Cosmetic/Personal Care Packaging.

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The judges were impressed by the packaging for Old Spice Red Zone, particularly by the package's balance of design and branding innovation with manufacturing constraints. It was designed by Product Ventures Ltd. (Fairfield, CT). To produce the packaging for the new Red Zone line, which targets image-conscious young men, the client company relied on its current production capabilities only.

The luxury lipstick case housing Estée Lauder's Pure Color Lip Jewels was conceived through a collaboration of the company's own Innovation Department and supplier Jackel Inc. The award-winning package is electroplated in gold, contains a hidden-hinge mirror, is engravable, and is refillable with snap-in cartridges.

Estée Lauder's second award went to its Beyond Paradise packaging, which was designed internally and developed with several suppliers. The bottle features seven colors and a shiny actuator resting atop a silver band.

Webb Scarlett deVlam teamed with MegaPlast to create the packaging for Procter & Gamble's CoverGirl TruBlend foundation line, another AmeriStar winner. Webb Scarlett deVlam was responsible for the actuator and overcap designs, while MegaPlast engineered the airless-pump technology. Judges deemed the result both ergonomic and elegant in appearance.

Diamond Packaging represented the cosmetic and personal care packaging industry in the Displays category, earning an award for L'Oréal USA's Matrix Amplify 3-D display. Designed for use in hair salons, the promotional display shows off products in the Amplify line, which add texture and volume to hair.

The AmeriStar-winning packages will be displayed at this year's Pack Expo International show in Chicago. The awards will be presented on Tuesday, November 9, from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Hyatt McCormick.

ADDY Awards Lauds Personal Care Packages

The American Advertising Federation presented a gold ADDY award to Tennessee-based Austin & Co. earlier this year for the firm's design of Yasoo Health's Callisto facial-cream packaging. Austin & Co. designed the logo, jar, and box for the cream, a vitamin E-based treatment available over the Internet and in boutiques, health-food stores, and physicians' offices. Austin & Co. also marketed and designed packaging for the Callisto line's vitamin E oil.

According to Yasoo Health, special design considerations had to be taken into account because its products retail on-line. Yasoo Health founder and spokesperson Andreas Pappas, MD, says that when a customer considers buying a product on-line, and therefore can't hold the package before purchasing the product, "the visual effect [of packaging] has to be intense." He adds that "this packaging, along with some outstanding advertisements created by Austin & Co., illustrate to the consumer precisely what Yasoo is selling."

Austin & Co. also designed the logos, bottle, and box for Yasoo Health's NeoMedica vitamin E dietary supplements. Most recently, the firm designed the tube packaging for Yasoo's pharmaceutical-grade Dermis-E vitamin E cream for the same line.

Monaco Luxe Pack Design Award Names U.S. Finalist

Organizers of this year's Luxe Pack Monaco trade show, happening on October 20–23, announced Garth Roberts as the U.S. finalist for the second annual Monaco Luxe Pack Design Award competition.

This year's competition asked contestants to create a retail design for a powder compact with a mirror and an applicator, as well as a matching lipstick container. The design theme was Modernity in Monaco. Young professional designers with one to five years of experience were invited to enter the competition.

Roberts has been a professional designer for five years. His award-winning compact is designed with contemporary flair and is suited for on-the-go life-styles. The compact is designed so that different parts, such as a powder compact, a lipstick container, and a powder brush, can be connected to form one complete makeup kit. This allows customers to mix and match their makeup palettes according to what shades are trendy. Roberts's concept was chosen over the designs of eight other semifinalists from the United States. The nine semifinalists were invited to attend a special breakfast where they met members of the competition's U.S. jury. Jury members included designer Marc Rosen; designer Stephen Burlingham; Tom Butkiewicz, former vice president of operations and product development for Zirh; Denise Paglina, director of global packaging for The Estée Lauder Companies; Jill Scalamandre, group vice president of global marketing for Avon Inc.; and a member of the beauty trade press.

The competition's grand-prize winner will be announced at the Luxe Pack Monaco trade show, taking place at the Grimaldi Forum in the Principality of Monaco. Roberts's design will compete against the designs of finalists from seven other countries: Brazil, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, and the UK. The grand-prize winner will be presented with a trophy and a monetary award.

"Mr. Roberts joins our elite group of talented finalists from around the globe," says Pierre-Yves Maisonneuve, president of Luxe Pack Monaco. "We are delighted to have the opportunity to encourage and support the next generation of luxury packaging designers. As advocates for the important elements of creativity and luxury in package design, everyone at Luxe Pack is eager to unveil the grand-prize winner at Luxe Pack Monaco this October."

