FORMULATION PARTNER

Your AI co-pilot for every formulation question.

Formulation Partner is an AI assistant for cosmetic formulation problems — software, not a consultancy: ingredient compatibility, substitutions, stability failures. Describe a failure — an emulsion separating at 40°C — and it returns up to three ranked root causes, each with a model-confidence score, evidence drawn from technical data sheets and usage statistics across 1M+ products, and a fix. One credit covers five exchanges; the first three are free. Answers are generated automatically, in seconds.

Ask anything about ingredients, compatibility, stability, or formulation strategy. Get answers grounded in 1M+ products, 429K+ research findings, and 44K+ ingredient profiles, so every response reflects real data rather than a general-purpose model.

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Conversation examples

What you can ask

Compatibility

Can I thicken an APG-based surfactant system with Carbomer 940?

Formulation Partner · AI

APG surfactants (Decyl Glucoside, Coco-Glucoside) are nonionic and compatible with Carbomer 940 at pH 5.5-6.5. However, Carbomer requires neutralization above pH 5.5 for full thickening, and APG systems perform best at pH 5.0-5.5. You'll likely see reduced yield value. Alternatives: Xanthan Gum (pH-independent), Hydroxyethylcellulose (stable at pH 4.5-7.0), or a Carbomer/Acrylates copolymer blend that thickens at lower pH. 847 products in the corpus use APG + Xanthan Gum; only 23 use APG + Carbomer.

Market Intelligence

What's the white space in Korean brightening serums?

Formulation Partner · AI

Analyzing 14,200 Korean brightening serums in the corpus. Niacinamide dominates (78%). Arbutin is declining (41% → 28% over 3 years). Emerging gap: Tranexamic Acid appears in only 6% of Korean serums vs 23% in Japanese market. Bakuchiol + Vitamin C combinations are growing but present in only 3.2% of products — potential differentiation opportunity.

Stability Troubleshooting

My O/W emulsion is separating after 2 weeks at 40°C. Formula: Cetearyl Alcohol 3%, Polysorbate 60 2%, Dimethicone 3%.

Formulation Partner · AI

Three ranked root causes: ROOT CAUSE #1 (HIGH — 82%): HLB mismatch. Polysorbate 60 alone gives HLB 14.9; your oil phase (Dimethicone, HLB requirement ~10-12) needs a co-emulsifier. Add Sorbitan Stearate 1-2% to bring system HLB to ~11.5. ROOT CAUSE #2 (MED — 61%): Cetearyl Alcohol at 3% may be insufficient structural support. 73% of stable O/W emulsions in the corpus use 4-6%. ROOT CAUSE #3 (LOW — 34%): Check mixing temperature — Dimethicone requires incorporation above 60°C for uniform dispersion.

Substitution

I need to replace Phenoxyethanol in a natural-certified face cream for EU market.

Formulation Partner · AI

Phenoxyethanol alternatives ranked by preservation efficacy and natural certification compatibility: 1. Benzyl Alcohol + Dehydroacetic Acid (COSMOS-approved, pH 4.0-5.5, broad spectrum) 2. Ethylhexylglycerin + Caprylyl Glycol (boosted system, needs primary preservative partner) 3. Leuconostoc/Radish Root Ferment Filtrate (natural origin, limited gram-negative coverage — pair with Caprylhydroxamic Acid) Regulatory note: All three are permitted in EU with no concentration cap issues for leave-on.

Knowledge base grounding

Grounded in data, not hallucination

Every answer is cross-referenced against the full theformulator.ai knowledge base: 1M+ products, 44K+ ingredient profiles, 429K+ research findings, and 21regulatory markets. When the Formulation Partner cites a co-occurrence count, a stability pattern, or a regulatory limit, it's pulling from real data.

Powered by regulatory intelligence across 21 markets, ingredient safety methodology, market intelligence from real products, and the chemistry knowledge base.

Pricing

Formulation Partner — 1 credit per 5 exchanges. Included in all subscription tiers.

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Your formulations stay private.

Private workspace

Your generated formulations are stored in a workspace tied to your account. No one at theformulator.ai can access your formulation content.

No internal access

We do not use your formulation data for training, analytics, or any purpose other than delivering your results.

You own your data

Export your formulations at any time in full. If you leave, your data leaves with you.

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Frequently asked questions

How is this different from asking a general-purpose chatbot?

Every figure it shows comes from a retrieval it made in that turn — technical data sheet ranges from 44,000+ ingredient profiles, usage statistics from 1M+ launched products, regulatory status, chemistry rules — and each figure carries the reference it came from. A figure that cannot be traced to a retrieval is dropped before you see it. When it names a root cause it states its own confidence as a labelled percentage, so a weak hypothesis looks weak. Substitutions are proposed by function and named by INCI, not by any vendor's catalogue.

What kinds of questions does it answer well?

Failure diagnosis — separation, viscosity loss, preservative inefficacy — with up to three ranked causes and a fix each. Compatibility — whether two ingredients can share a phase or a pH window. Substitution — a replacement for an unavailable or unwanted ingredient with the same function, including natural-certification preferences. Concentration checks — where a level sits against the data-sheet range and the category benchmark. It is weakest where its sources are thin: novel actives with little data, or proprietary blends whose composition is not public, and it says so rather than guessing.

Does it remember my formulation between sessions?

Yes. Within a conversation the last twenty messages travel with each turn, so you can paste a formula once and iterate on it. Conversations are saved to your account and listed in the history rail by their opening question, so a formula you diagnosed last week is one click away and the diagnosis cards reopen with it.