Reverse Engineer a Cosmetic Product, the Right Way.
Deconstruct a target product, rebuild it as your own IP, and ship it at performance parity or better — by a degreed cosmetic chemist in Chicago.
Deconstruct. Rebuild. Own it.
When you reverse engineer a cosmetic product, the goal is not copying. It is deconstruction, hypothesis, and rebuild — running the target through analytical and sensorial benchmarking, identifying the formulation logic behind it, and authoring a new formula that hits the same performance bar without lifting the original recipe.
Brands come to Formula 117 with reverse-engineering work for three reasons. The product they are buying from a competitor manufacturer is unreliable, getting expensive, or going off-roadmap. The retail benchmark they want to challenge is anonymous, and the founder needs a chemist who can match it. Or a discontinued product needs a successor that holds the same emotional contract with their customer.
We do this work as a degreed cosmetic chemist with 10+ years across major retail and indie beauty brands. The deliverable is a new, documented formula that you own outright — not a derivative of the target, not a shared library entry, not a black box. Performance parity is the floor; targeted improvement is on the table when the brief calls for it. Every reverse-engineering project runs through our chemist-founded lab, so the chemist who deconstructs the target is the chemist who manufactures the replacement.
Target to production in four stages.
Target product intake, INCI deconstruction, sensorial and performance benchmarking, ingredient family mapping. We identify the formulation architecture behind the target, surface the constraints (regulatory, supply, cost) the original was solving for, and lock the performance bar your reformulation has to hit.
Bench prototyping against the analysis sheet. Multiple iterations with side-by-side comparison to the target. Active substitution where regulatory or supply chains require it. Sensorial and stability tuning.
Full 12-week protocol — accelerated and real-time. Compatibility with selected packaging. Microbial preservation efficacy. Final master batch documentation.
Pilot validation, then scale-up. Component qualification. First commercial run at MOQ 500, scalable through small-to-mid volume runs.
What we can rebuild.
Common questions.
Is reverse engineering a cosmetic product legal?+
Yes, when done correctly. INCI ingredient lists are public, and formulation is not protected by patent in most cases — only the specific recipe and any trademarked names are. Reverse engineering as practiced at Formula 117 means analyzing a publicly available product, understanding the chemistry behind it, and authoring a new, original formula that meets the same performance bar. We do not lift recipes, do not solicit confidential supplier sheets, and do not infringe trademarks. The output is your IP.
How long does it take to reverse engineer a cosmetic product?+
End-to-end runs 21–29 weeks. Analysis takes 3–5 weeks, reformulation 4–8 weeks depending on complexity, the standard 12-week stability protocol, and first production 2–4 weeks. Simple anhydrous targets and straightforward emulsions move toward the lower end. Active-heavy systems, novel preservation, or unusual sensorial signatures push toward the upper end.
Can you match performance exactly, or only get close?+
Performance parity is the working floor. In practice, reformulation often produces a measurably better product because constraints from the original (cost, supply, regulatory) can be solved at the bench. The reformulation brief locks what “matching” means up front — viscosity range, sensorial signature, stability behavior, claim support — so success is testable, not subjective.
What do I need to provide to start a reverse engineering project?+
The target product itself (sealed retail unit) and the brief. The brief covers what you want to keep, what you want to change, regulatory constraints (clean standards, vegan, country lists), packaging direction, and target MOQ and price point. The clearer the brief, the faster the analysis and the fewer reformulation cycles needed.
Who owns the resulting formula?+
You do. The brand owns the new formula, the documentation, and the right to manufacture it elsewhere. Formula 117 retains no claim and does not repurpose reverse-engineered formulas into a private label library. We do not work on a target if the requestor cannot demonstrate they have the right to commission the reformulation — no contract-violation work, no IP theft.
Ready to start production?
Send your project details. You'll hear back within 48–72 hours with next steps.
Start a Project