Effective packaging is about attracting attention and making a good first impression. Today’s cosmetic and personal care marketers want that impression to convey value and luxury. The use of metal—as a primary container, various components or embellishments—is one way marketers are choosing to polish the image of a variety of beauty products. In addition to its functional appeal, the look and feel of metal adds instant richness to a product’s first impression.
First Impressions
“Metal is a real material, a true material. The moment that the customer touches the metal, it conveys added value on the packaging,” stressed Boris Schaefer, director of customer relations, Seidel GmbH & Co., New York, NY.
“When metal is a part of the package, customers know right away that it’s a higher-end package,” agreed Eileen Wang, account executive for Edison, NJ-based Han Hean USA. She said that more and more companies are asking about metals for packaging, because the look and feel are not easy to duplicate in a plastic package. “No matter how hard you work at metallizing it, it (plastic) will never feel identical to the real metal piece that goes through an anodizing process,” she emphasized.
“In this tough economic environment, aluminum can add a lot of value,” said Eric Vanin, vice president sales and marketing, for Qualipac America Corp., Whippany, NJ. ”The shine is very appealing and customers like the feel, the coldness that you get with metal.”
Form Follows Function
Even before it imparts an upscale fashion look, aluminum functions well in beauty applications. It’s shatter proof, it blocks harmful light rays and is generally resistant to ingredients that might not be compatible with other materials.
Gibo Italia in Milan, Italy, works primarily with aluminum because of its functionality. “It is easy to handle,” commented Pierfrancesco Bocola, sales manager, Gibo Italia. The company offers aluminum covers for all types of closures.
Cosmopak offers its brush pen in a metal version for the luxury market. |
Gold or Silver? Red or Blue?
“The majority of the aluminum components going out today are anodized in a color and in the cosmetics industry, it usually stays in the gold and silver range,” said Peter Philip of Eyelematic Manufacturing Co. Inc., Watertown, CT. “Silver or gold, matte or shiny—these make up 80% of the market out there right now.”
Philip added that some companies will use shades such as red or dark blue, but that’s often tied to a signature color. “There’s only a certain part of the population that likes different colors. For the most part, it’s gold and silver.”
Philip sees the current trend favoring gold somewhat, both matte and shiny. “In previous years, it was matte silver that everybody was using and they are still actively using it,” he said, “but, right now, they seem to be ordering more gold than silver.”
Seidel also works primarily with aluminum that the company can anodize in any color, according to Schaefer. “You can have a gold or a silver, or a pinkish look,” he said. “At the moment, the metal look is very popular, such as silver or pewter, in a more matte finish. However, more conservative brands are still using a golden finish.” Seidel provides a wide spectrum of surface treatments, such as sateen or high gloss finishes, and brushed or sandblasted techniques that add to the possible looks available.
Roberts Metal enhances a tin with an embossed pattern on the lid. |
Brushed aluminum is also a popular finish, according to Mike Pountney, sales director of U.K.-based Roberts Metal Packaging. Pountney said that brushed aluminum is used for upscale products, especially fragrances, but noted that on toiletries and cosmetics, sheet aluminum is often the choice. “We use sheet aluminum with a clear lacquer, which gives a brushed look,” he said. “It’s just the surface grain of the aluminum showing out through the clear external varnish.”
Metals Are ’Heavy’
“Another trend (using metal packaging) has been products geared to a more urban, metropolitan customer profile,” stated Mike Meyer, sales manager, Europack, Medfield, MA. Color cosmetics packaging from Almay, L’Oréal, MAC and Stila are good examples of such styling, he said.
“And in hair care, brands such as The Body Shop, Goldwell, Graham Webb, John Frieda, Osis+ (Schwarzkopf & Dep), Vidal Sassoon and Zirh have all used aluminum packaging to convey a strong, modern look,” Meyer explained. “Aluminum and tinplate packaging are also very popular with producers of natural products such as Aveda, Burt’s Bees, W.S. Badger and Mad Gab’s.”
W.S. Badger’s balms, left, and Victoria’s Secret’s Balmy Nights are packaged in tins from Europack. |
Mass Moves to Metal
Once used primarily for the upscale market, metals are now making a move into mid-range and even mass packaging, as marketers come to realize the importance of conveying a message of high quality through their packaging.
“Metal is definitely moving from being solely a premium offering to an expectation at mid- and increasingly at mass levels in the market,” commented Nigel Clark, chief executive of pdGroup (owners of Decorpart Ltd.) and managing director, Decorpart Ltd., Lancashire, England. “Mass wants to look class. This is driving the increased use of metal actuators—gold and silver at mid and mass; colors and special matte or satin finishes at premium,” he said.
“A lot of mass market brands are gearing toward anodized finishes,” agreed Anthony Di Maio, director of marketing for Cameo Metal Products Inc., Brooklyn, NY. “They want to make mass product more appealing to a higher-end consumer. Cameo is supplying triangulated overshells aluminum to cover the pumps for a mass room freshener,” Di Maio explained, giving the containers a more upscale look.
