Stick and pressed powder make-up

Stick and pressed powder demand their own process, equipment and validation — an investment that rarely pays for itself on a single portfolio item. That is why most cosmetics plants do not run these formats, and why anyone wanting to enter them usually runs into industrial-scale minimums.

Here the minimum is per unit: from 500 for stick and 800 for pressed powder. Volume that makes testing a new format viable before tying up capital.

What we produce in make-up

The per-unit figures are a starting reference, not a fixed value: what determines how many pieces come out of a batch is the packaging the brand specifies — how much product fits in each one. Once the packaging is settled, your project’s minimum is settled with it. The capability matrix shows the full combination of format and range.

What is hard in make-up — and where projects stall

Colour is the critical variable. Unlike a cream, the product is judged visually before it is used. Pigmentation and chromatic fit across different skin undertones, with colour stability through use, is what separates a launch from dead stock.

The shade range costs more than the formula. Each shade is a SKU, with its own minimum and its own regulatory filing. A six-shade range is six products, not one. It is worth sizing the initial range at the briefing, with room to extend it once the market response is measured.

Format settles packaging early. Stick and pressed powder depend on formula-to-packaging compatibility more than other formats do. We guide the specification — material and compatibility — and purchasing stays with you and your suppliers.

Multifunctional with photoprotection

We maintain in-house stick and BB cream bases with SPF 50 studies already run — the shortest route into make-up with a sun protection appeal, without developing and testing a base from scratch.

Two caveats that matter from the briefing onwards. Whether the studies apply to the final product depends on how far it is customised: the further the formula moves from the tested base, the closer you get to redoing the test. And the regulatory classification of a make-up product carrying an SPF claim has to be checked case by case — it is the product group in the art. 34 list of RDC 907/2024 that determines whether the route is registration or prior notification, and that reading is made with the regulatory specialist. The sunscreen and photoprotection page sets out the route.

Regulatory status and lead times

Make-up without a photoprotection claim is generally exempt from registration and enters through prior notification to Anvisa — the fast route, a matter of days. Once an SPF claim enters, the classification stops being obvious and has to be confirmed before locking the schedule: what determines the route is the product group on the closed list in art. 34 of RDC 907/2024, not the risk grade or the commercial name. The registration guide explains what determines each route.

The development flow is the same as the other ranges: up to 30 days from briefing to first sample and 10 working days of production, counted from the arrival of raw materials. NDA signed before any technical detail.

If you already manufacture and what you lack is capacity in these formats, see contract manufacturing.