How to Start a Skin Care Business in 10 Steps (2026)

Enrico Frezza wasn’t trying to start a skin care business. He just wanted to fix his breakouts. 

What he discovered in his search was hydrocolloid dressing—a medical-grade wound treatment that would become the foundation of Peace Out Skincare, a brand targeting acne, fine lines, and dark spots.

Enrico started by contacting 75 manufacturers, poured countless hours into research and development, and hunting down a patent to improve adhesion for his first product: the Acne Dot.

The hustle paid off. Sephora picked up Peace Out immediately, starting with a 20,000-unit production run before expanding to the brand’s own website. Enrico and other founders prove there’s no single path to creating products people love—just a willingness to solve real problems.

Read on to learn how to start a skin care business, with tips from successful entrepreneurs, and information about testing, costs, timeline frameworks, and more.

What is a skin care business?

A skin care business is a company that develops, sells, and markets products designed to care for skin. 

A skin care product line is a group of products created to address specific skin concerns or support overall skin health. These products are typically designed to be used on their own or as part of a skin care routine. Often, skin care lines share a common theme. For example, a brand might focus only on natural skin care products or organic skin care products. 

Get started with your skin care business

There’s more than one way to enter the skin care market. You can create your own skin care line from scratch by finding your niche, developing formulations, and building trust with your customers.

You can also launch an ecommerce store and sell curated beauty products from other brands. By 2030, online channels are projected to account for nearly one-third of all global beauty sales, up from 26% in 2024. By curating brands online, you can bring beloved products to new markets. You can either purchase inventory wholesale or use Shopify Collective to connect you with skin care brands to feature in your store. Once a customer places an order, your partner will handle fulfillment.

Dropshipping is another option for starting a skin care or makeup brand with minimal upfront investment. The dropshipping supplier handles inventory and shipping, and you only pay for items after your customer places an order. Dropshipping is a legitimate low-investment entry point that doesn’t require you to formulate, store, or ship your own products.

How to start a skin care line in 10 steps

1. Just get started (even if you don’t feel ready)
2. Do your research
3. Find your skin care niche
4. Invest in your skin care branding
5. Use the resources you’ve got
6. Get hands-on with product formulation and manufacturing
7. Put your skin care formulations through rigorous testing
8. Understand skin care business safety and labeling laws
9. Build trust with your customers through transparency and content
10. Lean into what makes you unique

The global skin care industry is expected to reach $227.13 billion by 2034. Much of the growth in the past few years can be attributed to independent brands. Legacy brands are responding by snatching up smaller companies to maintain market share.

For example, in 2009, Elliot Isaac launched Medik8, a science-driven beauty line focused on reducing signs of skin aging. In 2025, it was acquired by L’Oréal Groupe for $1.1 billion.

Ahead, learn how to start a skin care line from scratch, with lessons from successful beauty founders.

1. Just get started (even if you don’t feel ready)

“On your deathbed nobody sits around and thinks about their mistakes so much as they think about what they opted out of,’ says Amy Liu, founder of beauty brand Tower 28. With skin care trends evolving rapidly, it’s better to jump on a great idea now than wait until everything’s perfect. 

Most skin care lines require months or even years for research and development, testing, and launch preparations. Skin care products also require comprehensive testing, adding to the pre-launch runway time.

After being a founding member at makeup brand Charlotte Tilbury, Danielle Close knew she wanted to start her own beauty brand. While she felt the industry was too saturated, she found a way to stand out. Connecting with a larger mission—like sustainability or serving a market with limited options—can provide the motivation you need to get started.

“I couldn’t justify launching a brand for the sake of it,” Danielle says on an episode of Shopify Masters. “Then I went to a packaging show in Paris and literally saw how unsustainable the industry still was in 2020. That’s when I was like, ‘If no one’s doing anything, I have to do something to prove that it can be done.’” This realization inspired her to launch her sustainable brand My Skin Feels.

