Decorating Techniques: Heavy Metal
Brush cases decorated by Bao Sheng Corp. feature a new multiple-color anodizing technique.Metal components look modern, and anodizing is the all the rage.
By Marie Redding, Senior EditorMetal is in. And so is plastic decorated to look like metal. Take, for instance, supplier Cameo Metal Products Inc. (Brooklyn, NY). It recently manufactured the brilliantly shiny purple caps for Cindy Crawford’s new skin-care line named Meaningful Beauty.
A makeup line launched in the fall of 2001 by Kevyn Aucoin, a leading makeup artist who passed away in May 2002, sports a shiny red metallic look. It continues to be a hit in stores such as New York City’s Henri Bendel’s. Lip gloss with a metal cap was launched this fall, and metal-covered compacts will be added to the line next spring.
A new cosmetic line by Diane von Furstenberg (see Designer Interview) contains many metal components finished in a white pearlized coating.
“Metal is a very enduring material and will always have its place in the industry,” says Bruce Elbilia, president, Inter Parfums. Elbilia worked with von Furstenberg to make her beauty line a reality. “It was important to Diane that it have a rich feel, and metal does provide that,” he says.
Designing with Anodization
Anodizing, a common technique used on aluminum components, can be done in bright, satiny, or matte finishes. It can be used to create a high-shine, reflective surface. It can also help color to resist fading, corrosion, chipping, scratching, and peeling. Now, new techniques are being developed that can achieve a whole look through anodization.
At last September’s HBA show, Paul Bergmann, director of corporate engineering at Estée Lauder, was intrigued by one company’s anodizing technique. Bao Sheng Corp. (South Korea), a cosmetic brush and component manufacturer, was showing trade show attendees a brush kit housed in a cylindrical aluminum case. The pretty leaf decoration, done in pink, green, and blue on the case, was achieved through multicolor anodizing and gave the design an airbrushed look.
“I’ve never seen this type of decoration done before with this process. It was a really beautiful look,” says Bergmann. The technique, now patent pending, was developed by accident by Jae Woo Lee, president of Bao Sheng, while working to improve the sealant characteristic of the anodizing process for the brush ferrules. “While testing the sealant in an acid bath, Lee noticed the unique effect that the acid had on the sealed piece,” explains Doug Williams, vice president, product development and marketing, at Bao Sheng’s U.S. office. Lee tested the process to see whether the results could be repeated, using a different color each time.
The result was a component anodized with multiple colors—and a new, very unique decorating option that the company can now offer its customers.
High Shine and Highlights
To achieve the purple hue for the caps used on Crawford’s Meaningful Beauty line, Cameo Metal polished and lacquered two different-sized caps and did a custom formulation to make the transparent purple color. Anthony DiMaio, director of marketing and sales at Cameo Metal, says, “The color was then sprayed on, applied to the metal, and baked in the usual way.”
Anodizing Gets Automated
Anomatic Corp. (Newark, OH) was the first company to use an automated belt system for high-speed and high-volume anodizing of small aluminum parts. The company sometimes hot stamps anodized aluminum for its customers, “creating an image almost identical to screen printing, but done with a much brighter gold or silver metallic,” says William Rusch, president and CEO. According to Rusch, it can be difficult to get a good bond between the foils used in hot stamping and anodized aluminum, so the company had to develop a special technique, which they have patented and have been using for more than 10 years.
Anomatic has recently signed another agreement with Rexam Beauty and Closures Inc. and will continue to be its supplier for anodized components for fragrance and lotion dispensing pumps for the next five years.
Anomatic’s high-quality finishes do sometimes raise the cost, which is one reason some companies may have gone with less-expensive alternatives. However, Rusch says, “Recently, we have been able to work out ways to bring the price down. Our method was very labor intensive, but we have been able to switch to using more-automated processes, which has cut the cost. We have been speaking to many people about this, and now, hopefully, more companies will be able to take advantage of our capabilities.”
