How Reverse Engineering Can Speed Up Beauty Product Development (and Help You Launch Faster)

Updated: Jun 18

If you’re diving into beauty product development for the first time or trying to speed up your next product launch, reverse engineering might be the move you didn’t know you needed.

Instead of starting from zero, reverse engineering formulas lets you work smarter by analyzing a product you already love, then recreating it with your own improvements. It’s a faster way to get from “idea” to “in production,” and it’s how a lot of beauty brands quietly get ahead.

What Is Reverse Engineering in Beauty?

Reverse engineering in cosmetics means breaking down the composition of an existing product—whether it’s a cult-favorite serum or a trending curl cream—to understand how it works. Then, using that insight, you create a skincare product or haircare formula that performs similarly, but is customized to your brand.

This isn’t about copying. It’s about learning what’s effective and making it better, whether that means cleaner ingredients, a smoother texture, or a lower cost to produce.

Want to dig into the science? Check out this article by Cosmetics & Toiletries on the reverse engineering process in cosmetics.

How Reverse Engineering Accelerates Beauty Product Development

When you create a product from scratch, the R&D process can stretch for months: ingredient sourcing, safety testing, stability trials, and constant reformulations.

But when you reverse engineer a formula that already works, you're skipping a lot of the trial-and-error. You can analyze what’s effective in an existing product and use it as a foundation.

Hand pours liquid from test tube into pink jar. Cream jar and glass equipment on sunlit white surface. Calm, scientific mood.

For example:

Let’s say you’re developing a haircare formula and love how a competitor’s conditioner detangles and smooths. You can reverse engineer the formula, identify the key ingredients doing the heavy lifting, and have a chemist customize or improve it for your brand goals.

This approach speeds up development, minimizes costly revisions, and gets your product market-ready faster.

Is Reverse Engineering Legal (and Ethical)?

Yes—reverse engineering is legal in the beauty space, as long as you’re not infringing on an active patent. Most cosmetic formulations are considered trade secrets, which means the process is protected, but the final product itself can be analyzed.

You can’t copy a patented method, but you can analyze a finished cosmetic product and use lab testing and public ingredient lists to develop your own take.

Need the nitty-gritty on that? Here’s a guide from the USPTO on what can be patented in cosmetics.

When Reverse Engineering Makes Sense

Reverse engineering formulas makes the most sense when:

You’re launching a beauty brand and want to create a skincare product without reinventing the wheel
You’re rebranding and need to upgrade or modernize an existing formula
You’re inspired by a competitor’s product and want to make something cleaner, better, or more affordable
You’ve got a product idea, but no clue where to start

Need a Starting Point?

If you’re unsure how to begin developing a beauty product, reverse engineering gives you a blueprint. Our chemists at Freelance Formulations work with indie brands and beauty entrepreneurs every day to take inspiration from real-world products and turn them into something better—and legally yours.

From skincare and haircare to body care and custom wellness products, we’ll help you develop a beauty product that’s fully customized, tested, and ready to scale.