Cosmetic/Personal Care Packaging.

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Inside Design: What's Old Is New

Curiously Chic

"One reason the whole vintage trend is so popular among the younger generation is because it seems brand-new to them," says Jean Antretter, design director for Elizabeth Arden. Antretter designed the packaging for Britney Spears's new fragrance Curious. All of the packaging elements, including the folding carton by Arkay Packaging Corp. (New York City), were custom created and completed in only five months. Antretter says, "We were extremely lucky because every time we showed Britney something, she loved it."

According to the bottle's supplier, Heinz Glas, the bottle shape was initially based on a mold from the 1930s. The shape was then significantly modified, making it a completely new, custom design. Some of the design direction came from Spears herself, who gave Antretter a photo of some of the vintage-looking bottles she kept on her dresser to provide a clearer sense of her taste.

When designing the bottle's shape, Antretter was inspired by the fact that Spears is a dancer. "I wanted to be able to look at this bottle and envision it spinning," Antretter says. Light sparkles off the bottle's delicate facets and the curves of the glass.

The heaviness of the thick base adds a modern element. One of the manufacturing challenges was to make sure the filling process didn't interrupt the thick pedestal base that the bottle sits on. "This bottle is a difficult shape to mold because of its weight," says Maurice Corrigan, director of sales and engineering for Heinz Glas USA (Linden, NJ). "A lot of glass was used in order to create the heavy base. The challenge was in maintaining the sharpness of the facets. Also, the development time was very short."

Antretter says that she wanted the bottle to represent Spears's feminine side and used Spears's favorite colors of pink and blue. As a result, the bottle's custom-colored glass is a unique shade of azure. The decision to use colored glass instead of spraying the color on was made for several reasons. One of the reasons was the short time frame in which the project had to be completed. Spraying glass is a secondary process that would have added an extra production step.

Since the bottle varies in thickness, the color changes from translucent to opaque. "I prefer the look of colored glass, with its highs and lows," says Antretter. "The bottle is thicker at the base, and the blue is deeper there." Small pink heart-shaped charms were added around the bottle's neck to represent luck and love.

The bulb-shaped atomizer was specifically requested by Spears. "Britney was definite about the atomizer's shape and length," says Antretter. Since the bulb is smaller, more fragrance is released through the tube. Correctly matching the color of the bulb and stem on time was a challenge, since there can be a long lead time for producing a custom-colored atomizer.

"We worked night and day, even on weekends—but it was exciting to work on this project," Antretter says. Inspired by a pop star known for setting fashion trends among her fans, Spears's fragrance is sure to set some trends now in the fragrance industry. The bottle's unique look may already have begun to influence other package designers.

Elegant Atomizer Pumps

Laurice Rahmé, president of Bond No. 9 New York, has offered the atomizer pump as an option to customers since February 2003. The atomizers are featured on her collection of "fashion bottles," which customers have the option of choosing over the prepackaged bottle when purchasing fragrance by the ounce in one of Bond No. 9's New York City stores. The refillable fashion bottles are adorned in different fabrics each season, depending on current fashion trends. This winter, one new bottle is covered in floral printed suede embellished with stones. As for the pump, Rahmé says, "I wanted to bring back this type of pump, in a whimsical way."

"I think the bulb sprayer is back with a vengeance now," says David Hou, director of product development for Cospack America Corp. (Edison, NJ). He says he hasn't seen them this popular since the 1980s. "Twenty years ago, many people were looking for a more elegant, luxurious look for fragrance bottles, and there was a large interest in our bulb sprayers. However, during the 1990s, their popularity began to wane as trends began to favor a more minimal, simplistic style of packaging. Now that the fashion world has again embraced glamour, bulb sprayers are back in vogue. Package designers can use this type of atomizer to help bring out an aura of elegance and femininity in a fragrance bottle."

Cospack America has many stock options for bulb sprayers. It also provides custom manufacturing at its plant in Taiwan. The company has a sprayer collection made entirely of brass, but the majority of its sprayers are a combination of a brass spray head and an aluminum shell body. "Aluminum is usually preferred, because it is less expensive, lighter, and easier to care for than brass," explains Hou.

