#naturallythinking

Hello again! I hope you survived the Black Friday madness. I spent it working and simultaneously dodging the Black Friday emails that continuously streamed into my inbox.

As promised in my previous post, this EU Cosmetic Regulation Course Day 2 review is going to outline the course structure, topics covered and my overall rating. If you haven’t already read my previous post about the Day 1 of the EU course, I outlined the location of the course, price, course provider, structure of the course and topic covered, so check that out before moving on so that you are all caught up.

I actually love writing reviews of products and oils that I have bought and workshops that I have attended because this is the sort of information I would have loved to have available to me before handing over hundreds of pounds to people over the worldwide web for classes that only last a few hours. I shop around online before buying anything and as I am constantly looking for the best possible price, discount codes, customer feedback and chances to save on delivery, I hope that I can pass on any good titbits and recommendations to you as I embark on this journey of perfumery.

The same 10am start on Day 2 was met with the sight of Croydon Industrial Park again. Despite being a freezing November morning in England, I was ready to absorb some important legal information. Now for a workshop so dense with information, I must reiterate how effective it is being in small groups. Not only did this small of class of about 10 allow each and every one of us to ask the questions we came to ask, but it also allowed us to network with each other. I walked away from Day 2 feeling like my £180 was worth every penny. Honestly. I spoke to everyone in the room and managed to questions them on their motivations for attending a workshop like this was. Every successful entrepreneur with an Instagram account will tell you to network with like-minded people, and we know this is good practise for many reasons, but it can sometimes be very daunting.

After reflecting on my networking opportunities after this course and feeling quite proud of myself for having made some really useful contacts with those I had met in Croydon, I had a conversation with a friend about networking. This friend is a colleague of mine and we had previously discussed our intentions of one day starting our own businesses. We were catching up on each other’s lives and I mentioned that I had attended a cosmetics course. We concluded that networking is challenging for someone just starting their own projects. On one hand, networking can open doors for you via the people you meet, however on the other, you have to be careful as to how much of your business ideas you discuss with practical strangers before trading has even begun. While networking can make you feel like a fully-fledged girlboss or manboss, it can be scary as it solidifies your intentions of starting your own business, and once your intentions are out in the atmosphere, there is no going back on your word. In addition, some people, like I was, are scared to let their employers know that they are pursuing ventures outside of work for various valid reasons, so they keeping their ideas locked away forgetting to share them with those who may be able to help develop them. Networking is both a gift and a curse in my opinion.

Luckily for me this EU course was a safe-haven for budding cosmetic developers. Sitting next to me was the charming and accomplished Karen Gilbert, perfumer and product developer. I instantly recognised her from the internet, and embarrassingly told her that she was “internet famous”, classic of my generation… Karen is quite frankly an expert in her field. The networking tree did bare other fruit such as an international distributer of Korean cosmetics, British cosmetics developer, a beautician, a PhD. in Chemistry and other blending enthusiasts. This experience solidified my opinion that you must attend courses, visit trade shows, and just rub shoulder with like-minded people even if you do not feel comfortable disclosing your ideas with people… just yet.

Of course, I cannot promise that every Naturally Thinking’s EU Cosmetic Regulation two-day course will be like the one I attended, but I would be mean to not consider all the good bits that I experienced when reviewing it. We covered topics such as:

·       Product Information Files

·       Animal Testing

·       Claims

·       Labelling

·       Barcoding and Batch Numbers

·       Notification

For me the parts about product information files and EU notification were dense however necessary, but the parts about labelling and claims provided excellent discussion to balance things out. I made sure I made copious notes.

After all this talking and learning, I must admit, I did get very sleepy towards the end of the session so I welcomed the early 3:30 finish. What do you expect, I’m a typical 24 year old with little patience for school. In all, this was an incredibly informative course, get on it and attend, you won’t be disappointed.

 A solid 4.5/5