18 INTERVIEW
recognise it. They have brand value, they have legacy, they have nostalgia, they have longevity. All of these things count for something. If suddenly the entire industry
moved to say, ‘Right, everything is about the microbiome now’, you could imagine a microbiome certification scheme filling that niche. But customers aren’t saying that sort of thing. It’s the beauty industry saying that.
TP: Ah, the microbiome. There is a lot of fluff about that, isn’t there? LD: I do struggle with some of the claims. Last year, I was part of an awards judging panel and was sent products to assess. One was some kind of app that claimed to scan your skin and tell you what your microbiome was. I mean, how is that even possible? There’s up to 1 billion micro- organisms per centimetre! I’m a biologist by training.
We’ve known about the microbiome for decades, but it’s only really starting in beauty. I think we have to recognise that there’s a huge amount we don’t know and that’s one thing that the beauty industry is not good at saying. It needs decades of more research. We know there are certain
ingredients that can disrupt the microbiome but to say, by default, that products not containing those ingredients are friendly to the microbiome, well, I don’t think you can make that sort of statement without properly testing it.
TP: I understand the Formula Botanica podcast, Green Beauty Conversations, is now in the top 1% of the world’s most popular podcasts? LD: Top 0.5%! We hit the number one spot in the beauty charts in 32 countries last year. I absolutely love it and put out a weekly episode now, and I have some great guests on. It’s growing massively in popularity.
TP:And how is Formula Botanica itself doing? LD: We’ve got students in 183 countries now and this year we’re going to reach 20,000 students since we first started. It’s been a wild ride since I bought it in 2014. I’ve now got 40 staff members - very different to when it was me on maternity leave with my toddlers running around and 200 students!
PERSONAL CARE April 2023
have all sorts of people come through. Sometimes some of the big players will send some of their staff onto our courses as well.
TP: Brands or ingredient producers? LD: Mostly the brands themselves but sometimes we see contract manufacturing plants and their staff come to our courses. I’ve also seen some of our students learn how to formulate and then use that knowledge to work with a cosmetic chemist for better understanding. But the vast majority, over 95%, make their own products, manufacture their own products and have a dream of selling these products.
TP:What do your students learn? LD: We have eight different courses but almost everyone starts with our foundation diploma in organic skincare formulation that teaches what a formulation is and how to create a formulation. They start with making anhydrous products and work their way up to emulsion and foaming products. We also have a more advanced
diploma, a hair care diploma and specialist certifications on preservation and stability testing. We also have a business diploma because the vast majority of our students want to start a business. People study in their own time at
their own pace, most people get through it in a matter of months, really. Some people take longer but such is the nature of self- studying.
TP: Do any of your students go on to be employed by a company in the industry? LD: Most people want to start a brand but I think a lot of other people realise they don’t necessarily want to run their own business. A minority of people have started working as formulators at brands. I’ve also seen people set up
white label manufacturing plants, we have beauty bloggers, we
TP: How much does it cost to study with Formula Botanica? LD: Our foundation diploma is £750 ($900), while a package of five courses that includes the business diploma for people who want to become an entrepreneur is around £2,000.
TP: Other than courses, what else does Formula Botanica offer? LD: We also have a membership site called The Lab at Formula Botanica, which launched almost three years ago and now has about 2,000 members. We did that specifically for formulators because we found that people were completing courses and then they wanted more. They wanted to know what was trending in the industry and help continuing their professional development.
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