HS 33
Personal care, where the destination sets the rules.
Beauty and personal care carries more regulatory weight than any other category here. What you can import, how it must be labelled, and what documentation must accompany it are decided by your destination market. Send that requirement first — it determines which suppliers can serve you at all.
What we can source
Product groups in this category.
Essential and carrier oils
Clove, nutmeg, patchouli, citronella, vetiver, and coconut-derived carrier oils.
Natural skincare
Soaps, balms, scrubs, and oils, often built around local botanical ingredients.
Private label and OEM
Manufacturing under your brand, either from an existing formulation or a developed one.
Raw materials
Botanical extracts and ingredients supplied to formulators rather than end consumers.
What to specify
The details that decide the price.
A supplier who cannot answer these cannot quote. Sending them up front is the single fastest way to get comparable numbers back.
- Product type and format
- Oil, cream, balm, powder, or liquid. Format determines packaging, shelf life, and shipping requirements.
- Formulation ownership
- Your formulation, theirs, or jointly developed. This decides who owns it afterwards — agree it in writing before development starts.
- Ingredient requirements
- Restricted or excluded ingredients vary by destination market. Send your list rather than assuming.
- Specification and testing
- For oils, purity and constituent profile. Ask what testing the supplier performs and what they can document.
- Shelf life and stability
- Required shelf life on arrival, and whether stability testing has been done.
Commercial considerations
- Private label minimums are usually driven by packaging component orders, not by the formulation itself.
- Formulation development is a separate cost and a separate timeline from production.
- Packaging components often have their own long lead times and can gate the whole order.
- Sample and stability testing add weeks. Plan them in rather than treating them as a delay.
Packaging
- Primary packaging — bottle, jar, tube — with material and closure specified.
- Labelling requirements are set by your destination market and are frequently mandatory in content and format.
- Secondary packaging and cartons, with artwork approval.
- Temperature sensitivity in transit for some formulations.
Certifications buyers may request
- GMP or ISO 22716 for cosmetics manufacturing, where your market requires it
- Halal certification, depending on destination market
- Organic or natural certification schemes, where claimed
- Product registration in the destination country, which is usually the importer’s responsibility
- Safety assessment documentation, required in several markets
Certifications listed above are ones buyers commonly ask for. They are not a claim that any particular supplier holds them. We record what each supplier actually holds, and say plainly what is missing.
Sourcing context
What affects your timeline.
- We do not verify regulatory compliance, and we do not make health, efficacy, or certification claims on a supplier’s behalf. We collect what they hold and state plainly what they do not.
- Product registration in your market is normally the importer’s obligation, not the manufacturer’s. Confirm who is doing it before ordering.
- Small natural-cosmetics producers may make excellent product without holding the certifications a regulated market requires. That is a real constraint, and we flag it rather than glossing over it.
Common export routes
Where this category usually ships.
HS codes are the classification your customs broker already uses. Labelling everything this way means nothing is lost between the quote and the shipping documents.
- 3301.29Essential oilsIDN → FRA
How suppliers are checked
You see the level, not just a badge.
Documents checked
Business registration (NIB), tax ID (NPWP), and any certifications collected and cross-checked for consistency with the company identity given to us.
Capability confirmed
Production capacity, lead times, packaging, and export experience confirmed in a direct call with the person responsible.
Seen in person
Production site visited in person, with dated photos and notes filed on record. Given only when the visit actually happened.
Before you ask
Include these and quotes come back faster.
Each missing item is one more round of email before a supplier can put a number on paper.
- 01Product type and format
- 02Destination country — this drives the entire compliance path
- 03Whether you bring a formulation or need one developed
- 04Ingredient restrictions your market imposes
- 05Packaging format and whether you supply the components
- 06Required certifications and documentation
Questions buyers ask
About sourcing this category.
- Can you confirm a supplier meets my market’s cosmetic regulations?
- No. We collect the documentation a supplier holds and tell you what is missing, but we are not a certification body or a regulatory authority. Compliance assessment for your market remains yours.
- Who owns a formulation developed by the manufacturer?
- That depends entirely on what you agree, and it is worth agreeing in writing before development starts rather than after. We raise the question early because it is expensive to resolve late.
- What minimum orders should I expect for private label?
- Usually driven by packaging component minimums rather than the formulation. We ask each supplier for their actual figure rather than quoting a range.
Other categories
Sourcing more than one thing?
Put everything in a single request. It is easier for you, and it lets us look for suppliers who can cover more than one line.
- HS 09 · 18Agriculture & Commodities
- HS 94Furniture & Decor
- HS 61 · 62Textiles & Apparel
- HS 16 · 20Food & Beverage
- HS 46Handicrafts
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