Custom Cosmetic Bead Manufacturer: Freeze-Dried Beads Made to Your Specification
If you are looking for a custom cosmetic bead manufacturer, you have probably noticed that “bead” covers a lot of ground in beauty. Some beads are decorative, some exfoliate, and some are soft capsules floating in a gel. At Evik, we make a different kind: freeze-dried beads that hold a measured dose of active ingredient in a completely dry, stable sphere.
We are both the manufacturer and the supplier of EVIK™ LyoPearl. Every bead is formulated and produced by our team in Ottawa, Canada, and shipped directly from us to the brands and product developers who use it. One partner owns the whole chain, from the first formulation conversation to the sealed vial that arrives at your facility.
Here is what we make, what we can tailor for your product, and why brands choose to have their beads made by us.
What Makes a Freeze-Dried Cosmetic Bead Different
Most cosmetic beads are designed to sit inside a finished liquid product, so the active spends its whole shelf life surrounded by water. Our beads are built the other way round: the active stays dry until your customer is ready to use it.
| Feature | Typical Suspended Cosmetic Beads | EVIK™ LyoPearl Freeze-Dried Beads |
|---|---|---|
| Where the active lives | In a water-based gel or serum, from production to use. | In a dry, glassy matrix until the moment of use. |
| Preservatives | Usually required, because the surrounding formula contains water. | Not needed, because a dry bead gives microbes nothing to grow in. |
| Dose per use | Depends on how many beads land in each pump or scoop. | One bead is one measured dose, with mass variation typically below 2%. |
| Fragile actives such as vitamin C or retinol | Exposed to water, air and light throughout shelf life. | Kept away from water and shielded by the bead matrix. |
| Storage and shipping | Set by the stability of the whole formula. | Room temperature, sealed in vials with desiccant. |
| At the point of use | Bursts or melts as it is applied. | Dissolves completely within seconds in water or an activator. |
If your product depends on an active that degrades in water, or on a dose you need to state precisely, a freeze-dried bead is usually the stronger format. For a deeper look at the format itself, see our freeze-dried skincare .
What We Customize in Every Bead
As a custom cosmetic bead manufacturer, we build each bead around your product rather than asking your product to fit our catalogue. These are the parts you can specify:
- The active ingredient. Your hero active, a proprietary ingredient, or a combination of actives delivered together in one bead.
- Dose per bead. We set the droplet volume so each bead carries the exact mass of active you want to state on your label.
- Bead size. Sized to match your dose and the way the bead will be dispensed and dissolved.
- The excipient system. Lyoprotectants and stabilizers selected for your specific active, to protect potency and control how quickly the bead dissolves.
- Molecular weight. For ingredients such as sodium hyaluronate, where molecular weight changes how the ingredient performs on skin.
- Fill and count. Beads are counted into vials under controlled humidity and sealed with desiccant. If your packaging needs a different count or container, talk to us early so we can plan for it.
You can start from a blank brief or take one of our standard beads and adjust it from there.
Have a bead in mind? Send us your active, target dose and intended use, and we will suggest a starting specification. Request a custom bead consultation
Made In-House, From Droplet to Vial
Every LyoPearl bead is made in our own facility in Ottawa. We formulate the active with its protective excipients, dispense each droplet into liquid nitrogen at −196°C so it freezes instantly into a sphere, then remove the ice under vacuum so the active never sits in liquid water again. The finished beads are counted into vials under controlled humidity and sealed with desiccant. The full method is on our technology page .
Because manufacturing and supply sit with one team, nothing gets lost between a formulator, a dryer and a filler. The people who design your bead are the same people who make it, test it and ship it.
That process comes from 15 years of producing lyophilized reagent beads for molecular diagnostics, point-of-care cartridges and immunoassay kits. Evik Diagnostics operates an ISO 13485 facility for its diagnostic contract manufacturing, our processes are designed to Good Manufacturing Practice standards, and every batch of LyoPearl beads is checked for bead mass, diameter, moisture content and active concentration before release. You can read more about our team and facility .