Fragrance Packaging Shines
Many major beauty companies are going back to metal for fragrance caps, according to Eyelematic’s Philip. “They had been (using) plastic or plastic plated for at least the last three or four years, but now the trend is to bring metal back onto fragrance caps.”
Han Hean is also using anodized aluminum to create its metal pumps and purse-size atomizers. Wang said, “It’s been trendy in the past few years to have a brushed or matte look, especially in silver.”
Seidel can deform the metal to create innovative shapes for packaging products, as it did for the Boss in Motion fragrance package. That container came close to the limits of aluminum deformability, according to Seidel.
“It’s a big metal ball,” said Schaefer. “All you see is metal, actually. There is no (visible) glass.” The aluminum balls for the 40ml and 90ml vaporizers consist of two anodized hemispheres, two plastic inserts containing the glass flacon and a weight. Special Seidel technologies, such as rolling the hemispheres’ edges and accurately combining the parts without glue with a snap fit, were necessary to guarantee the functionality of the ensemble, according to Seidel.
A debossing of the Hugo Boss logo and a laser engraving indicating the volume completes the design. “It’s the most spectacular launch Seidel has ever been involved in,” stressed Schaefer.
Perry Ellis 360 includes three fragrances—men’s, women’s and Reserve for men. Cameo Metal helped distinguish the three by supplying a collar with a matte black finish for the Reserve bottle and anodized pewter and gold for the men’s and women’s, respectively, according to Di Maio. The company also provided overshells for a line of fragrances for Caesar’s in Las Vegas, featuring embossed logos.
Techpack’s CD-shaped compact is available with or without windows with a variety of decorating options. |
Aluminum for Color Cosmetics
Aluminum is holding steady as the metal of choice for much of today’s beauty packaging, according to Caroline Defrance, product executive, Techpack-CMI, New York, NY. She noted that aluminum is used for “anything from basic round pots to foundation sticks.”
She added that aluminum can also be the “primary” material of the package, with another material such as foam or plastic generally used for an insert.
Techpack-CMI offers a CD-shaped compact that comes with a foam insert, with or without windows, in a wide variety of finishes and decoration options.
The company also features another line of 10 complementary items, including wet and dry compacts, loose powder canisters, pressed powder compacts, blush or duo eye shadow compacts and extra-flat or double mirror compacts. A variety of square and rectangular items can be augmented with metal-clad powder shakers, lipsticks and foundation sticks. The items can then be customized with a wide array of anodized finishes, from basic black and elegant gold to hi-tech silver and hip-hop pink, in a variety of finishes—matte, shiny or brushed surfaces.
Cosmopak’s widest assortment of metal packaging is available in its lipstick cases line, according to Michael Adolph, vice president of operations and marketing for the company, based in New York, NY. Cosmopak also offers mascaras, metal retractable pencils, metal compacts and, most recently, a metal version of its brush pen. “The brush pen is targeted for the luxury market,” Adolph noted. “It’s being used for a lip-gloss delivery system by one of our clients that has tailored it by applying a gradient spray to the exterior finish and adding a cut out window on the pen’s side so that the product color can be viewed from the exterior.”
“Lipstick growth has mainly been driven by the move away from nickel plated mild steel and brass to the lighter, better, cheaper anodized aluminum alternatives,” said Clark of Decorpart Ltd. The company has experienced good growth with its offerings of metal covers, ferrules and collars for fragrance and skin care packages, as well as its lipstick sleeves and collars.
SoSoy chose Cameo Metal to create the embossed aluminum caps for its line of high end personal care products. |
Metals in Personal Care
There has also been a noticeable trend toward aluminum packaging in the high end of the personal care market, according to Europack’s Meyer. “Bobbi Brown Cosmetics, Crabtree & Evelyn, Davies Gate, Fresh and L’Occitane, all use such components as aluminum screw caps, aluminum tubes and aluminum tins,” he said.
SoSoy Company, a niche marketer of personal care products, was looking for a package that would reflect its product’s soy milk ingredients and safe, natural appeal. It chose a standard glass milk bottle topped off with a custom, overshell of aluminum supplied by Cameo Metal. The aluminum cap, with a tamper evident strip, is enhanced with an embossed logo to add a high-end look and emphasize the SoSoy brand.
Qualipac is active in a number of projects right now with aluminum, including the WhiteLight EX skin care line from Estée Lauder. “It is a whole cover in aluminum that is glued and snapped on top of plastic,” Vanin explained.
The boom in skin care such as cosmeceuticals, sun creams and anti-aging products, has lead to increasing demand for collars for lotion pumps, according to Clark of Decorpart. “This is expected to continue due to demographics and increasing environmental awareness and concerns,” he explained.
