Color Cosmetic Packaging: Packaging Perks
Stila’s compacts for this fall were wrapped with a special gift for customers—an agate necklace.Brands have found ways to design cosmetic packages with extra bonuses to attract consumers.
By Marie Redding, Senior EditorThe fact that the cosmetics category is cluttered with so many products right now isn’t preventing some brands from being noticed. Packaging that inspires retailers to write orders and that helps a brand connect with consumers on an emotional level is a sure path to success. A few companies have come up with ideas for their packages that are innovative and attention-getting—and that are causing consumers to smile.
Gift with Purchase
The compacts in Stila’s fall collection are covered with faux suede and wrapped with a necklace made from an agate stone. Jill Tomandl, Stila’s vice president of product and package development and package design, came up with this idea when she saw someone wearing a vintage belt with an agate belt buckle.
“At first, I thought it would be most cost effective to create a mockup of the agate in resin. I started to research agates online, found a supplier, and realized that it was possible to incorporate a real Brazilian agate into the compact design,” she explains.
The agate supplier drilled a hole in each stone and a leather cord was inserted, creating a necklace. “Wrapping the cord and agate around the compact became a decorative element, as well as a value-added piece of jewelry,” says Tomandl.
There are three compacts in the collection: dark blue with a turquoise agate; brown with a hot-pink agate; and dark green with a purple agate. Each compact contains three eye colors and a cheek color, which coordinate with the color of the compact and necklace.
The compacts are produced by MG New York (New York City). They are made from injection-molded plastic and covered with the faux-suede material using a specially developed gluing process. The material is custom dyed before being applied to the compacts. “The Stila logo and a leaf motif were screened in black onto the faux suede and then debossed in order to show contrast,” explains Tomandl.
MG New York submitted many different variations of material and debossing techniques. Tomandl chose the one that conveyed the right look and feel. “We were happy to be able to supply Stila with a high-quality compact that hit the target design,” says Gary Korba, chief officer of operations and innovation for MG New York.
An Entertaining Design
Float art is the term for the type of package design—often used for pens—that makes it possible to show a girl stripping down to a bikini or King Kong climbing up the Empire State Building. When a pen features this design, the pen is filled with a liquid solution, and a die-cut image, printed on film, floats in the solution. The film image moves when the pen is tilted from side to side.
The float art bottle at one end of Balmshell’s double-ended package turns into a keychain.
Identical twin sisters Jennifer and Fiona Lees wanted to use the concept for a cosmetic package. They created Balmshell, a collection of 16 shades of lip gloss, each in a package with a different float art design. The collection recently launched at Sephora stores nationwide. “Each design tells a story and gives the brand its own personality—and a way to really connect with the customer,” says Fiona Lees. (More information about how the Lees created the Balmshell brand is featured in the Designer Interview column in this issue.)
The Balmshell lip gloss package is a double-ended design. Two clear acrylic bottles screw into a connector, which features a doe-foot applicator wand on one side. One bottle contains the float art, while the other bottle contains lip gloss.
Producing the package was a collaborative effort. The lip gloss bottle and applicator are supplied by Jackel International (Hillsborough, NJ). The float art and its bottle are made by another supplier. When both parts are finished, the components are sent to a company in Canada that produces the formula, fills the package, and handles assembly.
The float art illustrations tell a story. For instance, “You Give Me Fever” is a sheer, rosy pink gloss. The package shows a cute guy winking at a pretty girl in a dance club. When the package is tilted to the right, the girl’s cheeks flush, turning rosy pink. The flush color fills in the girl’s cheeks when a pink floating film slides to the right of the scene. Other “stories” include a girl getting dressed, having her hair done, and shopping.
Because October was Breast Cancer Awareness Month, the Lees created a new soft-pink lip gloss color named “1 in 8” with a float art scene created to raise awareness about the disease. The illustration shows eight bras hanging on a clothesline between two trees. (Initials carved into the trunks of the trees pay tribute to two women who lost their battles against the disease—Nancy Pitfield, mom of Kate Pitfield, Balmshell’s marketing manager; and Sheila Cudney, Nancy’s best friend.) As the bottle is tilted, a hot-pink target slides back and forth over each garment, illustrating the statistic that one in every eight women is diagnosed with breast cancer each year. One dollar from each sale of this lip gloss will be donated to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.
Just in case the moving images inside Balmshell’s lip gloss packages aren’t enough to persuade a customer to make a purchase, the package turns into a keychain. When the lip gloss is finished, the bottle and wand can be un-screwed, and a key ring, included with every purchase, can be screwed onto the float art bottle.
Custom Colors Packaged at the Counter
Being able to provide the exact makeup color customers desire is another way to attract attention. Mary Swaab, founder and CEO of Colorlab Cosmetics, says that she knew that a few brands already did custom blending, but not in ways that fully met consumers’ needs. “Makeup is an emotional purchase. When women walk up to a cosmetics counter, they want their makeup right then and there. They don’t want to have to wait for products to be delivered to them at some future date,” she says.
Pigments, bases, and additives are blended at the cosmetics counter by Colorlab Custom Cosmetics.
In 1996, Swaab developed a patented system that allowed makeup artists to create custom lipsticks in any color and texture at the cosmetics counter. She subsequently founded Colorlab Cosmetics. Last year, Swaab launched a new brand, Colorlab Custom Cosmetics, which is now launching at Macy’s stores nationwide.
