2008 Editors’ Choice Award Winner: Personal Care
Sephora Bath and Body Collection
by Sephora
On shelves, Sephora’s Bath and Body collection makes a bold statement. The line’s packages seem to include every color in the spectrum. Each vibrant color corresponds with a specific product scent. The packages’ tactile qualities and ergonomic details seal the deal for consumers.
Sephora’s team collaborated with Jeanine Recckio, founder of Mirror Mirror Imagination Group, to develop key items in the line. “All of the colors are on trend, and the line makes an amazing impact on store shelves,” says Recckio.
Lifestyle trends influenced development, according to Recckio. “The luxury of taking a bath is back, and this is inspiring more consumers to decorate their bathrooms like sanctuaries. These products appeal to consumers who want to make a fashion statement in their home through the objects they choose to display,” she says, adding, “Sephora is brilliant at marrying form with function.”
Color is vital to this line. Different gradients of color are used on the plastic bottles, tottles, and jars. Most of the packages are extrusion blow-molded from PET and PETG. Some packages are clear, showing off boldly colored bubble baths and body washes. Opaque tottles and jars contain body lotion. Translucent spray bottles for dry-oil moisturizer are tinted.
Zorbit Resources, which designed all of the custom bottle shapes together with Sephora, worked on color matching. There were 72 different color matches across different materials. “We are proud to say that we hit more than 50 matches on the first submission,” says Tom Butkiewicz, president, Zorbit Resources.
The circular bubble bath bottle is uniquely shaped—rounded in the front and flat in the back. “We molded a thumbprint-sized recess on the back of the bottle to make it easier to grasp,” explains Catherine Marovich, director of Sephora Brand.
Graphics are minimalist. “In our experience, a little goes a long way. We chose key sound bites of information about the product to [display on the packaging],” explains Marovich.
Decorating the unusually shaped bottles was no easy feat. “We had to use up to five passes with handmade jigs to ensure consistency and tight registration,” says Butkiewicz. Many of the products have black flip-top dispensing caps made from polypropylene and PCTA. A subtle metallic colorant was added to the resin before molding the caps, which are also supplied by Zorbit Resources. Other suppliers involved with this project were CEI for the formulations, Emsar and Rexam for the pumps, and Whipsmart for labels.
Overall, the project’s greatest challenge was timing. “It took less than seven months to complete, from the start of the design to the delivery of components, which included 72 SKUs,” says Butkiewicz.
CPC Packaging awards panelist Cory Gelman, owner of fragrance brand Chic Baby, says that the package shapes are unusual and unexpected: “It’s a simple, clean design, and I could see consumers choosing these products over other brands.”
Awards panelist Alan Bodker, executive director of Origins package development, says, “I admire the fact that they were able to create so many different variations from what seems like just a few different packaging components.”