Timeline from concept to first sale varies widely depending on the type of production and sourcing model you choose. For example, if you go the dropshipping route, you could be ready to sell skin care items within a month. Private label could take anywhere from four to 12 weeks, and developing something custom could take months to years.

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2. Do your research

If you haven’t decided on a niche, research can help you find inspiration. If you already have one, you can use research to validate your idea.

Market research is especially important in beauty—the industry is saturated and trends move fast. But the constantly evolving landscape means there are still opportunities for newcomers to break in. Pay attention to beauty publications and influencers to keep up with changes in the industry, and use a tool like Google Trends to validate your ideas.

Your research should include competitive analysis, market research, and keyword research. This is also the stage when you’ll want to crunch the numbers: How much will it cost to start a business, and how will you fund it?

Part of doing research can include putting together a business plan. Shopify’s November 2025 Merchant Survey* found that only 34% of established merchants wrote a business plan before starting. Health and beauty merchants are among the least likely to write formal plans (31%). And 46% said their business started as a side project that grew over time, meaning they were less likely to develop a plan. But business plans can help guide your goals and strategies for growing your business. A formal business plan might also be necessary if you’re hoping to obtain outside capital.

Business plans usually include a company overview, mission statement, market analysis, financial projections, operations plan, business objectives, and a marketing strategy. They might also include your business structure (whether you choose to go the sole proprietor or LLC route).

3. Find your skin care niche

When starting a skin care business, new founders can succeed by identifying underserved audiences. For example, Glow Oasis tapped into the growing demand for cruelty-free and vegan products. Black Girl Sunscreen formulated SPF that doesn’t leave a white cast on darker skin tones.

The current most popular skin care niches include facial cleansers and facial anti-aging products—but by the time you’re reading this, trends will already be shifting. Spotting industry trends as they emerge is important, but beware of fleeting trends and ensure you have a long-term plan. Although the product development life cycle has sped up in recent years, it still struggles to keep up with flash-in-the-pan trends. If you focus only on trends, by the time your product hits shelves, it could be old news.

Innovation, rather than a bandwagon approach, is a better strategy for growing a business that can scale. While legacy brands cast a wide net, independent brands have the ability to deeply engage with a niche market or tackle a specific problem—and problems change less frequently than trends.

If you prefer a more broad, evergreen approach, you can lean on a strong philosophy and brand story to connect with your audience.

When determining your niche, validating your product and business idea is essential. According to the recent Shopify Merchant Survey,* 57% of successful merchants validated their business idea through previous experience as a customer or industry professional.

Using a decision-making framework can also be helpful. One popular option is the Jobs-to-Be-Done (JTBD) framework. This method asks you to take the point of view of your customer and focus on problem-solving versus what you’d like to sell them.

4. Invest in your skin care branding

Before you even consider product development, decide what your brand stands for. You can build your skin care brand and grow an audience well before you manufacture products or launch an online store. This period will help you get to know your audience, gather feedback, and build trust. Use this time to hone your brand story and generate hype around your upcoming launch.

Ultimately, strong skin care branding signals who products are for, communicates values, and creates recognition. Interviews with its target audience changed how Bushbalm—a body skin care brand targeting ingrown hairs, dark spots, and razor burns—marketed its products.

“Probably the best thing we ever did that almost anyone could do is we did an Etsy shop, but it could be your local market,” says Bushbalm CEO David Gaylord on an episode of Shopify Masters. “We just talked to a bunch of people. We’d say, ‘We’re pubic oil.’ And people would go, ‘I don’t know. That’s a pass,’ and they move on. Over the weekend, we talked more and more and came up with new words. By the end of the weekend, we said ‘bikini line skin care,’ and people said, ‘OK, I know exactly what that is.’”

When building a brand, it’s critical to establish a few key elements early on. Maintaining a consistent brand voice and presence can increase recognition in the market and build trust. 

