Inside Design: Expert Tips for Nail Care Packaging
A click pen in Nailene’s new French manicure kit makes it easier for customers to apply white nail polish to the tips of their nails.
Four companies reinvent classic nail care products with innovative packaging.
By Marie Redding, Senior EditorPeople who buy nail care products are always looking for something new. Packages that deliver an unexpected benefit add an element of surprise. Nailene, OPI, Essie, and Dashing Diva have all found clever ways to innovate standard nail care packaging.
The Nail Pen
At-home French manicure kits typically contain two different colors in standard nail polish bottles. One light color is used on the entire nail as a base coat, while a white polish is applied to the tips of the nails. Nailene’s new French Tip Pen Kit includes a click pen, which provides users with an easier way to apply the white shade to the tips of the nails.
“We’re always looking for fresh ideas and new ways to improve our products to bring innovation to the nail care category. Our marketing and purchasing teams attend all of the big beauty trade shows, such as Cosmoprof and HBA, looking for inspiration. Sometimes just talking to a vendor at a show might spark a new idea—or, in this case, a new way to use an existing package, such as the pen,” says Tricia Buenvenida, marketing director, Pacific World Corp., the company that licenses the Nailene brand. Buenvenida also works on product development.
The pen dispenses product similar to the way a metallic-paint pen does. The user must first push down on the nib to get the product flowing. The white polish had to be reformulated with a matte finish so that its ingredients would not break down the plastic.
The Nailene team consulted various suppliers until it found the right type of pen. “We looked at different types of nibs and also considered the size of the pen and how easily it could be grasped. We had to make sure the product flowed out of it easily without clumping. A lot if internal testing had to be done before deciding on which pen to choose,” Buenvenida says.
Since Nailene’s products are sold in mass-market stores, outer packaging is extremely important. “We don’t advertise. We rely on compelling words to call out all of the product’s benefits on the outer packaging,” says Buenvenida. The company also conducts a lot of focus group research. Different aspects of the packages are tested, such as the use of certain words and the layout of the graphics.
Since its launch last April, the French Tip Pen Kit has been doing “phenomenally well,” according to Buenvenida. “Sales figures have proven that this package solved a real problem,” she says.
Dispensing Caps
Eyedropper dispensers make it easy for customers to apply Dashing Diva’s new treatment products to their cuticles.
Dashing Diva is relaunching its entire line of nail-treatment products in September. Instead of using standard nail polish bottles, the new products will be packaged in bottles that are typically used for skin care serums. This gives them a cosmeceutical feel. Dark-amber glass bottles, some with eyedropper dispenser caps, were chosen for many of the new products in the line. These types of packages protect the active ingredients, while conveying a clinical look.
“Most nail treatment products just look like polish without the pigment, because that’s essentially what they are. However, many of our new products are being reformulated to do more,” says Robert Cleary, director of product development for Dashing Diva. Most of the new products will contain active ingredients and claim numerous benefits, such preventing peeling and cracked nails. “It was important that the new packaging reflect the seriousness and efficacy of the new formulations,” Cleary explains.
Two of Dashing Diva’s nail treatment products are already in new packaging: The Cuticle Nectar product is orange, while Cuti-Peel is pink. Both products are packaged in the same style of clear bottle with a white eyedropper dispensing cap. Because the products are meant to be used consecutively and are often kept next to each other during a manicure, the different product colors help consumers and professional nail technicians easily differentiate between the two products.
A Charming Classic
Essie Cosmetics’ iconic Ballet Slippers nail polish now comes adorned with a ballet-slipper cell phone charm.
Limited-edition items and packaging that doubles as jewelry are two popular trends that are now influencing nail care packaging. Essie Cosmetics has relaunched its iconic pale pink polish, Ballet Slippers, in a kit that contains a cell phone charm. The charm, shaped like ballet shoes, hangs around the bottle’s neck. “I thought it would be perfect to create this adorable charm. It can be attached to a cell phone, Blackberry, or even a charm bracelet,” says Essie Weingarten, president and founder of Essie Cosmetics.
Ballet Slippers has been a best-selling nail polish color for more than 25 years. A bottle of clear, fast-drying topcoat polish is also included in the set. The three items are packaged in a clear acetate box. “The Ballet Slippers polish is definitely the sales driver,” says Weingarten. Including the topcoat in the set encourages consumers to try something that they might not have if it were sold separately.
An Innovative Brush
OPI’s patent-pending ProWide Brush features flat bristles to make nail polish application easier.
Sometimes the simplest idea is revolutionary. That’s what the team at OPI thought when a company executive happened to see a tester brush in a lab and remarked, “Why can’t the bristles be flat?” According to the OPI team, no one had expected that flat bristles would make nail polish application so much easier, but they did. OPI’s R&D team designed the patent-pending ProWide Brush and met with a brush supplier to have it manufactured.
