It's not something every beauty brand can answer, but Tailor sure can. Because when we formulate a new product, we don’t just formulate a new product for the sake of adding something new to our range. It’s because we’re a concise range for a reason (psst, multi-purpose skincare is sustainable skincare). And every product in our range is made to address your skin concerns, fit your routine, and make you feel good.
How will Restore fit into the tailor range and be tailored?
Before we kick start with a product, we need to make sure there is a gap in our range that needs to be filled, because we pride ourselves on having a concise range and not adding something in for the sake of it, because that’s just not sustainable, right? The start of the process consists of researching product functionality, where it fits within the range, what our customers feedback has been, and how it’s tailored. While Tailor Moisture protects and nourishes skin morning and night with its ultra-lightweight formula, this presented a gap for a heavier formula with higher % of oils and butters (aka overnight nurturing balm).
Now we know what is needed in the range, we then looked into the functionality of this product and how it would be tailored to multiple skin types and skin concerns. This is where we researched key ingredients and tested similar products in the skincare market to determine where there was a gap in their offering that we could fill.
What’s next?
From there we decide on a draft formulation with our cosmetic formulator, and review each ingredient to ensure we can achieve the highest % of natural ingredients without compromising on product functionality. The main ingredient we discovered which is relatively new to the skincare space, was Melatonin. While we know this supports sleep regulation and often comes in supplement form to ingest, we wanted to explore how it could support skin and what benefits you gain from it. Research shows that Melatonin assists the skin’s natural self-repair, regeneration and fights oxidative stress by turbo boosting the enzymes responsible in the natural repair processes in our skin that occur at night. Well will it support all skin types? Yes, as we’re all affected by oxidative stress (thanks, environmental stressors).
Other ingredients we wanted to include in this formulation were materials that deeply moisturise and hydrate the skin. We included existing Tailor ingredients that we use across our other products for these functions, such as glycerin, squalane, jojoba oil, grape seed oil, sunflower seed oil, and shea butter. We further researched for another material that could support this product function while offering other benefits. Introducing OceanDerMX Balance and Brighten an organic bioactive sourced in New Zealand. It is a botanical blend of New Zealand Native Red Seaweed, Mamaku black fern, gotu kola, and liquorice root. This combination of materials has been researched and clinically proven to diminish blemishes and hyperpigmentation in only 7 days, boost the skin with immediate and long-lasting hydration and promote an even complexion with a natural glow. Ok, but is this going to support all skin types? The answer is yes, it will particularly support ageing, dry skin, and uneven skin but it will support all skin types health as it maintains a more full complexion. It’s safe to say, once we locked eyes with these high quality ingredients with powerful properties, it was a done deal.
What about the other ingredients?
Not only do we need our hero ingredient to help our product support its goals, but we need other key properties and ingredients to help turn this formulation in our night balm texture. First, we need a carrier, which is aqua (water) as this makes up the bulk of the product. Second, we need functional ingredients e.g., humectants, emollients, skin-conditioning ingredients, because these act as a transmitter for the delivery of our hero ingredients! Third, we have structural ingredients e.g., thickening agents and emulsifiers, which give the product its creamy and thick texture, this is where that luxurious layering experience is amplified! Lastly, we have our stabilisers e.g., preservatives, chelating and texture agents, and these ensure our product stability as we talked about earlier, making sure the product remains at it’s best throughout its lifespan, no bacteria growing around here thanks.
Sustainable Packaging Research and application:
Not only are we super passionate about your skin, we’re committed to the environment. There is no cutting the corners when it comes to our products being delivered in sustainable and clean packaging, as this is a non-negotiable for us.
Due to this product formulation and it being thick and buttery we needed to consider how the customer would use this product, and ensure it is in line with our sustainability KPI’s. After looking into a few options we landed on it being delivered in our iconic blue glass jar, which was chosen because of its ability to be recycled, and upcycled by our customers. It also has a scoop for application for ease of application and minimising using your fingers for hygiene reasons.
Restore’s glass jar will also come in our compostable and recyclable card box which we use within our product range already. This is printed with vegetable inks and not coated in a plastic film, making it able to be ripped into small pieces and added to your at home compost bin or just pop it in your kerbside recycling. Did you know that our box supply chain is all made local in New Zealand? Starting with the Whakatane Paper Mill, then down to our printers in Petone, Wellington. You will see on the bottom of the box the well-managed forest stamp.
Check product stability:
Our products undergo stability testing to ensure that they are shelf stable and to measure its shelf life. Here at Tailor we set out to achieve a 3 year shelf-life as a minimum. We use a combination of accelerated and real-time to determine this. Accelerated stability is when the product is exposed to high temperatures to speed the time along and is observed weekly for noticeable changes that could indicate the product is not stable. These physicochemical properties that we observe are changes in colour, PH, viscosity, odour. We use accelerated testing so that we can quickly determine if a formulation is stable and if not we can quickly go back to the drawing board. So, passing product stability is a time for celebration!
Challenge testing:
The primary reason to put our products through challenge testing is to determine whether the preservative system is holding across different stages of the products shelf life. Not only does the product need to be stable it also needs to be safe for customer use. In order for a water-based product to be safe it requires a preservative to be present. The preservative that we use in all our water-based products is a combination of a Dehydroacetic Acid (anti-fungal) and Benzyl Alcohol (anti-bacterial). These two combined create a strong system to stop the growth of bacteria, moulds or yeasts ensuring the product sits on shelf for an extended period of time and is still safe for use. But how do we test it?
We make a large sample of products for challenge testing. We send our product freshly made (time-zero) to the lab to be Challenge tested, this is where they inject our product with high levels of bacteria, moulds or yeast and observe it over a 28-day period to see if the preservative system works by reducing the count of the added microbes. This is our base report and the same sample is put into an oven in the lab to age and then is sent to be challenge tested under the same conditions to see if the aged sample works as well as it did when it was first made at time-zero. If it does, then that is a pass! A preservative will ensure microbes don’t make their way into a product, because we don’t want any living organisms living in our skincare thanks. But don’t worry, our preservative is safe and EcoCert for safe use in natural skincare.
Dermatesting:
We welcome consumer testing, because we need to actually make sure this product will be loved by you and not just come in a pretty blue jar. Because, we want our skincare to actually work. We invite our family and friends to try this product and tell us, no filter required, about what they truly think and this feedback is crucial, because we don’t launch products that are less than the highest of quality. If it doesn’t pass our toughest critics, we go back to the drawing board. But if they do, well we’re ready for you to tailor it to your routine, aka launch time!
Once our formula has been finalised we send it to be dermatologically tested. The test was carried out with 30 subjects, aged 18 and above. All subjects recruited had (very) dry, normal, combination or oily skin, as well as some with sensitive skin. The compiled lab report for Tailor Restore confirmed that 100% of all participants reported no relevant skin reactions were detected and was awarded with a dermatological rating of excellent including for sensitive skin.
Share with our Tailors:
Let us introduce you to your latest obsession and newest addition to your routine, tailored to you (ofc), Tailor Restore. You can find and fall in love with Restore on our website, because you won’t regret it. P.S. it’ll restore your skin’s health overnight. Because, isn’t skin health the most important thing?