Although bulb sprayers are not new to the industry, Hou says "they have a fresh look that is very enticing to fragrance companies, especially in light of the current fashion trend." Maybe Britney Spears is onto something. Perhaps more women will soon go back to embracing the idea of displaying elegant bottles on their vanity tables.

Vintage with a Modern Twist

The bottle for Prada perfume combines modern elegance with vintage elements, thanks to a bulb-shaped sprayer.

One example is Prada Perfume, which launched in August. The rectangular clear-glass bottle features sharp, squared corners, an off-centered neck, and a plum-colored bulb sprayer. The package design is meant to be a combination of traditional values with innovative modern design. Press materials state, "The essence of Prada is encapsulated in a textile label on the outer box, linking the new fragrance with fashion. An atomizer pump completes the allusion to traditional perfumery." An artisan's metal plaque on top of the bottle has key ingredients engraved on it, and adds a unique vintage touch.

In April, Tarte Cosmetics (New York City) launched its fragrance, called tarte. The box-shaped glass bottle has an outer shell that consists of a plastic overcap covered in purple leather. The package also has a silver collar and a purple bulb sprayer.

"The modern feel of the square bottle and leather are a contrast to the old-fashioned look of the atomizer," says Maureen Kelly, Tarte's founder and president. "We wanted to use design elements that didn't necessarily go together, that reflect a kind of dichotomy, because Tarte appeals to women who aren't one specific type. Our customer is both modern and old-fashioned; ultragirlie, yet ultraprofessional."

Kelly says it was initially difficult to find the right pump. "Most of the atomizers we found were crimp-tops, rather than screw-tops," she says. "We needed to find one that would screw on, because crimping was not an option due to the plastic overshell." Eventually, Kelly found both the purple screw-top atomizer and the 50-ml glass bottle from Oscar Karla, based in Vienna, Austria. Qualipac America Corp. (Wayne, NJ) made the outer shell for the bottle.

One slight challenge to overcome during assembly and manufacturing was that the package leaked slightly where the atomizer screwed onto the bottle neck. The experts at Qualipac fashioned a part resembling a washer in order to create a more airtight fit.

Pinup Girl Packages

In October, Too Faced Cosmetics (Irvine, CA) launched The Quickie Chronicles, which are "beauty book" makeup palette compacts. The compact opens like a book, and inside, makeup pans are fitted into a spongy foam base. The front of each compact features a different cover girl reminiscent of the glamorous stars in old Hollywood films.

New editions are set to launch next spring and summer.

"When creating our palettes, we were inspired by what was on the fashion runways. All of the models had such a glamorous edge," says Jerrod Blandino, CEO and creator of Too Faced Cosmetics. "The product colors create a sex-kitten look: a sultry, smoky eye; a medium- to dark-toned blush, because blush was so dark back then; and deep, glossy lips."

On the compacts, Too Faced used reproductions of previously existing vintage pictures. The reproductions were glued down onto a paperboard overlay and then laminated. "The concept and idea for these packages came from the pinup girls popular during the 1940s and 1950s," says Blandino. "They were considered the sexiest images at that time, but today they are so innocently cute. We wanted to take these retro images and give them a modern flair."

Too Faced gave the pinup girls a modern makeover. Each pinup girl's makeup was graphically altered to match the Too Faced color palette. It took months of going back and forth with the printer to make adjustments. "It was much more difficult than we had first thought it would be," says Blandino. "There were lots of copyright issues, and it was difficult to get the makeup centered correctly on the girls' faces."

In addition to the makeup changes, the images were further edited. In the pictures, a cigarette was removed from one girl's mouth, and a liquor bottle was edited out of one man's hand. "We knew that the original images would never be able to be marketed in some stores," says Blandino.

In order to get the colors of the pictures as bright as possible, they had to be reproduced on thick, high-gloss paper. The cost of the paper was more than Blandino had first expected. "We did have to adjust our budget to make sure we would get these packages to market," he says.

All of the hard work seems to have paid off. The Quickie Chronicles were meant to be a holiday gift item, but, Blandino says, "they have only been in stores a week and already they're almost completely sold out."

A Mod Compact

Estée Lauder enjoys a touch of the 1960s this holiday season. The brand launched a new collection of colors that includes sheer frosted lip shades of champagne and rose; a silvery cream for cheeks; lavender eye mousse; and golden shimmer powder. The new group of products is called the Vintage Holiday Collection, and its main focus is an art deco compact.

