Frequently Asked Questions
Why should I choose CoValence® and not another lab?
We ask all of our new clients the same question. Why are you choosing to leave your labs for us? The answer… Customer Service. On the surface, we may look similar to all of the other labs, but, it is our designated Customer Service (aka: Account and Sales Executives) that draws people to us and keeps them here.
CoValence® Account Executives (Customer Service Reps for Custom Development clients) go through a Cosmetic Chemist and Development Boot Camp, so they can create products for their clients while their clients focus on building their businesses.
CoValence® Sales Executives (Customer Service Reps for Private Label (Vault) clients) know our Vault formulas frontwards and backwards, so they are armed and ready to help their clients sell the Vault products and in turn, helping their clients become more successful.
Please give us a call or contact us via email… You can be confident that we will place you with the best advocate, whether an Account Executive or Sales Executive, for your business!
To sum it up… here is one of our most beloved quotes from a very successful skincare brand owner… “After working with many contract and private label skincare manufacturers… CoValence® has clearly reset the bar for all manufacturers.”
Do you carry the most up-to-date ingredients?
Yes, CoValence’s Development Team researches, tests and formulates with the newest ingredients, while still harnessing the success from tried-but-true ingredients. In addition, we are constantly working on our own ingredient development to help our clients’ leap-frog over their competitors. CoValence® stores over 3000 different ingredients in-house.
Do you have standard private label formulas I can purchase?
Yes, CoValence® has a number of private label formulas that can be found in our Vault. The Vault formulas are some of the best of the best products available, therefore you will not be compromising efficacy or new technology by choosing a Vault formula. All Vault formulas are accompanied with a Marketing packaging to help you sell; the individualized Marketing packages include a White Paper (product specific) and ingredient ‘glossies’.
What are your prices?
CoValence’s R&D Fees average out to around $500-$800 per product depending on ingredients. Please ask to see our Start-Up Cost spreadsheet which will help breakdown the costs for you. All costs are variable per project; therefore, we ask that you speak directly to an Account or Sales Executive for them to explain how we can specifically help fulfill your needs after reviewing the Start-Up Cost spreadsheet. We also offer ‘batched’ Vault products to help one save money while launching a new brand and/or product.
What are your minimums?
CoValence® will manufacture products as small as 4 kilograms (1 gallon) and fill for as little as 300 – 500 pieces. However, the best price points will be reached when larger quantities are ordered. ‘Batched’ Vault product pricing offers larger volume price discounts, for as little as 4 kilograms (1 gallon) ordered. Please ask to see our Vault Catalog and Price List.
What are your lead-times?
On average… R&D takes around two weeks, Manufacturing around two weeks and Filling around two to four weeks once all components are in house.
Do you have packaging available?
Yes, CoValence® offers a wide array of standard packaging for our clients who would prefer not to order custom packaging. CoValence’s packaging includes: airless, tubes, bottles, jars and paper tubes. Please ask to see our Packaging Catalog. Note: We can label all products, sans the tubes; all tubes must be screened by the client.
Do you formulate with natural, sustainable, organic and/or ‘green’ ingredients?
CoValence® believes in Sustainability Development (SD) through green chemistry (Chiral) as well as formulating with environmentally secure organic and natural ’Of the Earth’ ingredients. Per the essence of Sustainable Development, CoValence® aims to manufacture skincare products while doing everything in our power to preserve the environment so that the needs of present as well as future generations are successfully managed and met.
As of March 2012, CoValence® is an NOP and NSF Certified Lab. We are working towards our ECOCERT, NSF and Biobased Certifications.
I have distributors in other countries. Do you have staff that can help me manage the exporting red tape?
Yes, CoValence® has an established Regulatory Department that can help compile your Global Dossiers, as well as answer your country specific exporting questions. If we do not have the answer, we will find the answer.
Do I need any special documents or licenses to work with you?
Yes, due that we only sell business to business we require a copy of your Business Liability Insurance and an Arizona State Sales Tax Exemption Form (5000A). A copy of your Professional Liability Insurance may be required if professional (pH under 3.0) is purchased. An Account or Sales Executive will send you the 5000A via Email.
What are the brands of your mixing, filling and boxing equipment?
See Technologies page
I prefer not to have animal products in my skincare; what ingredients would you recommend and what would be the order of these as far as cost effectiveness and shelf life?
There are only a small handful of animal derived materials in circulation in today’s modern skincare market. However, the materials that are still in circulation are typically highly specialized. To that, for the more common ones, there are 1:1 offsets for nearly each one available that is either natural derived or man-made. They usually have a comparable shelf life but at times can command a higher cost per gram.
Can I use CoValence® marketing information and use CoValence® White Papers to sell product? All Marketing material is copyrighted by CoValence®; however, clients are able to use our White Papers as a resource for their Marketing with the understanding that other CoValence® clients may be using the same information for their own Marketing efforts. All images are subject to the copyright by their owners and may not be used without permission.
Do I own my own formulas? How do I own my formulas? CoValence® owns all formulas that are created through their R&D Departments; CoValence® gives free licensing to clients for their custom formulas (CoValence® will not sell clients’ custom formulas to any other client); ownership Agreements are available for all custom formulas. CoValence® will send Ownership Agreements to our clients for their legal teams to review. Any changes to the Agreements will be created and paid for by the client’s legal teams, not by CoValence®.
Why does my ingredient list say this…..when it used to say this? Due to the countless changes and evolution with INCI regulations and ingredient vendors for the past 20+ years, ingredient names have and will change. An ingredient name change does not necessarily mean that a formula has changed; changes to an ingredient list more than likely means that the INCI which identifies the ingredient(s) has changed.
What does it mean when a formula is labeled “Chiral”? All molecules have two sides; through Chiral synthesis, CoValence® chooses the side of the molecule that best received into the skin at the most efficacious levels. Other labs do not choose the ‘Chirally Correct’ version of a molecule… they will more than likely chose the whole molecule that is the least expensive and possibly the most irritating to the skin, with much lower effectiveness.
I’m interested in having my product filled in foil packets… how do I get started? The packet process should start by looking over the Sample Foil Packet Dossier guidelines; CoValence® will need to see samples from you if you do not choose the material and size from our sample foil supplier that is listed in the Dossier.
Why don’t you offer price breaks on bar soaps and offer a larger selection of packaging? CoValence® soap orders are very low which means we do not give any price breaks with our suppliers and therefore we are unable to give big price breaks. CoValence® decided to offer non-descript packaging for our clients after years of providing a number of options of high end packaging; we reduced the number of high end packaging that we offer due to that we have had many issues with packaging vendors that we could not control. Packaging is simply not our focus, so most of our larger clients provide their own packaging.