key.
Choosing the right emulsifier – and using it at the correct amount– is key to successful formulation.
They come in different types depending on whether you’re making an oil-in-water (O/W) or water-in-oil (W/O) emulsion, and whether you’re working with a hot or cold process.
Many of our students start with widely available, easy-to-use, and reliable options such as OliveM 1000 or Montanov 68, which are naturally-derived (more on what natural means here). You can learn how to formulate your first emulsion with them below:
How to make an organic oil-in-water emulsion with OliveM 1000
7. Exfoliants
Exfoliants are another popular category of ingredients.
They are what you call functional ingredients, meaning they perform a specific job in a product (in this case, exfoliating the skin by removing dead skin cells) – just like emulsifiers help oil and water combine to form an emulsion.
There are two main types of exfoliants you can use in your natural formulations:
- Physical exfoliants: Physical exfoliants manually remove dead skin cells from the surface. Common examples include coconut sugar, sea salt, rice bran, or ground nuts and seeds like fine almond flour or apricot kernels. Coarser particles are best for body scrubs, while finer ones are gentle for facial use. You can use these in your scrubs, masks, cleansing bars, and exfoliating lotions or balms.
- Chemical exfoliants: Chemical exfoliants work by breaking down the bonds between dead skin cells, making them easier to remove. Examples include AHAs (alpha-hydroxy acids like glycolic or lactic acid), which brighten the skin, and BHAs (beta-hydroxy acids like salicylic acid), which penetrate pores to help clear them. Chemical exfoliants are commonly used in toners, serums, masks, and exfoliating creams.
You can learn more about AHAs and BHAs and how to make your own body polish below:
8. Preservatives
Next up on our list are preservatives. Preservatives are essential for any water-based formulation, as well as products that may come into contact with water or be stored in humid environments like bathrooms.
There’s a lot of misunderstanding and fearmongering about preservatives, but as a formulator, your responsibility is to make sure your products are safe and stable. This is crucial whether you’re formulating for yourself or planning to sell your products in the future.
Preservatives help prevent the growth of bacteria, yeast and mould, protecting both your formulations and the people who use them, and they’re not as scary as you think.
There are many effective, easy-to-use preservatives you can use for natural and organic formulation, which we list in our award-winning courses. Examples include Geogard ECT and Leucidal liquid, which comes from fermented radish root.
You can also learn more about natural preservation below:
Everything you wanted to know about natural preservatives
16-point checklist: Choosing a natural preservative for skincare
9. Solubilisers
Next up on our essential ingredient list for beginner formulators are solubilisers.
Solubilisers are functional ingredients that help small amounts of oils – such as essential oils – disperse evenly in water-based formulations. Without a solubiliser, oils would float on the surface, creating an unstable or uneven product and potentially increasing the risk of skin irritation from concentrated essential oils.
They’re commonly used in facial cleansers, micellar waters, toners and body sprays, where oil and water need to blend seamlessly. A commonly used solubiliser by our students includes Symbio®solv Clear Plus MB.
You can learn more about the role and function of solubilisers in the post below:
10. Surfactants
Lastly, the final ingredient type you should get familiar with is surfactants.
Surfactants (short for surface-active agents) are the ingredients responsible for cleansing the skin and hair. They work by reducing the surface tension between water and oil, allowing sebum, dirt and makeup to be lifted away and rinsed off.
Surfactants can be natural or synthetic and vary in how gentle or how cleansing they are. Some surfactants also create foam, although foam itself isn’t necessary for effective cleansing.
Popular naturally derived options include decyl glucoside, sucrose cocoate and sodium cocoyl isethionate (SCI), which is especially popular in solid cleansing bars and shampoo bars.
You’ll use surfactants when making facial cleansers, shampoos, body washes and solid cleansing products.
For more on surfactants, refer to this post:
Suggested ingredient suppliers
Before we wrap up this post, here is a list of worldwide trusted suppliers where you can source many of the ingredients mentioned in this post:
INKY Ingredients (UK)
Aroma-Zone (EU)
Aromantic (UK)
Alexmo Cosmetics (EU)
Manske (EU)
The Soap Kitchen (UK)
Ellemental (EU)
Lotioncrafter (USA)
Essential Labs (USA)
Go Native NZ (New Zealand)
Naturally Balmy (UK)
O&3 – The Oil Family (UK/EU)
Soap & More (Canada)
Handymade (EU)
Formulator Sample Shop (USA)
When you join our award-winning courses, you’ll also have access to a curated list of trusted worldwide suppliers and recommended starter ingredients, so you can confidently order your first ingredients and begin building (and using!) an ingredient stash at home.
Take the next step in your formulation journey
We hope you found this guide helpful and that it’s given you plenty of ideas and inspiration to get you started!
This list isn’t exhaustive, and there are so many more botanical ingredients out there for you to explore, but it introduces you to the core ingredient categories you’ll keep coming back to as you grow your formulation skills.
In our foundation and award-winning Diploma in Organic Skincare Formulation, we cover these ingredient categories and types in depth, and also show you how to use these ingredients properly to create safe, stable and effective formulations that are tailored to you.
If you’re ready to take the first step, start with our free training, where we introduce you to the foundations of formulation and help you start creating your first formulations with confidence!
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Liz was Formula Botanica’s Content Coordinator between August 2020-2024. Liz worked as a professional blogger, journalist and site developer for many years and was also part of the Formula Botanica student community. Read more about the Formula Botanica Team.