The compact is a replica of a compact first introduced by Mrs. Estée Lauder in 1963. The design was originally influenced by fashion: the mod look of Mary Quant, the space-age style of Courrges, and the psychedelic prints of Emilio Pucci.

"Women are obsessed with all things vintage," says Annie Carullo, senior vice president of global product innovations for Estée Lauder. "We've been seeing everything from brooches to bows on the runways. This trend, coupled with our own efforts to promote our brand's incredible heritage, proved it was the perfect time to look through our archives for inspiration." The compact's original design was left unchanged, but the colors of its mod pattern were updated in order to match the makeup colors, to a combination of translucent and opaque enamel in mauve, ruby, and champagne.

"The look is meant to be gorgeous and glamorous," says Paul Starr, director of the Estée Lauder National Makeup Artist Program. "More and more women are turning to vintage looks to make a unique fashion statement. This season, designers' runways were filled with exquisite tailoring and fabulous accessories. So, for our new beauty look, we turned to our own archives to find these retro colors."

Reinventing Blotting Paper

Blotting paper has always had a vintage feel. Eluci International (Carlstadt, NJ) has just launched a modernized version in a new package called the Paper Roller. "Within the past year, many of our customers have asked us to come up with ideas for packaging with a classic vintage feel, combined with a more modern look and a product that performs," says James Perry, vice president of sales for Eluci International. "With our paper roller, we have blended the old and the new."

Already popular in Japan, the new Paper Roller was first shown to customers in the United States during the HBA show in New York City in September. With a shape similar to a lipstick case, the package allows customers to control how much paper is used at one time. Instead of housing precut sheets, the package contains a small roll of paper and allows customers to tear off a piece against a serrated edge, like they would a piece of tin foil.

Many different beauty brands have featured traditional types of oil-blotting papers in their lines for years. However, Perry says, "Papers have moved into the makeup category and are now used for bronzers, glitter, blush, and eyeshadow. This expands the category for many cosmetic brands." Also, according to Perry, a new hydrophobic film by 3M has made the creation of even more types of papers possible now. The film absorbs oil, but rejects moisture, resulting in a significant upgrade in product performance.

"Blotting papers have always been a steady business for us," says Perry. "Now, these new innovations in different types of papers, combined with new packaging ideas, have created dramatic growth for us within the past six months." This growth is likely to continue as more companies find ways of taking advantage of these new types of paper and the new Paper Roller package.

An Apothecary Look for Plastic

Another new development with retro appeal is Eastman Chemical Co.'s (Kingsport, TN) Apothecary Colors. The resin pigments in the Apothecary series are deep, transparent hues such as cobalt blue and amber-tinted sepia. Other vintage-inspired shades include bright green, water-blue azure, and old-fashioned soda bottle aqua.

"In order to tap into the whole vintage trend, we looked at old-fashioned medicine bottles for inspiration," says Vincent Gugumus, global market development manager for cosmetic packaging at Eastman's Specialty Plastic Business Organization. "These new colors really show the capacity of this material to look upscale and glasslike."

Eastman Chemical Co. is known for its Glass Polymer, a copolyester resin that remains extremely clear, even when used in thick-walled designs. When the material is used in a bottle, it can sometimes be easily mistaken for glass, especially when it is thick and weighted.

In order to show off its new Apothecary hues on a bottle made with its Glass Polymer, Eastman partnered with Plastohm Packaging (France), which used the material in a serum bottle called Senso Intense, designed primarily for face creams. This bottle was launched at the Luxe Pack trade show in Monaco in October.

"The unique properties of the Glass Polymer have allowed us to create a bottle with a deeply sensuous design that conveys a particular visual and tactile sensation, thanks to its unique noncold touch and its unexpectedly light weight," says Isabelle Blondeau, marketing manager for Plastohm Packaging Division. And, unlike glass, the resin won't break if dropped on the bathroom floor.

Looking Ahead

In upcoming months, we expect to see even more of these types of vintage elements incorporated into package design. Looking further ahead, fashion designers have already presented their spring/summer 2005 collections, so we should soon start seeing different new trends emerge. Since these trends are likely to inspire makeup artists and package designers, we can't wait to see what the fashion industry has in store for 2005.

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