UK/EU Cosmetic safety product reports: Bespoke vs Flexi what are the differences and which is best?

When you decide that you want to turn your soap / bath & body making hobby into a business you need to make sure that you are following all of the legal requirements for selling cosmetic products. If you are based in the UK or EU these rules and regulations are quite extensive and can be a bit of a minefield!

One thing that you will definitely need is a cosmetic product safety report, or CPSR for short. If you research CPSR's you will probably be inundated with a lot of different options and companies offering these reports, which can be confusing.

One thing you may notice is that companies offer two different kinds of CPSR's, namely "bespoke assessments" and "flexi assessments". In today's video we talk through the differences between bespoke and flexi assessments and we discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each of these.

Basically a bespoke assessment is an assessment in which you have your own formula assessed and approved and a flexi assessment is a pre-written assessment using the companies recipe which you then purchase, allowing you to make products according to the recipe that they provide. There are advantages and disadvantages to each of these types of assessment and today, we are delving into the differences to help you work out which one will be the best fit for your business.

We do discuss two companies who we have purchased flexi assessments from, Soaposh and Cosmetic Safety Solutions. If you wish to view their assessment options the links to their websites are here:

For Soaposh:

For Cosmetic Safety Solutions PLUS 10% OFF (affiliate link, If you go through our link below, you will receive 10% off your purchase and we will also be given a 10% discount code):

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[nowexit]

The purpose of a UK/EU cosmetic Assessment is to ensure safety to the end user, the problem is no assessment can guarantee any safety to anyone i.e., the soap recipe I send to be assessed does not include the powdered glass but the recipe I sell to customers does (sarc) therefore by definition assessments are absolutely not fit for purpose and it is with this understanding that other countries have not adopted Cosmetic Assessments due to their lack of safety assurance.

Legislation that demands small businesses pay large amounts of money to have a safety assessment that cannot provide safety to anyone is a TAX by any other term. This tax stifles small businesses and can stops productivity in the employment market.

Cosmetic Assessments stifles creativity. The UK/EU have determined that if you want to be creative then you’ll have to pay a tax. Your creative freedom comes at a price.

A Cosmetic Assessment is a TAX and it does not ensure any safety to any end user, it is not fit for purpose.

All countries outside of the UK/EU have their own method of checks and balances when it comes to cosmetics but they are transparent about what they can guarantee and what they cannot. In short these countries have decided the information on a label to be the overall legal obligation and absolute responsibility of the maker, if the makers label is not accurate and an end user is hurt in anyway then the maker will pay the price, literally. They achieve this by not imposing a TAX, not hindering small businesses and by not stifling creativity.

In short, the label is the key. The information on the label and its layout needs to be outlined. The label should be registered on a portal along with the recipe in percentages with an image of the cosmetic packaging and a list of where the ingredients were purchased with the manufacturers batch code for that ingredient. IFRA documentation for E/O and F/O should be uploaded to the portal. Once submitted the upload should generate a code and this code should be on the product label. The portal should be free of charge and absolute. In the event an end user has a reaction to the product testing can be carried out and cross referenced with the upload on the portal, if it is found the maker has caused the reaction then they would be liable. This method deals with every eventuality and can be utilised globally. This is the most practical and straightforward method of keeping track of who is making and selling cosmetics without any TAXATION involved.

[EA-jeym]

can the chartered chemist approving the CSPR assessment be the owner of the product too?

[marydoherty]

in the bespoke option, what are variations? same base but with differant colours and fragrances? ty xxx

[traceyjackson]

Great video Anne, it would be great if you could break down an assessment once purchased and show how to then calculate your recipe using the assessment and where that information is. Just an idea while you are talking assessments x

[LowVisionUKTerrysView]

Absolutely brilliant informative, balanced view video Anne, thank you so much. You have answered questions I had, and also given me lots of information I never considered. I am so grateful to you and pleased I came across your channel ( And soon to be stockist of your fab products ) P.S Joined your Patreon today...because you have been so supportive of my many questions and e-mails Terry

[maryward]

Great valuable information Anne. Thanks so much. I'm hoping to get a forming sugar scrub assessed, can you please guide me what steps do I need to take?

[tammymaguire]

Hi

Please could you do a video on the IFRA document and how we decipher it? Thanks xx

[janlee-buxton]

Thank you Anne, I love your videos and the amazing amount of information and help they have in them!
I sometimes get my solid soap assessments from Laura at Swift Fox. The latest set of assessments allowed me to define the essential oils I wanted for each of the variations, but I could then list separately all the colours I might want to use. This allows me to vary the colours of each EO however I like.
Admittedly the assessment is a bit more pricey (about £100 more), but creatively it's much much more satisfying!

[sanniganiyatt]

I have been thinking of giving up on legal cosmetics products making for sale in the uk .Please what are all the necessary documentation and how much will it cost .I will be glad if I get a response.Thank you 💕

[sabbikins]

This is another brilliant video. You've helped me loads, thank you so much for explaining things so well 💗

[IAMCHOICETVSISTER]

I found this video very helpful, I have a flexi assessment from a different supplier for a bath bomb. Could you help with the new changes on the portal please? Now we no longer upload ingredients but writing out the ingredients and the concentration it gets me confused.

[Jasmine-jkli]

Thank you, very useful information, much appreciated.

[gbarbecue]

You always have such interesting content.

[crofterlass]

Thank you so much for sharing this information..

[annesummers]

Thank you for mentioning The Crafters Shop!!!

[Sooz]

A very well balanced look at both assessments, thanks x