Engelhard Dazzles with New Effects

Surface and materials sciences firm Engelhard Corp. (Iselin, NJ) has launched new special-effect pigments that are ideal for cosmetic and personal care packaging. The new pigments feature rich earthy tones such as metallic copper and russet looks.

Lumina Russet and Copper pigments can be used in plastics, coatings, and inks. According to the company, they offer increased chromaticity, advanced color purity, and more brilliance and hiding capability. The pigments achieve their copper and rouge-tone looks through a tight mica particle-size distribution and an exclusive multilayer coating technology.

Nonreactive and nontarnishing under most conditions, the pigments are compatible with both solvent- and water-based liquid coatings, as well as powder coatings. They can be incorporated easily during injection molding, blow molding, or extrusion processing, as well as in inks for gravure, flexographic, and screen printing.

"We are pleased to expand our Lumina colors to include russet and copper that add new dramatic earthy visual effects in a wide variety of applications," says Stephane Rochard, global marketing manager, automotive and industrial markets for Engelhard's special-effect pigments. "Our customers will be able to market enhanced appearance and better performance in their products with these exciting-effect colors."

Thermoplastic Compounds Simulate Metal

New high-specific-gravity thermoplastic compounds produced in lightweight densities can be used to manufacture cosmetic packaging components that have the look and feel of metal. Thermocomp compounds are made by LNP Engineering Plastics Inc. (Exton, PA), part of GE Advanced Materials, Plastics. They range from 2.0 to 5.0 specific gravity and feature a combination of resins and high-density fillers. The compounds are designed for products and components requiring a higher specific gravity and weight than conventional injection molded or extruded plastics. Design engineers can specify the exact weight they need for enhanced aesthetics and improved part performance.

Thermocomp compounds are well suited to cosmetics packaging and serve as a cost-effective metal replacement. The compounds are available in PBT, polyurethane, nylon 6, polypropylene, and ABS base resins.

Eastman Chemical Launches PET-Manufacturing Technology

Eastman Chemical Co. (Kingsport, TN), a leading supplier of PET for packaging applications, announced in September its new IntegRex technology for the manufacture of PET resin. PET-packaging growth rates are driven in part by continued high demand for new packaging applications, the company reports.

Eastman plans to build a 350,000-tn integrated PET manufacturing facility to apply the new technology at its existing site in Columbia, SC. The company's existing purified terephthalic-acid facilities will be retrofitted using additional elements of IntegRex to supply intermediates for the expansion.

Eastman expects to receive patents on more than 100 process and product innovations related to the technology.

Panel Determines Five Key Improvements to Recycled Paperboard

At a roundtable meeting of paperboard packaging representatives and end-users held in New York City, participants identified the top five value improvements made to recycled paperboard during the last decade. Organized by the 100% Recycled Paperboard Alliance, the roundtable panel found that the most-important developments have been improvements to:

• Overall quality consistency.
• Strength.
• Cleanliness.
• Smoothness and printability.
• Product and services customization.

The roundtable gathering was prompted by strong market indicators of recycled paperboard's steady rise in use in the cosmetics sector and others. Prominent brands such as Procter & Gamble, Unilever, and Tom's of Maine have reportedly converted much of their folding-carton packaging to recycled paperboard.

Roundtable participants—including individuals from folding-carton converting firms, paperboard manufacturers, and a consumer product company--noted at the meeting that during the last 5–10 years, recycled paperboard has shown significant increases in quality and performance. These developments have kept recycled paperboard in line with market demand for better shelf presence, improved folding-carton-converting performance, faster filling-line speeds, and reduced costs.

Mark Maley, vice president of sales and marketing, Coated Mill Division of Carauster, commented in a press announcement that new measurement systems on paper machines, better coating control, and, most significantly, more stock-prep control have all resulted in a smoother, flatter paperboard sheet. Other roundtable panelists were in agreement that coating technology has positively influenced recycled paperboard by providing a more uniform printing-surface technology.

Discussion on the aesthetics of the folding-carton surface focused on its suitability for use in such market segments as cosmetics packaging.

FACES & PLACES

• Rexam Closures & Containers (Evansville, IN) has named Norman Carlson corporate quality officer. In his new role, Carlson will oversee the company's quality and systems infrastructure. He has 18 years of injection molding and flexible packaging experience.
• Rexam Dispensing Systems (Purchase, NY) announced the appointment of Nancy Lamensdorf as sales manager. Lamensdorf will be responsible primarily for Rexam Dispensing Systems' accounts for L'Oréal and Unilever Cosmetics International.
• DieterBakicEnterprises (Munich) has appointed Jeff Shirtz as its U.S. vice president. He will be responsible for marketing and sales, as well as strategic business development for the company in the United States. Prior to joining DieterBakic, Shirtz served as executive director of packaging for Estée Lauder.

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