Last fall, OPI began including the ProWide Brush on all of its nail-lacquer bottles. The company is still hearing an incredible amount of positive feedback about it from both nail technicians and consumers, according to Suzi Weiss-Fischmann, executive vice president and artistic director, OPI. “It has revolutionized the way nail polish is applied,” she says.
The brush’s design allows it to hold more product. “The bristles are oriented in a straight line, and then they are put into a flat brush stem. They are aligned in a stack instead of being rounded,” explains Weiss-Fischmann. “When you drag the brush from the cuticle to the edge of the nail, the flatness of the bristles ensures a smooth stroke,” she adds.
Sales have increased since the brush’s launch, and the company attributes part of the increase to the new brush. “We’re always looking at how we can improve packaging and products. This just shows that innovation is always possible, even when something has been on the market for years,” says Weiss-Fischmann.
New Designs, New Customers
It takes a lot to keep consumers interested in a brand. Once you have their attention, innovative packaging ideas will keep them interested. Suppliers often offer inspirational packaging options.
Suppliers such as Arrowpak are innovating unique nail polish bottles, including these stackable ones.
Arrowpak (Richmond Hill, NY) is one supplier that offers a number of options for nail polish. For instance, the company has miniature-sized bottles with caps that are designed so that the bottles can be stacked on top of each other. These might be perfect for a nail care set, such as one that includes a colored lacquer and topcoat. Whether new designs are driven by the need to improve a package’s functionality, marketability, or image, it’s always enticing for your consumers to find something new.
Branding through Packaging
Dashing Diva’s products will be relaunched with a brand new image.
Dashing Diva’s new back-bar packages are as strongly branded as its stores, featuring hot-pink graphics that match the spa’s floor tiles.
The first Dashing Diva Nail Spa and Boutique opened in New York City in 2003. Since then, the upscale nail salon has become a growing chain of privately owned franchises located all over the world—all with a very recognizable image. All of the signage, including the entire storefront, is done in the brand’s signature bright pink. Inside the spas, all of the modern-shaped fixtures are pink and white. A front section features a retail wall where Dashing Diva’s private-label products are displayed. The product assortment includes nail, hand, foot, and body care products.
One might think that the strong branding of the Dashing Diva Nail Spas would have provided a clear design direction for its product packaging. However, this image hasn’t been portrayed successfully through the product lineup—yet. Robert Cleary, director of product development for Dashing Diva, was recruited from Avon in 2005 to lead the brand’s packaging transformation. He’s in the process of taking the product line in an entirely new direction. The newly designed packaging will be launched this fall.
“When I first came aboard, every product looked mismatched when lined up on store shelves. There were too many SKUs,” says Cleary. One major design issue was that the packaging didn’t reflect the fact that many of the products are meant to be used together. Also, products in the same categories didn’t have a cohesive design.
“First, we reduced the inventory and discontinued some of the products with overlapping functions,” says Cleary. He decided which products would be kept and which ones needed to be reformulated. The nail treatment line described on page 34 was reformulated and repackaged.
In addition, the color of the hand and foot care creams and lotions, displayed in translucent bottles and tubes, didn’t match. “We changed the colors of some of the products, and then we put the others into opaque packages. Now all of these types of products have a more uniform look,” says Cleary. Also, all of the labels on the jars, tubes, and bottles will have a water-resistant, polyurethane finish.
The package development and design processes are still under way. Cleary is making sure that each of the product lines has its own image and identity. This will enable the lines to be marketed as stand-alone brands at other retail outlets in the future. At the same time, however, all of the products must maintain the spa’s image. “Every package needs to reflect the Dashing Diva image, which is fun, modern, and hip, but they all don’t have to necessarily match the store,” says Clearly.
Not all of the packaging for the new Dashing Diva products has been decided on yet. However, Dashing Diva’s signature hot-pink color will definitely be featured on most packages. The packaging designed for the spa’s back-bar products, which are used in the spa by professional technicians, will most closely resemble the spa’s look. “The label that has been designed for the professional products will have a tile on it, matching the pink tiles that are in our pedicure lounge,” says Cleary.
In a professional nail-spa environment, functionality of packaging is extremely important. Bottles with pumps are used for many of the back-bar products so that the products can be dispensed with one hand. Precise dosage is also important. “Many salon owners want to know if it takes one pump or two to deliver the right amount of a hand or foot lotion during a manicure or pedicure,” says Cleary. For this reason, extensive testing is performed on all of the packages, especially the pumps. “We specify the exact number of pumps it takes to deliver the right amount of product in our training materials. The staff members in all of the Diva locations follow the same protocol,” he explains.
Most of the new products will launch gradually throughout the next year. “A new type of service will launch in the spas first, followed by all of the products used in that particular treatment,” says Cleary. Dashing Diva also plans to expand its product lineup to include a full bath and body line. “We’re working our way up from the feet and hands to include more and more body products,” he adds.