Color Cosmetic Packaging: Taking Compacts to the Next Level
Like the lights on a makeup artist’s mirror, LED lights frame the inside of Stila’s Contouring Compact.
Numerous techniques can make an ordinary compact extraordinary.
by Marie Redding, Senior EditorBrand marketers always need to find a hook, such as a unique package, to reel in the consumer. However, when a cosmetic package is a standard compact, how different can it be? Turns out, quite unique. There are a number of ways to get this common cosmetic package noticed.
All Lit Up Inside
Stila’s Contouring Compact surprises the consumer by lighting up when it’s opened. Small LED lights frame the compact’s inside mirror. The team at Stila Cosmetics was inspired by the style of lights that surround a makeup artist’s mirror—the type that one might find in a Hollywood dressing room or backstage at a New York fashion show.
“The lights were used for effect, but they will also be useful in a dark place,” says Jill Tomandl, vice president of global product development, package development, and package design, Stila Cosmetics.
The size of the light board dictated the compact’s dimensions during design, according to Tomandl. “The light board had certain spacing regulations,” she says.
Zorbit Resources (New York City) supplied this package. “Stila came to us with this idea,” says Hsiu-Yen Brosmith, vice president, West Coast sales, Zorbit Resources.
Incorporating the lights, mechanisms, and wiring required engineering expertise. A few of the challenges that the supplier faced were finding bright enough LED lights and then creating a button that would shut the light off when the compact closes. “Because the compact and the hinge where the shutoff button is located are made from paper, we had to put a steel plate in the hinge to provide a hard enough surface for the button in order to have sufficient engagement to turn off,” explains Brosmith.
Another challenge was making sure that the lights wouldn’t turn on during shipping. “Placing a label over the mechanism solved this issue,” says Tomandl. The exterior of the compact was wrapped in silver foil paper. The lid was decorated with embossing, and the bottom was silk-screened.
Mass-Market Innovation
Making sure that a compact’s design is user friendly is another way for a brand to ensure that its compact outshines the competition.
Maybelline gave mass-market customers a new way to open a compact.
Maybelline’s Dream Matte pressed-powder compact is an innovative design, especially for the mass market. The compact has two trays; an upper tray houses the powder, and a lower tray contains a powder puff and a mirror. The lower tray swings open.
Creating and assembling the five-part compact was complicated, according to Shannon Payne, vice president of sales for Rexam North America’s makeup division, which supplied the compact. The compact was injection-molded from a pearlescent material without noticeable flow lines. Two welding operations were used on the upper and lower sections.
The compact’s upper compartment has a clear window so that customers can easily see the product’s color. The lid was decorated with two screen-print runs.
The compact closes with an audible click, “letting the consumer know that it’s closed, for greater ease of use,” says Payne.
Fashion-Foward
Covering a compact in specialty fabric is another way to help differentiate it. This is often done for limited-edition items or holiday launches, and MG New York (New York City) is one supplier often called upon for these projects.
“Four years ago, we started to produce injection-molded compacts wrapped with paper or covered with fabric. Now we’re able to combine fabrics, plastics, paper, aluminum, brass, porcelain, and different resins to create a variety of different designs,” says Gary Korba, chief officer of operations and innovation, MG New York. “The materials chosen are usually tied to the fashion statement of the moment,” he adds.
MAC’s 2007 holiday compacts.
MAC Cosmetics came up with a unique design concept for its holiday compacts last year. MG New York executed the concept, which required applying hand-painted porcelain plaques on an aluminum compact. The supplier then combined its resources to create a coordinating bag. The bag’s handle design matches the compact’s porcelain plaque.
A project that MG New York did for Lancôme’s holiday collection last year involved developing an aluminum-frame compact wrapped with leopard-print fabric. Its design was inspired by a luxury cigarette case.
“We followed up with a new design for this summer, using the same compact. We double-wrapped the compact using a printed sheer organza over a shiny polyurethane material,” says Korba. “Compacts that are updatable satisfy the thirst for the new without having to retool your compact.”
Toly’s New Lipstick Package
Designing a lipstick package includes making sure that a lipstick bullet will swivel up effortlessly. The bullet should also reach a certain height in a single swivel. The smoothness with which a mechanism operates depends on how a package is engineered and whether or not it requires a lubricant.
At the Cosmoprof trade show in April, Toly Products (Edison, NJ) began showing an innovative lipstick case to customers. The case has a smooth-torque mechanism. In fact, the company considers it to be one of the smoothest available. “It features a helix 1.3 turn, rather than the usual single, full turn,” says David Oaten, UK general manager, Toly Products.
The smoothness of the mechanism is due to the engineering alone. No lubricant is used. According to Oaten, most of Toly’s customers request lube-free lipstick packages. “Silicone and lubricants will degrade over time, so the performance of a mechanism can change. Lubricants must also meet certain FDA requirements if a lipstick will be sold in the United States. Europe has different rules. It’s a lot easier if a case doesn’t require lubricant,” says Oaten.
The case was also designed with a simple assembly that doesn’t require a lot of parts, which lowers its cost. “Cases with this type of mechanism already exist for the high-end market, but now we are able to offer ours at a competitive price,” says Oaten.