Latest Launches
Lorac’s Innovative Applicators
Lorac Cosmetics launched two products this spring in easy-to-use packages. Cheek Stamp is a powdery blush that is housed in a jar with a unique built-in applicator sponge. Publicity Stunt Lashes Long-Wearing Mascara features a unique dual-ended applicator.
Cheek Stamp eliminates the need for customers to carry a separate blush brush. Instead, the cap’s applicator sponge stamps blush directly onto customers’ cheeks.
The powder pan is located in the jar’s base. The applicator sponge is affixed to the underside of the jar’s screw-on lid. Each time the customer screws the cap on the package, the sponge presses against the powder, automatically loading product onto the sponge. A spring mechanism helps press the sponge into the powder when the lid is screwed on.
Carol Shaw, owner and founder of Lorac, says that this design was based on one for an eye shadow pencil. (Stila Cosmetics’ 2002-launched Convertible Eye Color pen housed eye shadow powder in its pen cap.) “The manufacturer decided it could create the same mechanism on a larger scale for a blush,” says Shaw. “It took several tries to make sure the spring released perfectly so that the sponge hit the pan perfectly.” She adds that the supplier had to determine the right sponge density so that the sponge would pick up the right amount of product and apply product smoothly.
To make it easy for customers to differentiate the blush colors, a slim ring on the cap was color matched with each product shade. Shaw says that producing this ring was a challenge because the jar’s matte silver color made the ring colors look dull. This made it difficult to achieve the precise shade. “We went through about five different processes to make the color rings,” she says.
The same attention to detail went into selecting the package for the brand’s Publicity Stunt Lashes Long-Wearing Mascara. This mascara is meant to last on the eyelashes for up to three days. Lorac needed an applicator that would provide perfect application, because the results would have to last.
The dual-ended applicator wand features an hourglass-shaped mascara brush on one side and a lash comb on the other. The package was supplied by Wormser Corp. (Englewood, NJ). It is a stock package, but the brush is custom designed.
Shaw says that the hourglass shape of the mascara brush is designed to accommodate the length of a customer’s eyelashes and apply product perfectly. At the ends of the brush, the brush bristles are longer so that they can reach the shorter eyelashes at the corners of the eye. Because the lashes in the middle of the lash line are longer, the bristles at the center of the brush are shorter. “The brush touches every lash along your lash line,” says Shaw. The lash comb on the other end of the mascara wand separates lashes. The comb is covered with a clear cap.
Shaw says that finalizing the brush was a challenge. “Customizing a brush to a formula is difficult. We custom design all of our brushes to work perfectly with the formulations we develop,” she says. “Some brushes that we tried didn’t deliver the mascara to every lash. It took a lot of R&D to determine the best brush for this formula.”
The Cheek Stamp and Publicity Stunt Lashes packages are convenient for the modern consumer. “Because our lives are so busy and hectic, any type of product that makes it easier and faster to get results is a huge trend,” says Shaw. “Everyone wants to look and feel like a star, but with such busy lives, who has the time to?”
Goldwell’s Minis
Goldwell has packaged some of its best-selling hair styling products in small-sized pots and tubes. These mini packages make it convenient for customers to sample the products, as well as to travel with them.
“Salon clients have high expectations, and they want to be sure of their purchasing choice. Minis are no-risk trial products,” says Florence Boels, brand manager for Goldwell Styling. “Minis are also great for stylists to use as special promotions or free gifts and are also convenient for short trips or touch-ups.”
The following products are packaged as minis: Nice Balance Calming Milk, Flat Marvel Flattening Balm, Composer Sculpting Gel, Move Control Curl Putty, and Lagoom Jam Volume Gel. Linhardt (Viechtach, Germany) supplied the mini tubes, while Hermann Koch GmbH (Coburg, Germany) supplied the mini pots. Both are stock components.
“The main challenge was to adapt the design of the regular-sized retail packages,” says Boels. “Also, because all the design elements are reduced in size, precise printing is quite challenging.”
Hot for Summer
Urban Decay has launched several products to get customers ready for the summer season. These include Surreal Skin Universal Mineral Powder and Clean & Sober Oil-Free Makeup Remover.
Surreal Skin is a yellow color-correcting mineral powder thtat is designed to eliminate redness and shine. Its powder jar has a built-in applicator puff through which powder is dispensed. To keep powder from leaking, the package features an on-off switch that opens and seals the holes through which powder is dispensed. For customers who would rather dip a brush directly into the powder, the sponge applicator piece twists off.
