Aromatic Formulation Program

We believe that formulation skills are essential.

The two courses that comprise Aromatic Formulation give you the solid knowledge base you need to start formulating your own face and body care products. Join Robert Tisserand and Lise Andersen, who will guide you through a range of expert creations for you to add to your aromatherapy toolkit. Four months of step-by-step instruction, filled with customizable formulas for balms, salves, masks… and now also emulsions!

This is an eight week course. During seven fascinating lessons, expert cosmetic formulator Lise Andersen will share her passion, know-how and professional techniques for creating silken whips, balms, serums, mists and more. You’ll explore the pros and pitfalls of plant oils, waxes and butters, and discover how and where to procure the right equipment and fresh, raw ingredients.

There is also one lesson on Essential Oil Blending with Robert Tisserand. Offered in week two, Robert will personally guide you in creating safe and beautifully scented therapeutic and cosmeceutical blends for adding to your formulations.

As well as gaining the proper methodology for custom formulating, you’ll get dozens of smart tested formulas, including essential oil blends designed by Robert. Stop relying on dubious DIY recipes that are potentially ineffective or unsafe, and confidently create your own sound formulations.

Completion of this course is a prerequisite for Level 2 – Emulsion Essentials.

In this four week course, Lise Andersen expertly walks you through the process and equips you with the knowledge to make your own safe, stable, hand-stirred emulsions without having to invest in pricey lab equipment.
Lise has carefully selected ingredients that are globally available, easy to work with, and that can be combined using regular kitchen tools and equipment. She shares her many tried and tested techniques and provides you with insights you’ll need to continue your emulsion-making journey with confidence. You’ll get step by step instructions and six unique formulations from eye serum to face cleanser to rich soothing salve.

You’ll learn how to work with six different emulsifiers and get comfortable about using preservatives while creating a collection of beautiful products that are as natural is it’s possible to be.

Prerequisite: Essential Formulation

WEEKLY LESSONS
Level 1: Eight 60-minute pre-recorded lessons.
Level 2: Four 60-minute live lessons with Q&A.

Q&A SESSIONS
Level 1: Three live Q&A sessions – one with Robert Tisserand.
Level 2: Four live Q&A sessions – one at the end of each lesson.

PRINTABLE COURSE MATERIAL
Extensive downloadable handouts and course notes with links to additional research and resources.

DEDICATED GROUP DISCUSSIONS
Access to our private online forum to ask questions and interact with your teachers and classmates.

SHOPPING LISTS AND SUPPLIER LISTS
Easy reference for the materials needed and where to get them, wherever you are in the world.

ONGOING COURSE ACCESS
Ongoing access to the learning platform for eight weeks after course completion.

Formulator | Founder of LisaLise Pure Natural Skincare & Formulators’ Kitchen

A self-professed ‘green’ formulator, Lise works with luxurious natural plant-based ingredients – preferably as raw and unprocessed as possible. Entirely self-taught, she has years of experience in researching, testing, and developing cosmetics.

Lise is the author of several DIY e-books on making skincare and haircare products, herbal extracts, and more. She also offers consultation and bespoke formulation for beauty brands. Visit her blog where she journals her experiments and shares know-how on everything from making no-soap cleansers to pressed eye shadow.

Author | Speaker | Founder of Tisserand Institute

Robert is one of the world’s leading experts in aromatherapy with over 40 years of experience. He is a speaker, educator, author, and consultant on the science and benefits of essential oils and their safe and effective application. Robert has inspired audiences in the UK, USA, Canada, Australia, Brazil, Czech Republic, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Korea and Japan on topics ranging from the therapeutic foundations of essential oils to examinations on essential oils and the skin.

Robert wrote one of the first books to bring awareness to aromatherapy in 1977, The Art of Aromatherapy, and is a co-author of Essential Oil Safety (2nd Edition, 2014), a book that sets industry standards for the safe use of essential oils.

