2009 Editors’ Choice Award Winner: Personal Care
Per-fékt Eye Perfection Gel
by Per-fékt Beauty
The Per-fékt Eye Perfection Gel tube touts the first-of-its-kind palladium-tip applicator. Together with the product’s formula, the applicator helps to reduce puffiness around the eyes due to metal’s cool touch. “We say that it’s sensationally cool,” says Richard Anderson, president and founder of Per-fékt Beauty.
Tim Thorpe, West Coast president of HCT Packaging, is a friend of Anderson’s. Thorpe was the person who devised the concept of the metal tube tip four years ago. “It originally started when we at HCT were working on some eye product formulations,” says Thorpe. “I began looking at different ideas for applicator tips, and I thought that it would be a good idea to use metal as a tip, because in the boxing ring they often use a cold compress against the eye to reduce swelling.”
The Per-fékt tube tip is actually zamac coated in palladium. Thorpe says that palladium offers numerous benefits: “It’s nonreactive to water and potentially aggressive ingredients.” It also doesn’t irritate sensitive skin.
The tip was molded with rounded edges and presented numerous manufacturing challenges. Marrying the metal tip to a plastic tube was a huge challenge. Thorpe describes another obstacle that HCT had to be sure to avoid. “When you’re dealing with metal, you always have the possibility of metal shavings, which is an absolute no-no when making something for the eye area,” says Thorpe. Thanks to HCT’s good manufacturing practices, metal shavings aren’t a factor.
“I like the metal applicator,” says CPC Packaging awards panelist Jon Dinapoli, creative director, Coty Prestige. “It looks high quality and feels good on the skin.”
HCT Packaging also produced the green 8.5-ml polyethylene tube. The tube’s applicator is a long, thin polyethylene nozzle. Product flows through this nozzle instead of dispensing directly through the palladium tip, which snap-fits over the nozzle.
Anderson says that the tube was the right package for the eye product’s consistency. “This formula has a thicker mousse-like texture. It can be very difficult to dispense out of a pump because it gets air pockets in it,” he says.
Another unique part of the tube is a zamac clip, sprayed green, which was glued over the tube crimp. The clip isn’t just decorative. It can be bent upward and pressed against the tube to flatten it, helping squeeze product out.
“Hiding the tube crimp with the decorated clip is a terrific way to avoid seeing it. The clip adds a lot to the package,” says awards panelist John Alongi, senior manager, package engineering, mark.
Per-fékt has gained attention by being the first to market a tube tip like this, and asks retailers to display the tube with its tip facing up. “I think this package is adorable,” says panelist Gail Boyé, vice president, global product development, mark. “They have taken a standard tube and added elements of innovation.”