How To Design a Cosmetic Product Testing Lab

Cosmetic testing labs ensure that products are safe for commercial sale, and contain the right formulation of ingredients. To keep the testing environment clean and orderly, it’s important to consider every element of your regular tasks before designing the lab.

Every step should be covered by the features of your lab, and you’ll need to make special considerations for the specific requirements and regulations for your industry and region. 

At OnePointe Solutions, we’ve helped to outfit and design a huge range of laboratory environments, offering our expert advice to optimize labs and workspaces for the best and most reliable performance. Here, we’re covering everything you need to know about designing a cosmetic testing lab, including tips for choosing furniture and equipment. 

What Happens in a Cosmetic Product Testing Lab?

A cosmetic product testing lab is a dedicated space where lab testing for cosmetic products is performed. Many of these tests involve mixing and matching various substances and chemicals until the desired appearance is achieved.

Aside from formulating new products, the most important thing that a cosmetic lab does is test the safety of its products. This means testing every formula to ensure it’s safe for human use.

What Do Cosmetic Product Testing Labs Work On?

While “cosmetic testing lab” may bring to mind images of scientists working on makeup, these research spaces handle far more than that! In addition to lipstick, rouge, and blush, cosmetic testing labs research:

  • Anti-aging creams
  • Anti-wrinkle products
  • Colognes and perfumes
  • Lotions

Scientists also do far more than creating products. In a well-equipped cosmetic lab, you’ll see plenty of tests on existing products.

These tests are performed to ensure that every product you see on a store shelf is completely safe. Some of the experiments that may be run on a product are:

  • Elasticity
  • Heavy metals
  • Label integrity
  • Ocular irritation
  • Skin corrosion
  • Skin sensitivity
  • Viscosity
  • Vitamin levels

What Equipment Does a Cosmetic Testing Lab Need?

Obviously, all of this testing and development requires plenty of supplies. Like any lab, cosmetic testing facilities are well-stocked with plenty of beakers, test tubes, pipettes, and gadgets.

All of this equipment must be taken into consideration when designing a lab, which leads us to our first priority when we’re laying out a space.

Storage Space

While most people wouldn’t consider the storage space part of the equipment list, OnePointe Solutions knows the importance of ample cabinetry. We know how much stuff needs to be safely stored in a cosmetic lab, including:

  • Standard scientific supplies (glassware, pipettes, and so on)
  • Balances
  • Hot plates
  • Laboratory coats
  • Microscopes
  • Mixers
  • Raw materials
  • Scales
  • Test strips
  • Various containers
  • Weigh stations

Every lab needs a way to clear off its workspaces, and that’s where lab casework comes in to save the day! These elegant utilitarian solutions are capable of holding plenty of supplies, and biosafety cabinets are capable of storing hazardous or sensitive materials.

In addition to cabinetry, laboratories can utilize their working space as additional storage. Customized workbenches can include built-in drawers, which further amplify a lab’s storage space.

Specialized Equipment

In addition to small items, fully equipped cosmetic labs will need to have plenty of available floor space. While this obviously offers employees more room to move around, these empty spaces are really meant to hold a variety of larger appliances.

We’ve already gone over some examples of large specialty equipment, such as the wide range of gizmos that are stocked in biochemistry labs. However, cosmetic labs are special.

These spaces have their own unique range of requisite equipment, which includes items such as:

  • Drying racks
  • Kettles
  • Special storage for raw materials
  • Tanks
  • Large mixing equipment
  • Vats

Sinks and Plumbing

Once storage has been roughed out, it’s time to move to another laboratory essential: water! Every lab needs sinks, safety showers, and a water supply.

To accommodate this, designers need to carefully place enough sinks around the laboratory.

Sinks will often be built into the counters along the perimeter of a laboratory. In other cases, they may be placed in the center, situated within a permanent island countertop.

Regardless of where they are placed, great care must be taken to ensure that everyone — regardless of where they may be in the lab — can easily reach one.

Scientific Counter Space

Once we’ve determined how the floorplan will be laid out, we’ll need to fill in the space. With the large essentials roughed in, it’s time to dig into the next order of business: counter space.

