From formula to strategy — from product to brand with long-term direction
This year, the Mireille Lab mentoring program begins with a new, strategic cycle, and one in which we no longer start from the product, but from the foundation of the business.
Because a successful brand doesn’t happen by accident. It comes from understanding why, how, and to whom we want to do business.
That is why in the new program we will first go through the key business and strategic steps, which precede the actual development of products and formulations.
Through eight carefully designed topics, we will learn how to discover our own direction, build a brand structure, and make smart decisions from pricing to placement, from strategy to marketing.
We start from the basics. Through this cycle, we will discover together:
- How do you want to do business – as a small boutique brand, a manufacturer for others, or as an ambitious brand with retail potential?
- Which marketing method suits you best – online, B2B, B2C, retail, drugstore, pharmacy or combined?
- What price can and should you set to make your product competitive but also sustainable?
- How to register and what exactly that means in practice.
- How to build yourself through social media in a way that makes sense, not just visibility.
- How to discover market potential and identify market “gaps” where your brand has the opportunity to grow.
- How to strategically set up your web shop, so that it is not just a catalog, but a sales tool and communication channel.
- Why branding is the foundation of trust and how to build it authentically.
- And finally, how to design a marketing strategy that delivers results, not just presence.
The new thematic cycle includes 8 key units:
- Understanding your own strategy and making business decisions for the future of the brand
We start from you and your values, goals and business capacities.
This module helps you define your brand’s vision, mission and strategy to make decisions that make long-term sense. - Retail listing process
What does it mean to be “retail ready”?
We learn about technical, legal and marketing prerequisites, negotiations, rebates and ways to prepare a brand for sale in drugstores and pharmacies. - Financial structure of the business and prices
Without understanding numbers, there is no sustainable business.
This module provides tools for cost planning, price calculation, margin creation and financial evaluation of profitability. - Discovering market potential and identifying market gaps
We learn how to analyze the market, identify opportunities, and design an offer that meets the real needs of customers.
Because the best brands are created when we know where the market is breathing empty. - The top ten (and expensive) mistakes in online sales
Through concrete examples, you will learn what not to do in the early stages of a webshop; from pricing and logistics to user experience and digital trust. - The importance of branding
Branding is what remains when everything else is gone.
We will define the identity, emotion and tone of your brand’s communication and how to differentiate yourself in a sea of similar products. - Strategic positioning of the web shop
The web is not just a sales tool, it is a mirror of your business concept.
We learn how to optimize the webshop, connect it to the brand story and create a digital experience that sells. - Marketing strategy
The final module connects all the previous steps.
Through campaign planning, defining goals and channels, you will learn how to build a marketing plan that brings visibility, recognition and results.
The goal of the new Mentoring Program
To understand the fundamentals of your business before defining your product.
To know how, where and why you are building a brand and that behind every decision there is a strategy, not a coincidence.
Mireille Lab Mentorship Program
A place where science, strategy and branding meet. Where you learn how to grow an idea into a brand that has purpose, direction and market potential.
Professional part of the Mireille Lab Mentoring Program
When a vision becomes a formula – the path from an idea to a scientifically based product. After defining the direction, strategy, and business framework of your brand in the first part of the Mentoring Program, we enter the second phase, which is the professional, laboratory part of the program.
This is the moment when the vision takes shape, and the idea becomes a concrete, functional and safe cosmetic product.
But precisely because we now know what we want to create and why, this process has meaning, order, and purpose.
Why is it important to go through the strategic part first?
Because there is no good product without understanding the purpose. Without a clear business decision, even the best formulation does not know who it belongs to.
When we defined through the previous modules:
- who we are as a brand,
- to whom we address,
- where we want to be present,
- and which type of product corresponds to our business model,
only then can we expertly and consciously enter the world of formulation, technology, and regulation.
Now we do not create random products, but targeted, effective and coordinated formulas that support our business strategy.
In the professional part of the Mentoring Program, we cover:
- The structure and function of the skin
A detailed understanding of the anatomy and physiology of the skin, because only by knowing its structure can we understand what the skin really needs and what it doesn’t. We will analyze different skin types and conditions, and how they are affected by active ingredients, environmental factors and formulation approaches. - Forms and types of cosmetic products
Creams, serums, emulsions, gels, tonics, balms… We learn how to choose formulation forms depending on the purpose, market and user experience, and what the advantages and challenges of each system are. - Ingredients from functional to active
In-depth understanding of active and auxiliary raw materials: emulsifiers, preservatives, oils, lipids, plant extracts, vitamins, probiotics and new generations of active compounds. We will learn how to combine, balance and test them to make the formula stable, effective and safe. - Product testing and examinations
There is no valid product without testing. We go through types of tests: stability, compatibility, microbiological purity, dermatological tests, challenge tests and other tests that confirm the quality and safety of the product. - Legal regulations and documentation
A cosmetic product is not finished without documentation. Through practical examples, we learn what EU Regulation 1223/2009 requires, what PIF documentation looks like, what CPNP application, UFI, IFRA, labels and declarations include, and which ISO standards are the basis of good manufacturing practice. - From laboratory to market
We connect all the elements; formulation, testing and regulation into a product launch process that is technically, regulatory and market ready. You will learn how to choose the optimal packaging, filling method, batch validation and quality control according to GMP standards.
The aim of the professional part
That after this phase you know how to build a product that has purpose, structure and security. That you understand every layer from the skin to the declaration. And that each of your products fits the strategy of your business, not just a trend.
Practical part of the Mireille Lab Mentoring Program
When knowledge becomes experience – formulation in a real laboratory
After defining the business and strategic vision in the first part of the program, and learning the scientific and regulatory foundations in the second, we come to the final phase of practical work in the laboratory.
This is the moment when your ideas and knowledge become reality.
At Mireille Lab, we learn through practice, because only through work, observation, and creation with our own hands does theory make sense.
What does the practical part include?
Through a series of guided laboratory modules, participants will work on the development of real formulations, from concept to finished product, with expert mentoring and supervision.
- Introduction to laboratory work and safety
We work according to the principles of ISO 22716 (Good Manufacturing Practice) from hygiene and safety protocols to proper preparation, measurement and documentation. - Formulation exercises
Practical work on various forms of cosmetic products: emulsions, serums, gels, tonics, oils, masks, scrubs…
Participants learn to select raw materials, calculate percentages, measure pH, stability and texture, and recognize what the formula “says”. - Technological processes and production phases
Through practical work, we go through the phases of heating, dispersion, homogenization, cooling and preservation, while understanding the role of each step. The emphasis is on precision, documentation and process standardization. - Analysis and correction of formulations
Each formulation undergoes an analytical approach: stability, appearance, texture, scent, skin feel and compatibility with packaging.
Participants learn to recognize mistakes and learn from them, just like in real production. - From the laboratory to the finished product
The final step includes filling, labeling and maintaining GMP documentation, so that participants understand the process from sample to market-ready product. The emphasis is on quality control, traceability and readiness for PIF documentation.
The aim of the practical part
- That knowledge becomes a skill, and an idea becomes a formulation.
- So that each participant can experience the process of creating a product in a real laboratory, learn to think critically, measure, correct and optimize.
- And to understand that behind every good formula there is a process, structure and responsibility.
Mireille Lab Mentorship Program
Three steps that make up the whole:
- Strategy – understanding where we are going.
- Profession – knowing how to create.
- Practice – learning to actually do it.
That’s the path from idea to brand. This is Mireille Lab.
