the cleanser I made seven times before I was happy with it

Developing a formula is hard. It is a lot like writing a recipe. You have the idea, you know which ingredients you want to use, and you know the format, but it rarely comes together the first time.

There are so many things to consider. Do the ingredients work together? Are they ionically compatible? Are they water-soluble or oil-soluble? Do the scent profiles work together? Is the texture pleasant? Will the emulsion remain stable? Is the preservation system appropriate?

Even something that seems like a simple formula can take several rounds to get right.

Take our 3-in-1 micellar cleanser.

Micellar water is pretty basic at its core. Two main ingredients do the work: water and a surfactant, which does the actual cleansing by lifting dirt and oil from the skin. They are not the only ingredients in the formula, but they are the two that make it work.

My first attempt worked.

It was made with chamomile hydrosol and chamomile extract, so it was really soothing. It removed makeup and cleansed my skin without leaving it feeling tight or dry, and it had a pleasant sweet, floral, almost honey-like scent.

But it was brown.

The color came from the botanical extract, and as well as the formula worked, I could not get past seeing that brown tint on a cotton pad. It was not visually appealing. It looked dirty before I had even wiped the dirt off my face.

So I reworked it.

The next version was made with neroli, or orange blossom, hydrosol, diluted with a little distilled water to soften the scent.

Again, it worked as intended, but I realized the surfactant level was slightly higher than I wanted. Keeping it as-is would have meant recommending that it be rinsed off.

That was not necessarily a deal breaker, but I wanted this to be a simpler cleansing ritual.

After tweaking the formula again, I decided I wanted the micellar water to do more than remove makeup and cleanse. I wanted it to tone the skin too, all in one step. Especially for those days when time is limited, but you still do not want to skip caring for your skin.

Because it also acts as a toner, it needs to stay on the skin. That meant the surfactant level had to be low enough that it would not disrupt the skin barrier over time, but high enough to actually perform.

I also needed to make sure the formula included ingredients that benefited the skin and gave it that toning function.

So back to the drawing board I went.

Reselecting. Recalculating. Reformulating. Retesting.

Eventually, I had a micellar water that did what I had set out to make. One that removes makeup, cleanses gently, and tones the skin while respecting the skin barrier.

That is what intentional formulation looks like at Likha.

Every ingredient is chosen for a reason. Not as filler, and not because it is trending.

The goal is always to create products for people who want to care for their skin thoughtfully, without making the process more complicated than it needs to be.