Revlon’s Moisturous Lipstick is housed in a super-shiny, reflective component. It has a metal cover with an elegant sloped design. The cover and base were anodized in a bright gunmetal shade, and the Revlon name is debossed horizontally on the sleeve of the A-shell. Risdon-AMS (Watertown, CT) produced the custom case in its Danbury, CT, facility. It has a see-through plastic button in its base, containing an insert custom colored to match the lipstick color.
Risdon also used its patented ColorTouch mechanism in the package, engineered to take one revolution to achieve a full-up position. A unique antipushback feature prevents pomade retraction during application. Techpack-Cosmetech Mably International (New York City and Paris) supplied and decorated the components for the Kevyn Aucoin makeup line. Anodizing created its shiny, deep hue. The line ranges in color from red to deep burgundy and black, and different shades are mixed on the same component to create a highlighted effect. Highlights vary on each component, making each one unique. “The different level of color gradation on each product was important to Kevyn. He liked the idea of blending things together,” says Linda Zucker, executive director of sales, Techpack-CMI.
Revlon's metallic Moisturous Lipstick package is supplied by Risdon-AMS Eric Sakas, CEO and creative director for Kevyn Aucoin Beauty, worked with Aucoin to develop the look of the line, which is mostly a plastic-and-metal mix. “There is a weight issue,” Sakas explains. “If a component is entirely made from metal, at some point, it just gets too heavy to carry it around.”
The lipstick in the line is plastic, but a new patented liquid lip gloss is launching, and it will have a metal overshell. Says Sakas, “We couldn’t find a completely square lipstick component made from metal.”
In December, two new products will be launching in plastic components with metal overshells. One is a cream blush, in a pot; and the other is a retractable lip pen. “We used a three-step process to finish the pot,” says Zucker. “This gave it a more intense color and depth.” Anodizing plus UV spray coating was used.
Liquid Pearls
Pearl finishes give components a glamorous and modern look. A new finish by Seidel Inc. (Waterbury, CT) “combines the elegance of metal with the beauty of pearls,” according to a press release. Named Alu-Pearl, the finish can be used in classic black or white pearl, as well as shiny, iridescent blues, reds, and greens. With this finish, instead of creating a mirrorlike surface on a metal component, a “rainbow reflection” is created, depending on the light angle hitting it. Seidel employs a fully automated, computer-controlled process that allows the company to finish millions of pieces per day.
Other decorative touches the company creates are etchings, satin finishes, slip seals, and laser engravings. Ideate (New York City), a package development consulting company, contributed to the launch of the Diane von Furstenberg (DVF) Beauty Collection. Kenneth Noskin, Ideate’s founder and president, discovered a technique in Japan that was used to create the shiny, pearlized finish for the entire line.
The metallized compact and lipstick components in the DVF Beauty Collection sport a shiny, pearlized finish.“The goal was to convey quality, modernity, and lightness,” says Noskin. This finish was used on the plastic compacts as well as on the aluminum lipstick, mascara, lip gloss, and cheek stick.
Noskin says that at first, he submitted samples of different white and pearl plastic coatings, but none were modern-looking enough to win von Furstenberg’s approval.
After lots of time spent searching, Noskin explains, “Finally, I found a special, relatively new treatment. It was being used last year in Japan, but, to the best of my knowledge, never before on a cosmetic line in the United States.” The decorating process involved vacuum metallizing the ABS compacts and then spray coating the metallized plastic with a UV coating containing a white pearl color.
“The pearl gives it that softness, making it a little less reflective, and creates an interesting visual effect,” Noskin says. “We experimented with different levels of pearl until we achieved the perfect blend of whiteness and transparency.” Next, the trick was to match the effect on both the plastic and the metal components in the line. “We came up with a formula that would work on the highly polished aluminum lipstick case and spray coated it.
After many submissions, we were finally able to match the color of the finish on all of the components,” says Noskin. Last, the final designer touch was added to make the stylish line complete—the DVF logo was screen printed on every component.