Visual brand identity is also extremely important in the skin care industry. Compelling packaging that speaks to your target audience’s aesthetic gives your brand a professional edge. Be sure to develop clear brand guidelines to ensure that wherever your brand shows up, it’s adhering to a set of rules.

For Danielle of My Skin Feels, branding was one of her top priorities. Many sustainable brands use minimalist packaging and earth tones. My Skin Feels opted for colorful shapes and a retro font.

Danielle knew she didn’t want it to feel like other natural brands. “I wanted it to look interesting and different and stand out on the shelf, and kind of prove that natural isn’t boring,” she says. “We’re actually really fun. And the more fun you have with your brand, even if it’s a serious message, it still captures the audience, because it’s fun.”

5. Use the resources you’ve got

In 2024, beauty startups secured $598.46 million in total investment. But raising capital from traditional funding sources isn’t always the right path.

Amy Liu built Tower 28, a beauty brand that helps with sensitive skin and eczema, through fundraising. At the time, the 40-year-old mother of three had just bought her first home and wasn’t in a position to take out a loan. So she turned to family and friends—as well as connections from her 20-plus years in the industry—and raised $500,000. 

When starting your own skin care line, find creative ways to stretch your budget, whether by starting your business from home, trying organic marketing ideas, or bootstrapping your growth. After Tower 28 launched, Amy and her team scoured YouTube to find creators. They sent simple product packages with a sincere handwritten letter from Amy herself.

According to Shopify’s November 2025 Merchant Survey,* 79% of established merchants use profits to self-fund growth. Sixty-two percent also tap outside funding sources, suggesting that many successful businesses rely on a mix of both.

“We did raise money at the beginning, but it all went into research and development. We actually didn’t pay ourselves until 2021,” says Charlotte Palermino, co-founder and CEO at Dieux, a skin care brand that launched in 2018. 

The cost to start a skin care line varies widely between $2,000 and $30,000, depending on your production method. Take a look at examples of four different budget tiers within that range. 

**Shopify Capital loans must be paid in full within a maximum of 18 months, and two minimum payments apply within the first two six-month periods. The actual duration may be less than 18 months based on sales.

6. Get hands-on with product formulation and manufacturing

There are several methods for formulating products:

• Making them by hand at home
• Renting a dedicated manufacturing space like a mobile clean room to make them yourself in a more professional environment 
• Taking a private label or white label approach with a beauty manufacturer
• Tweaking ingredients in existing formulas to create something new (also known as a bench sample)
• Working with a lab to create custom products
• Hiring a cosmetic chemist to create a formula, then using a contract manufacturer to make it (via tech transfer)

Creating a skin care line at home

You can make simple formulations like facial oils at home. However, to manufacture cosmetics in the US, you’ll need to follow FDA guidelines for ventilation, air control, and surfaces. If your home isn’t properly set up to handle formulating products safely, try mobile clean rooms, which are designed for this purpose and ideal for small or micro businesses.

Many successful beauty founders, like Jessica Kernochan of natural skin care line Lalicious, started their lines in their own kitchens but moved to a manufacturing facility as they scaled.

Experimenting with formulations yourself will help you understand the properties you’re looking for in a formulation—from consistency and appearance to scent. 

Pro tip: Follow the money. When deciding on your first formulation, consider where customers are willing to spend. McKinsey’s data found that modern consumers are selectively splurging. They are willing to pay a premium for high-performance items like facial serums (perceived as high value) but expect lower pricing for basics like facial cleansers and lip balms.

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Working with a manufacturer

For Enrico of Peace Out, his product development challenge was infusing hydrocolloid dressings with active ingredients. He reached out to 75 manufacturers over six months before finding a patent owner who could help. 

The patent owners also owned a manufacturing facility. “I set up a meeting, and that was it,” Enrico says. “After seven R&D batches and test and trial, we were able to achieve the final results, which is the Acne Dot.”

