You have worked hard on making your products and now you may be thinking it is time to start a business.  Before you make your first sale, make sure that your products are properly labeled!  The Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic (FD&C) Act and the Fair Packaging and Labeling (FP&L) Act are the authorities for these regulations and laws. 

While laws and regulations can appear cumbersome and unnecessary we have them for important reasons, to protect consumers.  The FD&C Act protects consumers from unsafe or deceptively labeled or packaged products sold in the United States, while the FP&L Act ensures that packages and their labels provide consumers with accurate information about the quantity of contents and facilitate value comparisons.

A cosmetic label is considered misbranded if the label is false or misleading, does not contain the name/address of the manufacturer, packer or distributor, and contains inaccurate net quantity of contents. The label is also considered misbranded if all of the required information is not stated prominently, with conspicuousness and in terms that it is read and understood by consumers under customary conditions of purchase and use or if the container or its fill is misleading.

There are many details for labeling your cosmetics but the fact is that most people never really need the details to be in complaince for a basic label.  We would like to help you with the basics and then recommend referencing the recently updated FDA cosmetic labeling website for those unusual situations and questions. 

A cosmetic label must contain the following:

Front Panel:

1. Name of Product
2. Identity
3. Net Quantity of Contents in both American and metric measurements
4. Labeling of cosmetic products for which adequate substantiation of safety has not been obtained

Back Panel:

1. Directions for safe use
2. Warnings
3. Name and place of business (may be distributor name if private labeled)
4. Ingredient declaration (ingredients are in descending order by percentage in formula)

It is fun to go to retail stores and see how the big companies include these eight components on their labels.  Sometimes it even helps give the mind some creative inspiration for the handmade industry!!