Labs need plenty of stable lab countertops and surfaces for researchers to work with, after all!

The most common approach to working space is to install plenty of solid surface countertops. However, scientific research spaces are likely to receive plenty of abuse.

Various chemicals are handled over these countertops, which means that spills are inevitable. To handle these mishaps, labs must carefully consider their options.

Ensuring durability means picking out the right countertop material. The most popular option is epoxy resin, which is the perfect balance between form and function.

Phenolic resin also serves a similar purpose. Laboratories seeking maximum durability will often opt to install stainless steel countertops. Additional options include:

Portable Workspaces

Counters are not very flexible, though, which means that their placement is final. When a laboratory is small or cramped, the preference may shift towards adaptability.

To facilitate this, we’ll utilize a variety of workbenches and tables, such as:

Maximum flexibility can be achieved by commissioning custom tables. Unlike store-bought options, these individualized workspaces can be equipped with all of the bells and whistles that you need. Some of the customization options that lab management should consider adding to their tables include:

  • Adjustable legs
  • Cabinets
  • Dividers
  • Folding trays
  • Levels
  • Shelves
  • Stabilized casters and wheels
  • Tool storage racks

Safety Equipment

We’ve focused so much energy on optimizing the layout of a space, but we can’t forget to include plenty of safety features! A cosmetic testing laboratory might not sound like a dangerous place, but caution must be exercised everywhere.

Accidents happen, and everyone needs to be prepared for them.

To account for the safety of the dedicated researchers within a cosmetics lab, all of the standard safety measures should be included. This means that the lab designers must account for:

It’s essential to remember that these emergency procedures only work when employees can reach them easily. That’s why so many labs hire professional designers.

We know how important it is to keep workers safe, and we know how to ensure everyone can reach an emergency station when they need it.

Office Space

Finally, a good laboratory needs plenty of office space, which will house the computers necessary for recording results. This is especially important in a cosmetic lab, where the results of each experiment will directly impact consumers.

Now, this part can be a little tricky. Some laboratories have their own dedicated office space, which is structurally separate from the lab.

In this case, no additional safety measures are needed. Employees only need to remember to wash off when they’re done with their experiments.

However, other labs will have a singular large room, within which they must accommodate both a lab and an office. In these cases, laboratory designers will utilize an array of special dividers and partitions to segregate the lab work and paperwork.

At OnePointe Solutions, our designers are capable of truly optimizing your space, however, limited it may be. With moving dividers, labs can easily be transformed and reconfigured as needed.

Should this be unnecessary, we can utilize built-in dividers, which provide all the safety and security of a structural wall without the hassle.

You’ll also want to consider what kind of office furniture you’ll be using. Office chairs should strike a balance between comfort and durability.

The larger pieces of furniture, such as cabinets and drawers, should be sturdy enough to withstand occasional abuse.

The OnePointe Solutions Difference

All of this is pretty overwhelming! There are a lot of moving parts that you need to consider, and fixing one problem can easily bump another solution out of place.

Trying to design a laboratory on your own is hard, messy, and dangerous. Improperly designed laboratories are prone to more accidents, and employees may not be able to reach emergency supplies when they’re truly needed.

That’s why we always encourage lab managers to seek out professional help.

Need Help Designing Your Cosmetics Product Testing Lab?

At OnePointe Solutions, we’ve been handling laboratory design for years! Our national team of expert designers and contractors are trained to provide every client with an optimized solution to their lab-related problems, and we guarantee that you’ll love the results.

Everything that we manufacture is certified by the Scientific Equipment and Furniture Association for its durability and safety — cabinets, desks, countertops, and more! More importantly, we don’t rest until everything is perfect.

We want our clients to have the lab of their dreams, and that’s why we do what we do.

We have plenty of enthusiastic clients, and we’re proud to showcase our fantastic results on our website gallery. Is it time for you to upgrade your workspace?

Are you ready to see the OnePointe Solutions difference? Get in touch with us, and let’s see what we can do together!

Questions? Concerns? Want to start today? Get in touch. 866.612.7312

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