Glossary of cosmetics manufacturing

Every cosmetics manufacturing proposal arrives with a dozen acronyms inside it. Anyone who has been in the industry a while forgets they are not obvious — and anyone building a first brand ends up signing a contract they understood by halves.

This glossary collects the terms that come up most often in our conversations, explained as they are actually used in Brazil. Where a term has a whole page of its own on the site, the link is in the definition.

Terms

Private label

A product made by one company and sold under another company’s brand. It is the model behind almost everything we do: the name on the label is the client brand’s, and the laboratory does not appear. It describes the commercial relationship — it says nothing about where the formula came from, which is what separates OEM from ODM.

OEMOriginal Equipment Manufacturer

The manufacturer produces a formula the client brings ready. The formulation belongs to the client and stays theirs; what is contracted is production capacity, process adaptation and regulatory structure. That is exactly our your own formula model.

ODMOriginal Design Manufacturer

The manufacturer develops the formula and the client takes it under their brand. It is the model behind most projects here — we start from a validated base, or from scratch, and the development happens in our laboratory. Contracting ODM means buying R&D, not just production.

Contract manufacturingterceirização, in Brazilian industry usage

Hiring another plant to produce in your place — fully or partly. It is not a synonym for private label: a company that outsources this way is usually already a manufacturer, looking for a format or a capacity it does not have in house.

Bulkgranel, in Brazilian usage

The finished product mass, before it goes into final packaging — the cream in the tank, not the jar. Buying bulk means receiving the formulated product and filling it yourself; supplying bulk means bringing the finished mass for another plant to fill.

Filling

The stage that transfers bulk into final packaging, with labelling and finishing. It is the most common bottleneck for companies that already formulate well: the formula exists, the filling equipment for that format does not.

MOQMinimum Order Quantity

Here it is 20 kg per SKU for products sold by weight and, for formats counted by piece, from 500 units for stick and 800 for pressed powder — the number of pieces depends on the packaging specified, which is what determines how much product fits in each one. The minimum is per formula: a 20 kg batch is a single formula, not split across different products.

SKUStock Keeping Unit

Each distinct item in the portfolio. It matters to the budget because the minimum applies to each one: a six-shade foundation range is six SKUs, with six minimums and six regulatory filings — not one product with six variants.

Base formula

A formulation already validated for stability, sensory profile and compatibility between components, used as a starting point and customised for the project — actives, fragrance, texture, colour and claims. It shortens development because the technical core is already solved. See development models.

Grade 1 and grade 2

Anvisa’s risk classification for a cosmetic. Grade 2 covers products with greater potential risk, which require more robust safety and efficacy substantiation. Grade 2 does not mean registration is mandatory — it is the most common confusion in the industry. What determines the route is the list in art. 34 of RDC 907/2024, not the grade.

Prior notification

The market entry route for products exempt from registration, filed through the Solicita system: most cosmetics. Within days the product can be sold. Exempt from registration is not exempt from obligation — the product information dossier and labelling compliance remain the registration holder’s. See the Anvisa guide.

Subject to registration

The nine product groups listed in art. 34 of RDC 907/2024 — among them sunscreen and children’s sunscreen. They require a full technical dossier, prior Anvisa review and publication in the Official Gazette before any sale. Registration is valid for ten years and renewable.

Registration holdertitular, in Brazilian usage

The company in whose name the product is registered with Anvisa, and on which the regulatory obligations fall — dossier, labelling, responses to inspection. It is not always the manufacturer. Settling who holds it is one of a project’s first decisions, not a contract detail.

AFEAutorização de Funcionamento de Empresa — company operating authorisation

The authorisation Anvisa grants a company for the class of products it manufactures. It exists before any product: without an AFE and a health licence, there is no notification or registration to file.

BPFBoas Práticas de Fabricação — Brazilian GMP

The set of process, facility, documentation and control requirements Anvisa verifies on inspection. It is what underpins batch-to-batch repeatability — the difference between a product that comes out identical every time and one that comes out similar.

CoACertificate of Analysis

The document accompanying each batch produced, with the analytical results for that specific batch. It is what the client’s quality control uses to release the product and what is presented in an audit. See what we deliver per batch.

FISPQFicha de Informações de Segurança de Produto Químico — the Brazilian SDS

The safety document accompanying raw materials and chemical products, covering composition, hazards and procedures for handling, storage and emergencies. Required by whoever receives the input, not only by whoever produces it.

Stability testing

The study that verifies whether the formula stays intact — appearance, colour, odour, pH, viscosity — over time and under different conditions. It precedes any launch and is what sets shelf life and packaging choice.

SPFSun Protection Factor

The index of protection against UVB radiation. It is a substantiated claim, not a declared one: it depends on a tested base and on documentation supporting the number on the label. We maintain in-house stick and BB cream bases with SPF 50 studies.

Clean beauty

A market term with no single regulatory definition, covering formulations that exclude certain ingredient families. Since there is no standard, what counts is the exclusion list agreed at the briefing — and the ability to support every statement on the label. See natural and vegan cosmetics.

NDANon-Disclosure Agreement

Here it is signed before the briefing, not after the proposal: no technical detail is exchanged without it.