Here are some questions to ask any potential manufacturers: 

• What production models do you support (private label, custom formulation, or both), and who owns the formula?
• What types of testing do you perform, and how do you document and ensure product safety?
• What are your minimum order quantities, pricing structure, and options for scaling production?
• What compliance or regulatory support do you provide, and what responsibilities remain with the brand?
• How do you handle quality issues, delays, or problems if something goes wrong?

White label or private label skin care lines

White labeling involves applying your own branding and minimal customizations to an existing product. This is a beneficial method for those looking to monetize a personal brand (and prefer to avoid extensive product development). Popular creators and influencers often use this method to monetize their large audiences.

Private label skin care lines work in a similar way but offer more customization to specifications. They are generally developed in partnership with a private label lab. With either of these models, you can start your own skin care line even if you have zero experience.

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7. Put your skin care formulations through rigorous testing

If you want to make claims about your skin care product and its results, you’ll need to back those claims up with testing. There are two main testing types you can use: consumer perception surveys and clinical testing.

With consumer perception surveys, users try a product for a set amount of time and then report on how their skin looks and feels. For example, in one consumer perception survey, 30 participants used Dr. Loretta’s Anti Aging Repair Serum twice a day for eight weeks. Afterward, 100% of participants agreed their skin looked smoother, 90% agreed their skin looked firmer, and 90% agreed their skin looked brighter.

Clinical testing involves objective measurement. For example, you can measure skin hydration using a device called a VapoMeter—that’s how the brand Dieux supports claims its Air Angel Gel Cream increases hydration by 77 times.

Consumer perception studies and clinical testing can be expensive, and they’re not necessary for every brand or product. But they can help build credibility. Keep in mind that not every brand will need to conduct every type of test.

If your product targets a specific skin condition like rosacea or eczema, you might consider applying for a seal of approval from the National Rosacea Society or the National Eczema Association.

Other tests include: 

*Costs vary widely based on formula complexity, packaging, number of samples, and testing duration. Most labs provide custom quotes rather than public pricing.

8. Understand skin care business safety and labeling laws

Like starting a food business, launching in the skin care industry carries risk—you are making products that could have potential side effects. It’s important to educate yourself on preservatives, shelf life, allergens, and proper storage and handling of skin care products. You should also research labs carefully to ensure you’re working with a partner knowledgeable in these areas.

Product shelf life

Customers often expect products labeled “natural” or “organic” to exclude chemical preservatives. However, omitting preservatives can greatly impact stability. If you choose to formulate without preservatives, manufacturing in smaller batches can help ensure your products don’t spoil before you can sell them.

Labeling laws

Legal requirements can be daunting for those starting a skin care line from scratch—and each country or region has its own rules:

• Cosmetics Labeling Regulations (US)
• Industry Guide for the Labelling of Cosmetics (Canada)
• Understanding the Label (EU)

A reputable lab can help ensure your packaging meets standards and products are properly labeled, but, ultimately, the responsibility is yours. Consider consulting a lawyer for additional guidance.

Skin care product stability and safety

While it’s possible to dabble in skin care at your own home, there are limitations. Reputable labs put ingredients and formulations through rigorous tests to ensure they’re free from yeast, mold, bacteria, and fungus during a product’s shelf life and use.

After finding a manufacturer, it took Enrico about a year to make his first product for Peace Out, partly because of stability testing. “Since it’s an over-the-counter product, we needed to make sure that the salicylic acid, which is what we infuse the hydrocolloid dressing with to treat acne, was stable,” Enrico says.

Business licenses for skin care brands

You don’t need a federally recognized license to sell homemade cosmetics and skin care in the US. However, the FDA carefully regulates this industry and requires you to have approval for certain ingredients. Laws differ depending on the country in which you manufacture or sell your products. Be sure to do your homework or seek the advice of a lawyer to better understand whether you need a business license for your business.