Our Standard Beads: A Ready Starting Point
Alongside custom work, we supply five ready-formulated beads. They are available as evaluation samples, and they give you a quick way to judge dissolution, feel and performance before you brief a custom bead.
- Vitamin C bead : L-ascorbic acid at 82.7% dry weight, paired with sodium hyaluronate and hydrolyzed collagen.
- Retinol bead : retinol at 22.7% dry weight, with sodium hyaluronate and polysorbate 20.
- Niacinamide bead : 12.8 mg of pure niacinamide in every bead.
- Hyaluronic acid bead : sodium hyaluronate at 23.1% dry weight.
- Collagen bead : hydrolyzed collagen at 8.9% with sodium hyaluronate at 26.0%.
Compare them all on our LyoPearl products page .
See the beads for yourself. Order evaluation samples of any standard LyoPearl bead and test them in your own base. Request samples
Who We Manufacture For
- Skincare and beauty brands launching a freeze-dried hero product, or a routine built around a fresh dose each time.
- Indie and emerging brands that want to prove a concept with small proof-of-concept batches before committing to scale.
- Product developers and formulators who need a stable delivery format for an active that will not survive in a liquid.
- Contract manufacturers who want to offer freeze-dried beads to their own clients without running lyophilization in-house. Our page on outsourcing freeze-dried cosmetics explains how that partnership works.
Questions to Ask Any Custom Cosmetic Bead Manufacturer
Before you choose a bead partner, these are the questions worth asking. Here is how we answer them.
| Question | How Evik Answers |
|---|---|
| Do you make the beads yourselves, or source them from someone else? | We make every LyoPearl bead in our own Ottawa facility and supply it directly to you. |
| How consistent is the dose from bead to bead? | Mass variation is typically below 2%, because each bead is dispensed as a calibrated droplet. |
| What do you test in each batch? | Bead mass, diameter, moisture content and active concentration. |
| Can you develop a bead around our own active? | Yes, starting with small, manually dispensed proof-of-concept batches. |
| Does the bead need preservatives or cold storage? | No. The beads are dry, preservative-free and stable at room temperature. |
| What quality systems sit behind your process? | Our ISO 13485 facility serves diagnostic contract manufacturing, and our processes are designed to Good Manufacturing Practice standards. |
| Can we test before we commit? | Yes. Evaluation samples of all five standard beads are available. |
Put your questions to our team. We are happy to share specifications and talk through your project in detail. Contact Evik
Frequently Asked Questions
What does a custom cosmetic bead manufacturer do?
It designs and produces beads to a brand’s own specification: the active, the dose, the bead size and the fill format. Evik does this for freeze-dried beads, under the EVIK™ LyoPearl name.
Is Evik a manufacturer or a distributor?
Both. We manufacture LyoPearl beads in our own facility and supply them directly to brands, product developers and contract manufacturers.
What are lyophilized skincare beads?
They are beads made by freeze-drying, which removes water as ice under vacuum instead of with heat. The result is a dry sphere that protects the active until it is dissolved.
Can one bead carry more than one active?
Yes. Our vitamin C bead, for example, combines L-ascorbic acid with sodium hyaluronate and hydrolyzed collagen. We can build similar combinations for custom projects.
How quickly does a bead dissolve?
Within seconds of contact with water. Its porous structure lets liquid reach the whole bead at once.
What are your minimum order quantities and lead times?
They depend on the active and on whether you choose a standard or custom bead. Contact us with your project details for a quote, or explore the science behind our actives on the Evik blog .
Work With a Custom Cosmetic Bead Manufacturer That Makes Every Bead Itself
When the same team formulates, manufactures and supplies your bead, you get one point of contact, one specification and one standard of quality from first sample to repeat order. That is how we work at Evik.
Ready to build your bead? Request samples of our standard LyoPearl beads or start a custom project with our team. Get in touch