INDUSTRIES / BEAUTY
Cosmetics & Skincare
Fulfillment
Beauty products fail quietly. An emulsion that separated in a hot warehouse still ships, still scans, and still gets a one-star review about texture six weeks later. Climate controlled storage, batch level traceability and shade level pick accuracy, from an FDA registered facility in Houston.
GET A QUOTE
Get Your Quote
Tell us your SKU count, formats and monthly orders and we'll come back with itemized pricing.
THE REAL RISK
Heat Is the Silent Return
Beauty is the category where warehouse conditions turn into product reviews. Nothing looks wrong at the pick face. The separation, the bloom on a balm, the oxidized serum that went brown, all of it surfaces at the customer, weeks after it left the building.
Houston summers make this a real operating decision rather than a line item. Our facility is climate controlled and temperature sensitive stock is held accordingly.
FDA
REGISTERED FACILITY
Climate
CONTROLLED STORAGE
Batch-Level
TRACEABILITY
10 Min
FROM PORT HOUSTON
WHAT BEAUTY NEEDS
Built Around How Beauty Actually Fails
The three things that cost beauty brands money are heat, batch records and shade picks. Everything else is ordinary fulfillment.
FIG 01
CLIMATE CONTROLLED
Emulsions separate, balms bloom, actives oxidize. Beauty formulations fail quietly in a hot warehouse and the damage surfaces as texture complaints weeks later. Our Houston facility is climate controlled, which on the Gulf Coast is a functional requirement rather than a feature.
FIG 02
BATCH & PAO TRACKING
Batch codes captured at receiving and carried to the outbound label, with period-after-opening and expiration dating tracked at the same level and FIFO picking enforced. Cosmetics are FDA regulated and our facility is FDA registered.
FIG 03
SHADE-LEVEL PICK ACCURACY
One foundation line becomes 40 near-identical SKUs separated by a word on a small label. Shade variants get discrete bins and scan verification at the pick, because a wrong shade costs a return, a refund and a review.
WHY ASFAR
Small Units, Expensive Mistakes
A beauty order is low weight and low cube, so shipping cost is rarely the problem. The problem is that every unit is small, similar to its neighbour, fragile in a parcel, and regulated.
Leak-Aware Packing
Poly bagged units, pump and cap checks at pick, void fill for glass primaries.
Set Assembly In House
Bundles built and held as finished goods, not assembled during the Q4 rush.
FDA Registered Facility
Cosmetics are a regulated category and the records are kept accordingly.
Straight Answer on Hazmat
Aerosols, polish and alcohol sprays discussed before you ship, not after.
Launching or replatforming?
Send us your SKU list with formats and shade counts. We will tell you where the pick accuracy and hazmat problems are before they become your problem.
WAREHOUSING & DISTRIBUTION
A Cosmetics Warehouse Is Half the Job
Storage conditions keep the product saleable. Distribution decides how many channels you can serve without splitting your inventory.
Most beauty brands come looking for a cosmetics fulfillment company and actually need two things at once: a warehouse that will not cook the product, and a distribution operation that can serve more than one channel out of the same stock. Those get sold separately and they should not be.
The warehousing half is the part that is easy to get wrong quietly. Beauty is dense, small-unit and high-value per pallet, so the storage footprint is modest and brands under-scrutinize it. Then a Houston summer runs an unconditioned racking aisle well past 90F for three months and the emulsions, balms and actives sitting in it degrade without a single damage report being filed. Conditioned space, FDA registered records, batch and period-after-opening dating, and FIFO picking are the baseline for a regulated category, not an upgrade.
The distribution half is about channels. A brand that starts D2C usually adds Amazon within a year and a retail account within two, and each one wants the product presented differently: parcels for D2C, FNSKU-labeled and polybagged cartons for FBA, case packs and pallet outbound for retail. Splitting those across separate providers means separate inventory pools, separate counts and a reconciliation problem every month. Running all three from one pool in one building is the whole reason to consolidate.
Sets and value packs are assembled through kitting and bundling, and everyday outbound runs through standard pick, pack and ship. We hold and distribute finished goods. We do not fill or manufacture them.
ONE POOL, FOUR CHANNELS
- D2C Parcel
- Shade-verified picks, poly bagged units, leak-aware packing and branded inserts on the orders your customers see.
- Amazon FBA & FBM
- FNSKU labeling, prep to Amazon carton rules and direct shipment to the FC, or FBM picked from the same pool.
- Retail & Wholesale
- Case packs built to the account spec, pallet level outbound, and batch codes carried through to the retailer.