Colorlab’s unique custom formulations and way of packaging products at the counter are becoming a hit among both consumers and retailers. The Colorlab system involves mixing colors at the counter to create custom-blended face, eye, cheek, and lip products. “The way that the pigment swirls before your eyes is part of our patented process. ‘Tweaking’ is encouraged, to make sure that consumers leave with the exact color and formulation they envisioned,” says Swaab.
When a lip product is created, pigments, bases, and additives are all blended at the counter with the customer looking on. Once the color and formulation are perfect, the lipstick or lip gloss is melted in the microwave for 30 seconds while the customer chooses the packaging and names the product.
If the product being blended is a lip gloss, the liquefied gloss is poured into an opaque square pot or a clear square acrylic bottle. The bottle has a square opaque cap with a wand and doe-foot applicator attached. If it’s a lipstick, the liquefied color is poured into a mold. It sets in about four minutes. Next, the bullet is placed in a traditional A-shell lipstick case.
Only empty packages are stored in stores. “Retailers really love the fact that there’s no SKU numbers to check in. That could take up a lot of space. They’re basically buying empty packaging, along with bulk ingredients. Since we create makeup on demand, stores are never stuck with shades that won’t sell. You’re always in total control of your inventory,” Swaab explains.
Once they have been blended, Colorlab’s products are packaged in containers such as these.
The Colorlab logo is silk-screened onto all of the packages. Its design represents the marriage of art and science. The phrase “I invented this” is also on all of the packaging.
The colorful outer cartons used for the lipstick and lip gloss contain an inner box, made from a coated, heavyweight paper stock, with an outer sleeve. “We use high-end boxes. Opening our boxes feels more like opening a present,” says Swaab.
Marketing Impact
A beautiful necklace, a fun keychain, and a custom-blended product poured into the package of your choice are all unique concepts that ensure that products are noticed. Innovative design concepts are also a marketing asset.
“We use natural stones, so that each stone is unique. Each agate color has a different meaning and inspires different properties such as creativity, wisdom, and harmony. The agate inspiration was used in our press releases, and our marketing team had a lot of information with which to build a story around this collection,” says Stila’s Tomandl.
Retailers also take notice of new ideas for packaging that they haven’t seen before. “We knew that a unique package would help us tremendously, and we think it definitely helped get us into our first stores,” says Balmshell’s Fiona Lees.
When a new brand has the support of consumer magazines, that exposure will help make sure the brand is noticed by thousands of readers. “Our custom concept is an innovation in the cosmetics category, and a topic that editors at consumer magazines often like to write about. The media attention has definitely helped us to build the brand,” says Colorlab’s Swaab.
Trends in the Lip Product Category
A selection of Risdon International’s packaging for lip products.The relationship between lip color formulations and packaging is a close one.
Lipstick can be considered one beauty product that is very much affected by fashion trends—and so can its packaging. If the fashion world has dictated that casual, unrestricted silhouettes with sheer flowing skirts, pop-art brights, or pastel shades are “in,” then sheer shades of lip gloss will most likely prevail. When that is the case, there might be an increase in the demand for tubes and other types of packages to accommodate more-viscous formulations.
This fall, fashion is all about ladylike silk blouses, fitted skirts, and rich jewel tones. The deep, rich shades that only a traditional lipstick bullet can deliver best complements this look—and the required package is a traditional A-shell case.
“From my experience, I’ve seen brands change direction like the wind—especially in the lip product category,” says Steve Pearlman, president of Risdon International (Watertown, CT). “Now, we’re definitely seeing a movement and resurgence of traditional, solid wax-based lipsticks. We’re able to meet this demand by offering a large variety of traditional lipstick packaging in different sizes.”
A New Combination—Gloss in an A-Shell
Risdon is developing a package that will accommodate more-viscous lip colors. It’s a lipstick container that can be filled with lip gloss, which is dispensed through an orifice. The package resembles a traditional lipstick case and A-shell. The same mechanism that makes Risdon’s traditional Slimline lipstick swivel up very smoothly is used in the Color Gaze package.
“This provides the best of both worlds. The traditional package provides users with a very appealing, conventional way to apply lip products with the greatest amount of control. The fact that this type of package can now accommodate more-modern types of formulations is a great combination,” says Pearlman. Risdon is currently working on developing a selection of new applicator tips for Color Gaze, which is expected to be available by next year.
Offering Options
3C Inc. offers many stock options for lip products.
3C Inc. (Hawthorne, NJ) is one supplier currently promoting the fact that it has a lot of different stock options available for its customers, especially those seeking packages for lip products. “Some of our clients are requesting tubes; others want automatic pens. I’ve seen an increase in the demand for both,” says Lou Della Pesca, president of 3C Inc.
He believes that it’s important to offer a variety of choices. The company offers six types of dispensing heads for the standard pen. “Some have single holes, some have double holes. Heads with silicone applicator tips are requested often. They are the easiest for consumers to keep clean,” Della Pesca explains.
When choosing the right tip for a pen, Della Pesca advises his customers to first determine how much dispensing control a product needs and how much of the product is meant to be applied. “The brush tip is the most traditional type used for a dispensing pen, but you could get a more controlled flow of product with a shower head,” he says.