Adding Your First Ingredients

Why Ingredients Come First

Before you can build formulas, you need ingredients in your library. Formuley makes this fast with a unified database search that pulls from multiple authoritative sources at once.

Getting to the Ingredient Form

You can add an ingredient in two ways:

Open the Ingredients page from the sidebar navigation and click the Add Ingredient button.
From the dashboard, click Add Ingredient in the Quick Actions grid.

Using the Unified Ingredient Search

At the top of the ingredient form, a search bar queries CosIng, PubChem, the Soap Oil Database, and IFRA simultaneously. Start typing an ingredient name and select a result to auto-populate many of the fields below. This saves time and reduces data entry errors.

Filling In the Ingredient Details

Basic Information

Name (required) -- the common name of the ingredient.
Category -- select from the dropdown: Oil, Butter, Wax, Essential Oil, Fragrance Oil, Preservative, Emulsifier, Additive, Colorant, Exfoliant, Humectant, Surfactant, Thickener, Active, or Other.
INCI Name -- the International Nomenclature of Cosmetic Ingredients name, often auto-filled from search.
Description -- optional notes about the ingredient.

Unit Preferences

Default Unit -- the unit you typically measure this ingredient in. Options: g, kg, oz, lb, ml, L, fl oz.
Low Stock Alert Threshold -- set a quantity below which Formuley will flag this ingredient as low stock on your dashboard.

Supplier Information

Supplier -- a combobox where you can pick an existing supplier or type a new one.
Supplier SKU -- the supplier's product code for easy reordering.

Chemical Properties

These fields are auto-populated when you select a search result:

CAS Number, EC Number, Molecular Formula, Molecular Weight

You can also enter or edit these values manually if needed.

Soap Making Properties

If your ingredient is used in soap formulation, these fields are especially useful:

NaOH SAP Value and KOH SAP Value -- saponification values for cold/hot process and liquid soap.
INS Value -- helps predict bar quality.
Iodine Value -- indicates the hardness and shelf life of the finished soap.

Safety and Regulatory

Known Allergen -- check this box if the ingredient is a recognized allergen.
IFRA Max Usage % -- the maximum safe usage percentage as defined by IFRA standards.
IFRA Category -- the IFRA classification for the ingredient.
Restrictions -- any additional regulatory restrictions or notes.
pH Range Min / Max -- the acceptable pH range for the ingredient.
Max Temperature -- the maximum temperature the ingredient can withstand before degradation.

Stock Tracking

You do not need to manually enter stock quantities. Formuley automatically calculates current stock from your purchase records and batch usage. As you log purchases and produce batches, the stock level updates in real time.

Tips

Use the unified search whenever possible -- it fills in safety data and chemical properties you might otherwise need to research manually.
Set a Low Stock Alert Threshold for every ingredient you use regularly so the dashboard can warn you before you run out.
After adding a few ingredients, you are ready to create your first formula.