This stock package was supplied by HCT Packaging (Bridgewater, NJ). “It’s a mess-free package that makes powder mineral makeup portable for the consumer,” says Wende Zomnir, creative director for Urban Decay.
Clean & Sober makeup remover is an innovative gel formula, which Urban Decay says is easier to use than liquid makeup removers. The product is packaged in a lockable pump dispenser supplied by World Wide Packaging (Florham Park, NJ). “The pump gives you control over how much product you want to dispense,” says Zomnir.
To decorate the stock package, Urban Decay had Miami tattoo artist Ami James create a mermaid graphic. “Makeup remover isn’t that exciting of a product, so putting the mermaid tattoo art on the bottle changes the whole feel of the product,” says Zomnir. “It is now pretty enough to keep on your vanity.”
A Touch of Gold
Supplier Anomatic (Newark, OH) produced many of the anodized aluminum components for Bath & Body Works’ Ile de Tahiti fragrance, bath, and body care line.
Anomatic fabricated and anodized the cap for Tatau Coconut Vanille, as well as the actuator and collar for the Tatau Fei Banana products. The company also anodized and assembled jar covers for two sizes of body polish. Eight other components were also produced.
Precise color matching was used to achieve the components’ anodized shade. The anodized finish resists fading, chipping, scratching, and peeling.
Cool Cassettes
Hard Candy’s new compact is bringing back a nostalgic concept—the cassette tape. Launched this spring, Mix Tape houses three eye shadows, three lip glosses, an applicator, and a mirror.
When asked why Hard Candy chose this design, the company’s director of product development, Amy Zunzunegui, says, “It is a fun and youthful product and one that most of us can relate to. Even if customers never owned a mix tape due to their generation, they know what they are all about. Mix tapes are iconic, in the same way that an eight-track is.”
According to Zunzunegui, Hard Candy came up with the Mix Tape concept a long time ago but waited to find the right product to launch in it. “Our marketing director, Laura Wilson, suggested that we ap- ply the concept to this product, and it worked,” she says.
The slim black stock compact is supplied by Wormser Corp. (Englewood, NJ). Zunzunegui says that initially, Hard Candy hoped to silk-screen artwork on the compact’s hinged lid, but instead had to use a label because of the intricacy and number of colors of the graphics. Plus, she adds, because labels are used on cassette tapes, “The label actually ended up feeling a little more authentic in the end.”
Tommy Bahama Launches St. Bart's
For 2007, Tommy Bahama introduced its new nautical-themed St. Barts fragrance bottles for men and women. The men’s bottle cap was designed after a brass yacht ratchet and sports nautical rope. The bottle’s blue glass was molded with tiny air bubbles. The women’s bottle was frosted white and adorned with fish netting.
According to Gemini Cosmetics, the licensee of the Tommy Bahama fragrance brand, the spherical blue women’s cap was designed after a buoy that stations fishing nets in the water. The ivory fish netting that covers the cap was based on the handmade nautical markers that were originally used by fishermen at the turn of the century. The rope around the men’s gold cap is tied in a sailor’s knot.
The bottles were supplied by Pochet (Wayne, NJ), the pumps by Rexam Dispensing Systems (Purchase, NY), and the caps by Jackel (France). The cartons, supplied by Shorewood Packaging (New York City), feature a linen finish and graphics of mermaids and sailing knots. All of the packaging was designed by Dale Kan of Brandonology.
“The biggest challenge was producing the caps and making exact replicas in such a short period of time,” says Bob Rumsby, chief operating office of Gemini Cosmetics.
Making Customers Dizzy with Delight
Vertigo Parfums’ newest fragrance might have customers swooning. The Hypnotica fragrance bottle design is based on an optical illusion.
QSLD designed the clear, oval glass bottle, which was custom molded by Bormioli Luigi (Plainview, NY). The bottle’s curved bottom was molded with a swirling design that creates the effect of an optical illusion.
Hypnotica was launched by fragrance distributor Beauty License Unlimited, in partnership with Mane USA. Bernard Pommier, president of Beauty License Unlimited, says that molding the swirls was challenging because of the bottle’s curved bottom.
The fragrance’s carton was also designed with optical-illusion graphics. Its front and back panels were printed with an intricate pattern of circles that gives the impression of spinning wheels. “The idea was to improve product visibility on the shelf by creating a moving design on the outer packaging,” ex- plains Pommier. Wauters supplied the folding carton. Other suppliers for Hypnotica include Codiplas (Newtown, PA) for the Surlyn cap, INCA (New York City) for the cap’s metal ring detail, and Rexam Dispensing Systems (Purchase, NY) for the pump. The fragrance is sold at stores such as Nordstrom.