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Decorating Techniques and Products:
Decorating a Bottle, Defining a Brand

Creative directors from both Liz Claiborne Cosmetics and Coty Prestige worked tirelessly to make sure that these fragrances stayed true to their original design concepts, from design to launch.

Choosing the Right Deco

It’s important for consumers to look at a celebrity package and feel that the celebrity was actually involved in producing it. This is why Usher was personally involved in everything, from the development of the juice to the look of the packaging for his first fragrances. Paul McLaughlin, creative director for Liz Claiborne Cosmetics, designed the fragrance packaging.

“My job is to always make sure that the package design represents what the brand is about, whether a celebrity is involved or not,” says McLaughlin. When working on this project, McLaughlin faced the task of conveying Usher’s personality through visual elements.

“Usher is a sensual person. In our first meetings, we spoke about the materials we would use and what the color palette would be. We were immediately drawn to skin-related inspirations with a tactile element, such as leather, suede, and earth tones,” says McLaughlin.

These inspirations were translated to the packaging using various types of decoration. Usher for Men is a flask-shaped glass bottle, decorated with an opaque matte black soft-touch finish. Decotech Inc. (Englewood, NJ) was able to achieve the right matte black finish. Bormioli Rocco (New York City) molded the glass.

“There were several quality and production issues that posed a few challenges. One consideration was making sure that the finish wouldn’t scuff,” explains McLaughlin.

Usher for Women is a unique, torso-shaped bottle. The glass is frosted, allowing the honey-colored juice to show through. “Frosting gives the glass a softer look and feel,” says McLaughlin. This bottle is supplied by Saint-Gobain Desjonquères (New York City).

Adorned with Metal

The main inspiration for the design of these bottles was Usher’s jewelry—in particular, a silver ring that he always wears onstage. The men’s and women’s glass bottles are meant to look subdued in order to draw attention to the luxurious metal elements.

“Usher’s jewelry inspired everything. Incorporating these elements into the packaging became a way for Usher to deliver a little piece of himself to the consumer,” explains McLaughlin.

An ornate metal cap is the main focus on the men’s bottle. The silver cap has an intricately embossed metal ring that matches Usher’s own ring. Like Usher’s ring, the cap’s ring even rotates. Metal Dynamics Inc. (Cranston, RI) developed the cap.

The women’s bottle also has an embossed metal cap. Creating the right look for the cap’s metal finish posed a few challenges, according to McLaughlin. “I wanted the background of the embossed design on the women’s cap to be a silver-white matte finish, while the men’s is an antique black finish,” he says.

He continues, “We had to texturize the background of the women’s metal cap in order to achieve the matte finish we wanted, rather than using a stain, which was effective on the men’s cap. It took a while to find this solution, but trial and error is always part of any project.”

The bottle also bears a decorative metal piece resembling a necklace. This metal piece sits snugly on the bottle’s shoulders, draping elegantly over the front and back of the bottle, like a necklace.

Keepsake Bottles

Limited-edition versions of both Usher for Men and Usher for Women were created as exclusive elements for the line. The limited-edition men’s bottle is encased in a removable, form-fitting leather sleeve. The limited-edition women’s bottle is clear, rather than frosted, and resembles the shape of the metal necklace. “The clarity of the glass allows you to see the thickness of it, which is very elegant—like an exclusive, vintage perfume bottle,” says McLaughlin. Saint-Gobain Desjonquères produced this bottle.

The women’s bottle shape posed several challenges, affecting the glass distribution. “It was difficult to keep the wall thicknesses intact,” says McLaughlin. Another challenge was producing the bottle in the limited quantities that were needed.

Gemstones were added to the women’s limited-edition cap. “The stones make it look more exclusive,” says McLaughlin.

Luxurious boxes complete the design. The men’s box is decorated with leather, and the women’s is covered with suede. Both boxes are adorned with metal plaques.

Emulating “Rocker Chic”

Gwen Stefani is another celebrity known for being very involved in all of her projects—and her first fragrance was no exception.

Jon Dinapoli, creative director of Coty Prestige, is used to working with many celebrities. However, he says that working with Stefani on the launch of her first fragrance, L, was surprising to him. “Everything came together seamlessly, which is pretty rare. Gwen had a very clear vision of what she wanted, and we knew how to deliver it,” he says.

Dinapoli describes the overall look of the fragrance package as being sophisticated and “very cool.” “It’s chic, but also a little rock ’n roll. Gwen has referred to it as the one thing she was able to produce that combines every aspect of her personality, including her love of fashion, music, and Jamaica. The design really stayed true to who she is,” he says.

Several decorative elements were used to achieve this look. Most of the design inspiration came from items that already existed in the L.A.M.B. by Gwen Stefani fashion collection, including clothing that she had designed.

