Latest Launches
Snake In Surlyn
For Cavalli Profumo's newest fragrances, Just Cavalli Him and Just Cavalli Her, famed Parisian bottle designer Serge Mansau fashioned a package that combines glass and Suryln.
The fragrances' clear rectangular glass bottles are topped with rectangular caps made from DuPont Suryln. The Surlyn precisely matches the look of the glass. The surfaces of the bottle and the cap were decorated in the mold with a streaky pattern meant to resemble snakes.
According to DuPont, the Surlyn's functional and aesthetic properties made it well suited for the cap. "Surlyn seemed the perfect choice for this component because it allowed us to combine the qualities specifically requested by the design--clarity, even when very thick, resistance to the fragrance, and aesthetics," says Carlo Candiani, owner of the Italian firm Candiani, which developed the Just Cavalli packaging. "When Serge Mansau decided to extend the [decorative] streaks to the [cap], we realized that the DuPont material allowed us to create the aesthetic effect he had in mind."
Organic Design
This summer, natural personal care product brand Kiss My Face decided to add products to its Obsessively Organic collection of skin care products. The firm's main packaging goal was to ensure that the new additions looked upscale, instead of drab.
"We wanted the packaging to look high-end," says Emily Goetz, brand manager for the Excessively Organic line, which first launched in 2002. "What we say at Kiss My Face is that natural doesn't have to mean beige. If you look at a lot of natural and organic products, the packaging is kind of boring."
Several upscale elements not typically seen on natural products shelves were included to raise the line's prestige. These elements also help make the line travel-friendly.
Balancing Act, the line's facial toner, features a plastic bottle with two overcaps. A small overcap fits precisely over the package's white plastic pump, and a larger clear plastic overcap fits over the smaller overcap and sits on the bottle's shoulder. "The large cap adds more visual presence to the bottle," says Goetz. "In addition, if customers want to travel with the bottle, we wanted them to be able to keep just the smaller cap on, to make the package more compact."
The packaging for the Soy Soft bar soap comprises a plastic soap dish that was customized in the line's custom green color. The soap dish can be reused, adding to the package's value. In addition, the soap dish made the bar soap convenient to carry. "It's so hard to travel with a bar of soap because it gets very messy," says Goetz. "Instead, we wanted to provide customers with a complete, on-the-go package."
Kiss My Face was able to find a soap container supplier that was able to exactly match the green color the brand wanted. The green color is repeated throughout the line. "On the packages, we used some nice organic colors, including green, that really convey the feeling of nature," says Goetz.
Finally, since the brand believes in environmental friendliness, the packaging components were chosen accordingly. "Our company is very environmentally friendly, so we used recycled-content cartons, and the line's tubes can be recycled," says Goetz. "We wanted the products to be very eco-friendly all around."
Red Hot
The package for Frederick's of Hollywood's first signature fragrance is as head-turning as the brand's image. The 1.7-oz fragrance bottle is topped with a pump supplied by Rexam Dispensing Systems (Purchase, NY). Various eye-catching decorations were applied to the pump.
The collar for Rexam Dispensing's 15-mm The Crimpless System super-low-profile pump was anodized with a satiny gold finish. The actuator's sleeve was customized with a band. The band allows the package's red cap to sit on top of the collar so that the bottom half of the collar remains visible when the cap is on.
Rexam Dispensing also provided its 1.6-ml Sofistic's sprayer for the fragrance's sample size. The natural-color sprayer was printed with the Frederick's of Hollywood logo in gold. It was then attached to a promotional card that included a discount coupon for Frederick's of Hollywood's body lotion. Rexam Dispensing supplied its LX500 lotion pump for the lotion's 6.7-oz bottle.
Modern and Masculine
The Art of Shaving has entered the men's fragrance market with its first cologne, Sandalwood Eau de Toilette. The scent is sensual and made with 100% pure essential oils derived from nature's botanicals. The packaging is designed with a modern, masculine, and sensual feel.
"We wanted packaging that was clean, elegant, masculine, and in line with the packaging for our shaving line," Janette Barredo, marketing project manager for The Art of Shaving. "But we also wanted something that was a little more contemporary and not as classic as some of our shaving-product packaging."
For the bottle, the company chose a 100-ml square glass bottle in black. "All of our shaving packages, including the jars and tubes, are black, so we wanted the bottle to be black," says Barredo. The bottle was supplied by Saint-Gobain Desjonquères (New York City). The black pump was provided by Rexam Dispensing Systems (Purchase, NY), and the black aluminum cap was provided by Romatic Manufacturing Co. (Southbury, CT).
Instead of an opaque finish for the bottle, a translucent finish was used that makes the black appear smoky. The finish was achieved by organic-spray decorating by USS Corp. (Newark, NJ). "Unlike ceramic spraying, organic spraying can get this translucent look," says Barredo. "Plus, organic sprays have really improved over the year—they used to be much less resistant to scratching."
The secondary carton is also black. It was supplied by Dee Paper Co. (Philadelphia). The carton was decorated with a pattern of alternating matte and glossy stripes in two monochromatic tones. "We felt that the striped
pattern really spoke to men because stripes are often used in tailored men's clothing," says Barredo. "The striped pattern also gives the carton a more fashionable and modern look."
Ensuring that the registration was correct during printing was a challenge. "If the registration hadn't been completely precise, the glossy and matte stripes wouldn't have lined up," says Barredo. "But, luckily, Dee Paper really provided us with the technical quality we were looking for."
Burgundy and gold accents were used on both the bottle and the carton. The bottle was decorated with a burgundy foil label that features the gold Art of Shaving logo in embossed gold. The label was supplied by Dee Paper. The carton is foil-stamped in burgundy and also includes the gold logo.
The burgundy color was carefully selected. "We use chromatherapy—the study of how colors make people feel when they look at them—to choose our colors," says Barredo. "We went with a warm, rich burgundy that we felt reflected the warmth of the aroma that the sandalwood fragrance has."
Barredo adds, "We felt that the foil decorations gave the packaging a look that was more modern and less classic than the rest of our packaging. In addition, the rich, embossed gold logo adds a touch of luxury to the packaging. This type of luxury speaks to the men in our target market."