Chapter 02 Formulation Principles
Lot N° 0316 — Internal Brief, March 2024
Slide 03 / 12
Section 02.1 — Four Operating Constraints

What we put
on the label.

Document
DCM-2024-03 / REV B
01
Name the actives by percentage, not by promise.
Every front label leads with the molecule and its concentration. No "radiance complex," no proprietary blend names — only what a chemist would call it.
StandardINCI · % w/w
02
One active per bottle, kept at its stable pH.
We separate ingredients that fight each other in solution. The result is six small bottles instead of one crowded serum.
RangepH 3.0 – 7.0
03
Cost is the published study, not the marketing.
Pricing tracks the raw-material cost and filling line, never the perceived prestige of the category. A €6.80 retinoid sits next to a €6.80 acid.
MarginCost + 38%
04
The bottle should look like the lab it came from.
Frosted dropper, monospaced label, no model on the carton. The packaging refuses to perform — and the formulation performs instead.
ReferenceORDINAL-LAB-016
ORDINAL / FORMULATIONS
Confidential — for internal distribution only
03 / 12
This is the The Ordinary design system, applied by Curio Design — a design-style library for AI agents. Full The Ordinary guide → designbycurio.com/learn/the-ordinary-clinical-white-2016