“When we went to her house in Los Angeles for our first meeting, it was as if she had a mini showroom there, with all of her favorite items from her fashion collection. She kept describing the elements she wanted to incorporate in the fragrance packaging and kept pulling out samples to show us exactly what she meant,” says Dinapoli.

After that initial meeting, Dinapoli came up with about a dozen different design concepts, incorporating all of the elements Stefani requested, in different ways. When they met again a month later, Stefani gave more feedback regarding the design direction. Dinapoli brought comps to the third meeting the following month, and Stefani approved a direction.

Coty’s packaging team then took over, but Dinapoli remained involved in nearly every step of production, making sure that the end result stayed true to the original design. It took another year before the first fragrances were ready to ship to stores for launch this fall.

Spraying on Color Poses a Few Challenges

The glass L bottle is sprayed red, yellow, and green. These colors are meant to represent the Rastafarian flag and are colors that Stefani often wears. The bottle has an oversized gold metal cap embossed with the letter “L.” Pochet of America (Wayne, NJ) produced and decorated the bottle.

Although spraying glass is a very common decorating technique, achieving the right look for this bottle was difficult. “We went on-site to make sure that the colors were coming out correctly. It was a long process that involved a lot of trial and error,” Dinapoli explains.

A three-color gradient spray was used. The challenge was to make sure that the colors morphed into each other while staying separate at the same time. “It was a fine line between trying to blend the colors, while also keeping them apart. If they mixed too much, they would turn brown,” says Dinapoli.

Spraying is not necessarily a precise process, and each bottle turns out to be slightly different. “The decorating process was very involved but worth it because we were very happy with the end result,” says Dinapoli.

Final Touches

Belt buckles and decorations on handbags from L.A.M.B. by Gwen Stefani inspired the design of the bottle’s gold cap. Interlocking “L” shapes can be seen in the cap’s design. The cap is supplied and anodized by both Qualipac America (Wayne, NJ) and Jackel International (Hong Kong; Hillsborough, NJ).

The square, oversized cap has an anodized gold metal over-shell. A plastic inner part ensures that the cap will “click” securely into place. There is also a weight in between the inner and outer parts. Lifting off the cap reveals the color turquoise on the inner part of the cap as well as on the actuator—giving customers an element of surprise.

“The metal over-shell was difficult to produce because it’s just one piece, with very sharp corners. There were also issues involving debossing the detailed logo into the metal. Creating this piece while keeping up with mass production was a challenge,” explains Dinapoli.

The carton is printed with a “baby cheetah” pattern, which was inspired by a swatch of silk that Stefani gave to Dinapoli. “She said that it was her favorite pattern at the time and she was using it to make a dress,” he says. Cultech (Edison, NJ) supplied the carton.

Final Words of Advice

When it comes to using various types of decoration to make a design concept reality, a few glitches will no doubt happen along the way. “Being very detail oriented every step of the way ensures that the end result will be exactly what you intended,” McLaughlin advises.

Dinapoli agrees. “There’s always a lot of back and forth, and lots of trial and error, with any decoration that you are trying to achieve. We always have to push our vendors farther than they’re willing to go,” he says.

Teamwork is always key. “The development process is always about our creative and production teams coming together to decide on the best way to use a supplier’s technical expertise to achieve the desired effect,” adds McLaughlin.

Decorating Options

“The image or graphics are protected by a plastic resin that seals the ink and prevents the im­age from coming in contact with the product,” explains Anthony DiMaio, director of marketing and sales for Cameo Metal. The company can even resize an image so that it will fit onto a wide variety of products.

This type of decoration has excellent branding potential. “It could definitely help attract sales in the fragrance, personal care, or children’s markets,” DiMaio says.

Freeport Screen & Stamping Inc.

Combining a few different processes might be a way to achieve the look a designer has envisioned. Freeport Screen & Stamping Inc.’s (Freeport, NY) expertise lies in the ability to use a combination of screen-printing and hot stamping on glass or metal. Lately, the company has been receiving quite a few requests to develop a specific type of coating, which feels different from a soft-touch finish. “This type of process gives glass bottles a soft, smooth finish in a variety of colors,” says Guyetri Popat, vice president of operations for Freeport.

One of the challenges in developing this coating is that a new ink system also needed to be developed. “We are still making sure that the different types of inks and foils will work with different types of coatings. Sometimes certain foils won’t work with certain powders. We have to find the right combination of materials,” explains Popat.

The company is currently testing for product compatibility and to make sure that all colors will work with different types of decoration. Although it’s still in the development stages, the supplier will have the ability to use this decorating process by next spring.

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