Compliance checklist 

• Confirm your product is safe for consumer use. Your product should be safe when used as intended and stored normally.
• Verify all ingredients are allowed for cosmetic use. Ingredients must not be prohibited or restricted for cosmetics in the US.
• Check color additives for FDA approval. Some color additives require specific FDA approval for use in cosmetics.
• Include all required elements on your product label. Check out the FDA list for the regulatory requirements for cosmetic labeling. 
• Review any and all claims. Take a look at all marketing claims across platforms to avoid drug classification. 
• Keep safety and testing documentation on file. Maintain records that support product safety and any testing you’ve done. 
• Determine registration and listing requirements. Review whether you need to register your facility with the FDA and/or list your products with the FDA. 
• Understand shelf life and storage expectations. Ensure that products remain safe and stable through their intended shelf life.

Disclaimer: This checklist is for educational purposes only and does not replace legal or regulatory advice.

9. Build trust with your customers through transparency and content

The beauty customer, faced with conflicting information and overwhelming choices, tends to be discerning and naturally skeptical. When considering how to start a skin care business, building trust with your audience is key to forming long-term relationships and securing repeat business. This is especially the case when you’re selling online.

Content marketing and customer education

Content marketing doesn’t just help increase organic traffic, it also builds authority for your brand. Dieux, for example, focuses on social media content marketing in the form of short, educational videos on Instagram and TikTok. Check out this one about how little sunscreen—a product Dieux is currently working on—has changed in the United States for decades:

“We call ourselves a ‘too much information’ brand,” Charlotte Palermino says of Dieux on an episode of Shopify Masters. Charlotte’s personal brand also focuses heavily on consumer education. In her newsletter and on her social media platforms, Charlotte discusses the science behind topics like sunscreen and pregnancy-safe skin care.

Other tried-and-true marketing strategies to consider include creating YouTube videos, newsletters, and blog posts that offer value, and building product pages that feature information to increase customer confidence.

Reviews

Positive reviews are a signal to potential customers that your product delivers what it promises. Reviews are important when shopping for skin care online. According to a 2026 consumer survey by Bright Local, 34% of shoppers are ready to buy after reading a positive review. You can connect your Shopify store to a review app to collect and showcase customer feedback.

10. Lean into what makes you unique

As you navigate how to start a skin care business, you may find marketing to be one of the biggest challenges—the same is true for many new founders. Because it’s competitive and constantly evolving, skin care is an industry that requires consistent attention.

It’s not enough to have a great product—to succeed in the skin care industry, beauty entrepreneurs need to invest significant effort in defining their audience and understanding their customers’ unique needs.

As the traditional model of selling cosmetics wanes, now is the time for niche brands to shine. Consumers are looking to connect with a brand on a deeper, more personal level.

Whether or not you decide to tie your personal brand to your business, brand storytelling can help make your business feel human. Engage in comments and conversations, feature real people like your customers or relevant influencers in your content, and stay open to feedback.

Charlotte Cho, founder of skin care line Then I Met You, infuses her family history and her Korean heritage into her product formulations and brand. Before launching Then I Met You, Charlotte cofounded Soko Glam, an online store that brought Korean beauty products to the US. She even wrote a book to share the philosophy behind the brand. Charlotte’s approach is a great example of connecting with customers via telling your authentic story.

While a personal connection is powerful, don’t rely on your persona alone. Public-facing founders are now among the lowest factors consumers consider when making a purchase—shoppers today prioritize product quality and efficacy. Use your story to connect, but ensure your product results do the heavy lifting.

Starting your own skin care business is as easy as finding the right product-market fit, telling a compelling story, and determining the best way to bring your vision to life. Whether you’re curating skin care products for a niche skin concern or developing your own unique formulation, it’s a great time to roll up your sleeves and get selling.

*Based on a 2025 survey of 500 Shopify merchants conducted in English across Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, New Zealand, and the United States. Respondents were established merchants with two or more years on the platform. Results reflect the experiences of this specific sample and may not be representative of all merchants.

Feature illustration by Islenia Mil