Course Breakdown  

Essential Formulation

What you’ll be learning over the eight weeks:

  • Evaluation of raw materials, including sourcing, storage and safety
  • Tips for procuring the right tools and equipment
  • The ins and outs of containers and packaging
  • The importance of Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP)
  • Working with weight vs. volume and calculating percentages
  • Essential oil scent profiles and affinities – or ‘what blends with what’
  • Considerations: nice scent or therapeutic efficacy? Can you blend for both?
  • Natural perfumery basics: top, middle and base notes in relation to volatility of essential oils, C02 extracts, absolutes and resinoids
  • The process: brainstorming, testing, reviewing and testing again
  • Blending know-how: measuring, melting, diluting, recording

Products: Essential oil formulations for scent and skin application

Understanding skin lipids, and fatty acids as components of skincare

  • The differences between plant, animal and petrochemical oils
  • Pros and cons of using fatty oils for skincare and health (yes, there are cons!)
  • Combining the most effective fatty oils for different skin types
  • Making and ‘testing’ the final product

Products:

Basic Massage Oil (unscented nutrient-rich base oil)

Moisture-Rich Facial Serum for Dry Skin (EO blend by Robert Tisserand)

Balancing Facial Serum for Oily Skin

Age-Defy Facial Serum for Mature Skin

  • Understanding the nature of waxes and their uses
  • Pros and cons of wax and oil-based products (balms and ointments)
  • Overview of main principles involved in making a smooth balm
  • Creation of balms for lips, face and body massage
  • Troubleshooting tips for wax and oil formulations

Products:

Basic Ointment

Luxurious Lemon and Rose Lip Balm (EO blend by Robert Tisserand)

Cappuccino Lip Balm (EO blend by Robert Tisserand)

  • How to recognize natural plant butters
  • Pros and cons of using butters
  • Overview of main principles for formulating with butters
  • Creation of buttery balms and whipped butters for massage, hands and feet
  • Troubleshooting tips for using butters – including how to combat graininess

Products:

Calming Shea Butter Balm (Skin Repair EO blend by Robert Tisserand)

Soothing Body Serum (Skin Repair EO blend by Robert Tisserand)

Whipped Body Butter

  • Introduction to surfactants: mixing oil and water safely
  • The challenges of creating and using bath products
  • Overview of main principles for composing and customizing bath oils
  • How to make bath bombs and salts with essential oils that safely disperse in water

Products:

Basic Bath Oil

Bath Bombs (EO blend by Robert Tisserand)

Bath Salt Soak

  • The complexities of making water-based sprays with essential oils
  • Understanding solubilizers, emulsifiers and dispersants
  • Introduction to preservatives: what does ‘broad spectrum’ mean and why do we need it?
  • Creation and customization of an aqueous spray using essential oils

Products:

Basic Body Spritzer (customizable spray)

Bug Off Spray (EO blend by Robert Tisserand)

Refreshing Room Spray

  • Understanding natural clays and their properties
  • How to ensure you’re working with the best raw materials
  • Creating clay masks with essential oils and hydrosols
  • How to incorporate fresh foods (avocado) for optimal results
  • Shelf-life and storage of fresh-made cosmetic products

Products:

Fresh Honey and Avocado Mask for Sensitive Skin

Deep Cleansing Mask (EO blend by Robert Tisserand)

Ultra Moisture Boosting Mask

Course Breakdown

What you’ll be learning over the next eight weeks:

  • Understanding the nature and benefits of an emulsion

  • Requirements for a safe and stable emulsion

  • Discussion of emulsifiers and co-emulsifiers 

  • Selecting a preservative or preservative system

  • Guidelines on using active ingredients in your emulsion

  • Packaging options

  • What constitutes a light emulsion

  • About the emulsifiers we’ll be using in this lesson

  • Step by step heating and cooling methods for optimal results

  • Tips on the hand stirring techniques shown in this lesson

  • How to measure the pH of your product

  • Creating an emulsion for the eye area – ingredient highlights

Products: Eye serum, Body lotion

  • The elements of rich emulsions and where they are optimally applied
  • Creating emulsions for the face – ingredient highlights and tips
  • Identifying and working with quality multifunctional emulsifiers
  • Demonstration of the heating and cooling methods for these formulas
  • Transferring to containers – tips and tricks
  • Customizing your cream and salve