- PR & Seeding
- Low-volume, high-presentation kits run as a project instead of squeezed into the normal pick wave.
PROGRAMS
Sets, Seeding and Season
Beauty volume is not evenly distributed. Most of it arrives as bundles, kits and a Q4 wall.
FIG 04
GIFT SETS & VALUE BUNDLES
Multi-piece sets built ahead of the season and held as finished goods so they pick as one SKU instead of five. Component batch codes stay recorded after assembly, so a set is still traceable to the batches inside it.
FIG 05
PR & INFLUENCER SEEDING
Seeding kits with custom inserts, tissue and handwritten card slots, shipped to a list you send us. Low volume, high presentation, usually urgent. Handled as a project rather than squeezed into the normal pick wave.
FIG 06
IMPORT TO AMAZON & D2C
Container lands at Port Houston, is devanned 10 minutes away, stored under climate control, then splits into FBA shipments and D2C parcels from the same inventory pool without a second facility or a second freight leg.
FAQ
Cosmetics Fulfillment, Answered
Q01
Why does warehouse temperature matter so much for cosmetics?
Because most beauty formulations are emulsions, and emulsions separate. Creams split into oil and water layers, sticks and balms soften or bloom, vitamin C and retinol oxidize faster, fragrance top notes flatten. None of it shows on a packing slip. It shows up as one-star reviews about texture six weeks later. A non climate controlled Gulf Coast warehouse runs well above 90F in summer, which is why ours is climate controlled.
Q02
Can you keep batch codes and expiration dates tracked?
Yes, and for beauty it is not optional. Batch and lot codes are captured at receiving and carried to the outbound shipment, so any unit traces back to its batch. Period-after-opening and expiration dating is tracked at the same level and picking runs FIFO. Our Houston facility is FDA registered and cosmetics are an FDA regulated category.
Q03
Do you build gift sets, PR kits and holiday bundles?
Yes. Beauty lives on sets and the work is spiky. A holiday bundle program can be most of your Q4 and needs assembling ahead of the rush, not during it. We build multi-piece sets, influencer seeding kits with custom inserts, and value packs, then hold them as finished goods so they pick as one SKU. Component batch codes stay recorded after assembly.
Q04
How do you handle SKU counts with many shades?
One foundation line routinely becomes 30 to 50 pickable SKUs that look nearly identical and differ by a shade name on a small label. That is a pick accuracy problem, not a storage one. Shade variants get discrete bin locations with scan verification at the pick rather than sharing a bin.
Q05
What about leaks and damage in transit?
Liquids, serums and anything with a pump or dropper are the highest leak risk we handle. Units ship poly bagged so a failed seal ruins one unit rather than the whole order, caps and pumps are checked at pick, and glass primaries get void fill instead of room to move. Most beauty damage claims trace to packaging that was fine on a pallet and wrong for a parcel.
Q06
What should I check before calling a warehouse climate controlled?
Ask three things, and ask them about the storage floor rather than the office. Is the conditioned space the whole floor or one partitioned room, is it held year round or only through summer, and is temperature logged rather than merely set. Plenty of Gulf Coast warehouses market climate control that turns out to be an air conditioned front office bolted to a metal building running triple digits over the racks in August. Ours is climate controlled and temperature sensitive stock is held accordingly.
Q07
Do you handle retail and wholesale distribution, or only D2C?
Both, from one inventory pool. D2C parcels, FBA shipments and wholesale orders pick from the same stock in the same building. That matters because beauty brands usually start D2C, then land a retailer and suddenly need case packs, account-specific labeling and pallet level outbound without changing warehouses. Retail orders get built to the account requirements instead of parcel-packed, and batch codes carry through either lane.
Q08
Do you offer contract filling or manufacturing?
No, and the search terms overlap enough that it is worth saying plainly. We do not fill, blend, compound or manufacture. We take finished, filled and labeled goods and run everything downstream: receiving, climate controlled storage, batch and expiration control, kitting and set assembly, relabeling, and outbound fulfillment. If you need a filler, use a contract manufacturer and have the finished units shipped to us.
Q09
Are aerosols, nail polish and perfume treated differently?
Yes, and confirm this with any 3PL rather than assuming. Alcohol based sprays, nail polish, aerosols and some fragrance concentrations are classified hazardous for ground and air, and Amazon runs its own hazmat review that can hold a shipment regardless of your carrier. Tell us what is in the line before you ship and we will tell you plainly what we can and cannot move.