Applications: Sweetening Packaging
Pink cake boxes make "whimsical, unexpected" secondary packages for the Bakery Collection spa products. Cake boxes make Jaqua Girls' Bakery Collection Kits irresistible.
By Jennifer Kwok, Managing EditorWhen spa products company Jaqua Girls (Santa Barbara, CA) debuted its Beauty Parlor Night Kit paint can, customers and beauty companies took note. "We were the first cosmetic company to put beauty products in an authentic paint can," says Jennifer Jaqua, CEO of Jaqua Girls. With its new Bakery Collection Kits retailing this spring in pink cake boxes, the company has continued to surprise and delight with what Jaqua describes as "whimsical, unexpected, and authentic" packages. "Customers in a cosmetics department don't expect to see a cake box on the shelf," says Jaqua.
Developing a paperboard box sturdy enough to hold the Kits' bottles, jars, and accessories presented a challenge. "Jaqua Girls wanted their carton to be a real cake box," says Dan Squier, a salesperson for carton supplier House of Packaging (City of Industry, CA), which created the Bakery Collection boxes. "But cake boxes are typically made from inexpensive paper, which is hard to print color on and get consistent color matches. Also, cake boxes are typically not coated and have a tendency to fingerprint easily."
So Jaqua Girls decided to simulate the thick-paperboard cake boxes that Jaqua says are used by French and Italian bakeries, instead of the thinner ones used by U.S. bakeries. "We wanted a more sophisticated version of a typical American cake box," says Jaqua. "We couldn't find a U.S.–based cake box supplier that could provide what we were looking for."
Instead, Jaqua Girls asked House of Packaging to fashion a thick-paper cake box. "Our specifications were to match the same sizes, cuts, folds, and tucks of a traditional cake box," says Jaqua. The boxes were created in three sizes, with a matte coating and a pink Pantone shade that Jaqua says is a traditional color for cake boxes. "It's a high-quality box without graphics that looks functional, but not necessarily cosmetic," says Squier.
To dress up the boxes, Jaqua Girls used labels and pink ribbons. For each collection, the chocolate-brown labels were printed with different patterns of confectionaries, like flower-shaped jimmies and icing. To maintain brand identity, two of the Bakery Kits—Beauty Sweets and Sweet Face—were housed in the brand's trademark silver paint can. But instead of the company's standard square paint-can label, a narrow label was wrapped around the cans to make them look like cans of cake icing.
The Bakery Collection products, housed in stock containers supplied by TricorBraun (Cerritos, CA), are sure to tempt customers with flavors like Buttercream Frosting, Honey Almond, Lemon Custard, and Orange Vanilla. "The scents of the products make you want to eat them!" says Jaqua.
Other beauty manufacturers may imitate the Bakery Collection boxes, launching in specialty and department stores, but Jaqua says that she doesn't mind. "It's flattering to us that we're inspiring other companies. We like knowing that we're at the forefront of the industry, especially on the packaging end."