Opening Lines
Airtight Appeal
By Daphne Allen, Group EditorIt’s awards time! At CPC Packaging, we are in the midst of looking back on all the cosmetic, fragrance, and personal care products that launched in 2005 for our Editors’ Choice Awards. Thank you to all who submitted entries directly to us for consideration. We will be announcing our award winners in our May/June 2006 issue and at Luxe Pack New York in May.
We are also preparing our supplement, “A Look at Outstanding Packages,” which covers 20 of the FiFi nominees in the The Fragrance Foundation’s awards program. Look for our guide with our next issue.
As we looked back, we came across a list of the year’s best products put together by Paula Begoun. She has sold more than 2.5 million copies of her books on the beauty industry, such as Don’t Go to the Cosmetics Counter Without Me, Blue Eyeshadow Should Be Illegal, The Beauty Bible, and Don’t Go Shopping for Hair-Care Products Without Me. She focuses mainly on formulations, looking for products that are boosted by “extensive published research about the ingredients being used and their possible interactions with the skin,” she writes on her Web site, www.cosmeticscop.com. Some of her selections for 2005 include Dove Fresh Radiance Anti-Aging Moisturizer SPF 15, Estée Lauder Aero-Matte Ultralucent Pressed Powder, Frédéric Fekkai Luscious Curls Conditioner, and Vincent Longo Day Play Duo Compact Powder Blush.
Begoun also has a lot to say about packaging. “There are a lot of products with brilliant formulations, but they don’t like air or sunlight—they need airtight packaging.” Product makers have a responsibility to protect these products, and many are choosing tubes lined with EVOH or Glaminate [a plastic foil lamination originally developed by Alcan Packaging Cebal] as well as airless pumps. Begoun has chosen such packages for most of the products in her line, Paula’s Choice.
Trouble is, airtight packaging isn’t always “sexy,” she says. “There is an elegance to a jar that a tube or a pump just doesn’t have. Consumers look for sexy jars.”
Consumers may not even know when a bad package has failed, since “consumers can’t tell when active ingredients aren’t working anymore because the effect can be subtle,” says Begoun. However, if the air-sensitive antiinflammatories or antiirritants are exposed to air or light, consumers won’t obtain product benefits.
As Begoun points out, packaging has a crucial role to play, especially when it comes to maintaining formulation. But it also needs to be sexy to attract consumers.
We are keeping Begoun’s perspective in mind as we comb through last year’s launches for our Editors’ Choice Awards. Know of any sexy high-barrier tubes?