Latest Launches (Expanded Online Version)
Gold for the Holidays
For Tarte’s holiday 2008 collection, cosmetic sets were paired with chic gold clutch bags and coin purses.
One of the sets packaged in a gold coin purse is Tres Cheek, a set of three cheek stains in Tarte’s signature push-up stick package. For the holidays, the stick package was decorated with a gold finish.
Tarte Cosmetics: Holiday 2008
Tarte’s holiday collection includes Purse Your Lips, a set of nine lip glosses that are tucked inside a gold clutch bag. “We worked closely with our supplier for months designing the structure and hardware for the clutch before going into production,” says Heather Ratushny, senior manager of product development.
When a gift set is packaged with a reusable purse, pouch, or bag, it not only attracts the attention of holiday shoppers but also extend a brand’s recognition long after the beauty products are finished. “We want women to purchase the Tarte lifestyle. It’s more than just makeup; it’s how you carry it,” says Candace Craig, marketing/public relations manager. “It’s an important part of our mission to create functional yet fashionable packaging that doubles as an accessory.”
How does Tarte’s team predict what the trendiest colors and styles will be for its embellished fabrics and accessories, especially with new products conceptualized 18 months in advance? “We keep informed of seasonal trends,” says Heather Ratushny, senior manger of product development. “We participate in New York City’s Fashion Week, working closely with designers to develop color palettes for their shows. We also follow emerging trends in industries outside of beauty, such as textiles.”
Also part of the holiday collection, the Vanity Palette opens to reveal three trays that contain 16 eye shadows, 16 lip glosses, 2 shades of bronzer, and mascara. “We try to offer a different value set every holiday season, filled with even more product each year,” says Craig.
Tarte is also thinking green. The Vanity Palette is made from postconsumer-recycled resin and decorated with fabric made from natural woven fibers and a gold appliqué finish.
Picture Perfect
Fruits & Passion found unique ways to make its holiday packages reusable. One of them, a faux-leather secondary box, doubles as a picture frame.
The box has a clear plastic sleeve on the lid so that a photo can be slipped underneath. The box was also wrapped in a paperboard sleeve, which was printed with information on the products.
“We always like to design packaging that has a second life,” says Brigette Roy, vice president of marketing.
Fruits & Passion: Holiday Launches
Gift Tote Bag
Fruits & Passion created a reusable woven polypropylene bag, which the brand is promoting as a gift bag. “A customer can use the bag to carry products out of the store and later put presents inside of it instead of wrapping them. Gift recipients then have a reusable bag, instead of wrapping paper to throw away,” says Brigette Roy, vice president of marketing, Fruits & Passion.
Glass Is Green
Fruits & Passion also launched a foaming bath product in holiday packaging—tall, slender bottles reminiscent of candy canes. The glass bottles were decorated with a striped decal and have a Plexiglas stopper.
“Glass has always been a part of our brand, since day one,” says Brigette Roy, vice president of marketing, Fruits & Passion. “It has a long life and is refillable. Consumers come back to purchase refills, without having to buy a new pump and cap,” says Roy. The refills are packaged in 32-oz plastic bottles.
Recognizing the need to meet different customers’ needs, Fruits & Passion also offers a variety of products in plastic packages in its stores.
“We always launch seasonal products, designed to be fun and attractive,” Roy adds.
Urban Decay: Double Take
Urban Decay’s new lipstick offers customers two different cap options: a limited-edition Zamac metal cap or a standard-version PCTA cap. Both fit over an anodized aluminum A-shell base, which features a miniature Zamac dagger accessory bonded to its bottom.
The limited-edition cap features a plastic cap covered by a luxurious Zamac overshell with latticework-inspired decoration. Through the cutouts, the metal cap shows off the purple A-shell base. “The overshell was molded into this unique shape, electroplated to achieve its gunmetal color, and then polished by hand,” says Nick Gardner, vice president of sales for HCT Packaging.
“The tolerances are fairly wide for metal, so we had to be sure to keep the parts consistent,” Gardner adds. “Whenever you work with two different materials, it’s a challenge to stay within the tolerances of both.”
The standard-version clear plastic cap was a challenge to produce as well, according to Gardner. The cap was overmolded with a swirling vine decoration designed with a three-dimensional effect. “The cap was decorated and then overmolded, and decorated again,” says Gardner. “We had to use special inks that wouldn’t melt during the overmolding process.”
How did the design first come about? “I was shopping in Bologna [Italy] with Amy Zunzunegui, director of product development at Urban Decay. We saw latticework decoration on a chair, which inspired us to come up with this concept,” says Gardner. “It’s great when you get to work with such a creative, independent company like Urban Decay, because they let us explore so many different types of designs.”
Music to the Ears
For Christmas, Jean-Paul Gaultier’s fragrances will be housed in secondary boxes that play music.
The project, which took a year to plan, was collaboration between the Jean-Paul Gaultier brand, supplier Cosfibel, and Cosfibel’s subsidiary Mandalay Design.
The music-playing mechanism was embedded in the box’s back panel. Music starts playing when the box’s drawer is opened. When the music stops playing, a key on the outside of the box can be used to wind the mechanism up again so that music continues to play.
The box was produced in three separate manufacturing plants in China. The first plant specialized in making manual music boxes; the second specialized in thermoforming; and the third manufactured the box and integrated all of its components.
The box is made of mounted board, while the box cover features silk-screened glittery ink. The entire box is protected by a secondary sleeve.
Inside each box is a Jean-Paul Gaultier fragrance such as La Male, Classique, Fleur du Male, and Gaultier 2, as well as a shower gel and perfumed lotion. The musical tunes that the boxes play include Elvis Presley’s Love Me Tender and Scott Joplin’s The Entertainer.
At last year’s Luxe Pack trade show, Cosfibel introduced another type of multimedia box—a carton featuring an MP3 player.
Terralina Turns Recycled Plastic Bags into a Gift Box
Terralina’s holiday packaging is a purple and green box made from 100% postconsumer-recycled plastic grocery bags collected from the streets of Delhi, India.
When left on the streets, the bags clog Delhi’s drainage systems during the rainy season, which poses health risks. “A company in India recognized this problem and is providing jobs for local women by hiring them to collect the bags,” says Gina Garrubbo, cofounder of Terralina.
The company in India sorts the bags by color. The bags are then put through a nontoxic cleaning process. “There’s no dye involved. The bags are stripped and pressed using a special process,” says Garrubbo. “We didn’t have any issues with color consistency, and the vibrancy that was achieved is amazing.”
Terralina purchased this packaging from a supplier in the United States, which sources the material from the company that processes it in India. “A layering process and a proprietary manufacturing technique allow the recycled plastic material to be made into boxes and bags of different shapes and different levels of thicknesses,” explains Garrubbo.
Terralina chose a semirigid square box form without a lid. Decorative stitching finishes the seams. Terralina’s skin care and body care products are housed inside, covered with purple tissue paper. An oversized purple bow adds the final touch.
“As a brand that is both luxurious and natural, it’s always a challenge to find environmentally sensitive packaging that is also elegant,” says Garrubbo. “It’s part of our brand’s mission to create sustainable packaging that has a low impact on the environment. The fact that this packaging has a deeper meaning is so important to us.”
As a small company, Terralina is faced with the burden of the extra costs that can be associated with creating such innovative packaging. “Other companies may spend more money on marketing, so we look at this as investing in what defines our brand,” says Garrubbo.