Products:

Rich Face cream  

Soothing Salve for Dry Skin

  • What constitutes a cold mix and an anhydrous emulsion 

  • About the emulsifiers we’ll be using in this lesson

  • Fail-safe stirring techniques for cold mix emulsifiers

  • Emulsions as cleansers and scrubs

  • Tailoring your formula to your needs

    Products made:

    Cleansing Milk 

    Body Scrub

coming soon

What previous students say about our courses:

Amazing class, love the live webinars, the quickness with which you reply to us is great and the chats are a wonderful way to continue to learn from each other.I love learning from Robert who is the best in this field!Love the live webinars, with follow-up interactions via forums. Such great handouts and notes, and I like being able to re-listen to the recordings of lectures/webinars for note taking.The information presented is appropriate for all levels, and although I am just beginning my aromatherapy journey it all makes sense.Keep doing the amazing work you do! Your knowledge is so valuable! Thank you!

When You Complete the Course

FORMULATION CERTIFICATION
A signed Certificate of Completion issued by the Tisserand Institute for each course.

UNIQUE KNOWLEDGE
The program will empower you with thorough, evidence-based chemistry information.

AROMATIC FORMULATION Certificate

Your certificates will be signed by Lise Andersen and Robert Tisserand. These demonstrate your knowledge of formulating products with oils, butters and waxes  (Level 1: Essential Formulation) and hand-stirred emulsions (Level 2: Emulsion Essentials).

Don’t miss your chance to learn formulation from one of the most experienced natural skincare formulators! 

And remember, when you sign up for BOTH courses – Essential Formulation (Level 1) and Emulsion Essentials (Level 2) – you’ll discover even more and save a bundle, too!

Ready to get started?

FAQs

Yes. Each lesson comes with printable handouts of the slides used in the lesson, and additional lesson notes. These are sent to you before each lesson and are for you to keep and refer to at any time.Many of our students have commented that our courses helped them grasp what they learned elsewhere in more detail, or complemented their previous education. Some of our students are lifelong learners, and some are teachers.We will let one of our previous students answer this one:

“The information presented is appropriate for all levels, and although I am just beginning my aromatherapy journey it all makes sense.”Each weekly lesson is followed by a multiple choice quiz, and there is a summary test at the end of each course. Passing both the weekly quizzes and the final tests is a requirement for certification.There will be five live sessions. You can ask questions any time on our online platform.Absolutely! In addition to the live Q&A sessions, you can post your questions in the dedicated student forums.We believe that safety should be at the core of any practice using essential oils. This is why we require those who wish to study Essential Oils for Healthy Skin to also pass our Essential Oil Safety Masterclass. This ensures that the knowledge you gain can be applied safely as well as effectively. Understanding essential oil safety from all angles helps you make safe choices for yourself, your family and/or your clients.You will have access to all the recordings and course materials for at least twelve weeks weeks after the last lesson. All the printable materials (notes, handouts, charts, etc.) are of course yours to keep for reference forever.You don’t need to do the Safety Masterclass again, but we will open it for you as a sit-in to refresh your memory for no extra cost – you just pay for the Skin part. If you have purchased the Safety Masterclass before but did not get the Certificate of Completion, you can use this opportunity to do so. Please check your email for a message about how to proceed. 🙂Essential Oils for Healthy Skin is an update of the Complete Skin Series, which was launched in 2014. It not only includes much new information, but it is now a certification course. There are recorded lessons and live Q&A sessions, and you will need to pass the assessments to gain your certificate. This all happens on our new learning portal where you can interact with fellow students as well as ask questions in dedicated forums.Because we have students from all over the world and of many professions we are not able to offer credits for specific organizations – there are simply too many. However, we issue a confirmation of CE hours gained on the course that you can apply with your professional organization and will be happy to assist with any additional documentation.We have found that running classes on specific dates works best to help you finish a program. You join a class of students, and learn along with them. Many students help each other with queries, and of course our tutors are there too. That said, if you miss a few classes you should be still able to comfortably jump right back in and if you do fall behind you can request extra time. Of course this cannot be indefinite, but we do our best to help you get your certificate.