CCL’s Comfort Hold is designed to fit smaller, feminine hands. |
Breaking the Mold
In the past, impact extruded aluminum had a down side, according to Ed Martin, vice president sales and marketing, CCL Container Aerosol Division, Hermitage, PA. “Though you didn’t have to buy a mold, there wasn’t a lot of flexibility in shape for the product,” he explained. “Then, we really started seeing marketers wanting to get into different shapes.”
CCL Container responded to that demand. “We’ve come out with 11 new shapes just in the course of the last year,” Martin stated. In a normal year, the company might develop one or two new shapes, according to Martin. “So, we’ve really seen this as a huge trend,” he stressed. “It’s one of those things where its time has come.”
Many of these new shapes were developed by CCL to feel good in the hand. TrimWave is a bullet-shaped aluminum container with ripples that go up the side, which Zotos International is now using it for its Hold It! Maximum Hold Whipped Mousse.
“Zotos was looking for something unexpected and a bit more eye-catching than what it had done before,” Martin explained. “TrimWave has a very different, high fashion appearance. In a world of cans with oval shoulders this package stands out.”
Comfort Hold is another aluminum canister making waves for CCL. It is distinguished by a tapered neck of 45mm with a rounded shoulder of 53mm that creates a smooth, palm-sized groove that fits smaller, feminine hands. The easy grip also provides improved dispensing control, according to CCL.
Personal care marketers Sally Beauty, Paul Brown Hawaii, Farouk Systems and PureOlogy Serious Colour Care, all recently chose the Comfort Hold container recently to debut new products or revamp existing ones. “All used the Comfort Hold shape, but were able to customize the shoulder to suit individual product needs,” Martin noted. “So, along with distinctive package decorations, each container has achieved a look consistent with the marketer’s vision. I think people want shape, but they also still want to be able to customize it without breaking the bank,” Martin stated. “We can do that.”
Metal Caps and Collars
Whether it’s fragrance, color cosmetics or treatment, closures not only seal the container, but also act as a fashion accent.
Ball caps are very popular right now, according to Philip, who added that. Eyelematic also has a new stock line of caps that are flat top cylinders. He said that the company is also working on the production of certain collar shapes that are difficult to produce. A particular project features a black square collar for a rectangular bottle. “Squares are the most difficult to produce in aluminum because of the way that the metal floats to the corners,” he explained.
Custom caps and collars are being manufactured primarily in anodized aluminum as the preferred high quality metal to provide a rich appearance, according to Jeanne Perkins, vice president, Axilone USA, New York, NY. She added that one of the newer trends, especially for summer fragrances, “is a demand for metal accents in color, versus the standard gold and silver.”
Recently, Axilone has created caps for such fragrances as Swiss Army for Her, and Chanel’s Allure. For personal care, Axilone manufactures aluminum tube caps, disc dispensers with aluminum accents, as well as aluminum jar caps.
In fragrance, Decorpart’s Clark noted that premium packs are moving to some form of crimpless/sealtight system for the dispenser, “for which a collar becomes a necessity, rather than a nicety. However, perfumery ferrules continue to grow despite the move to crimpless, because mass growth outweighs premium migration to crimpless.”
Bulk Anodized vs. Rack Anodized
Many perfumery ferrules are bulk anodized, Clark said, but concerns regarding degradation from unanodized patches keep a significant number of the major marketers with rack anodizing.
Philson Inc., Watertown, CT, hopes to change all that. Philson is offering colored anodizing in bulk. “It’s a less expensive alternative to rack anodizing,” stressed Paul Decerbo, director of operations, Philson Inc.
“A lot of the cosmetic end users insist on rack anodizing, because it’s very fine quality. With bulk anodizing, you can get a very good anodize vs. a very, very, very good anodize with rack. And, a lot of people are starting to look at that as an alternative cost savings.”
Decerbo said that Philson is introducing Bulk Brilliance, “which gives the cosmetic industry an opportunity to see that you can use very good quality bulk anodizing in color that’s traditionally been available exclusively in rack, at about half the price. We hope that it catches on as a cost-savings trend.”
In addition to bulk anodizing, Philson is actively pursuing getting into the production of collars. “We’ve already begun the R&D. Whether we do it in bulk or rack hasn’t been determined, but either way it gives us an opportunity to get into that market segment.”
Brad-Pak offers a line of stock aluminum bottles. |
Dress Up Stock Aluminum
Stock lines of metallic packaging also continue to gain ground. “Our aluminum bottles do very well,” said Jenifer Brady, vice president sales and marketing, Brad-Pak Enterprises Inc., Garwood, NJ. “We have customers who take our aluminum bullet-shaped containers and either have them silk screen decorated or they put very nice labels on them.”
Brady noted that finished product manufacturers are interested in making their products look different, so they are gravitating toward the aluminum bottle. “It sets it apart on the shelf; it’s not another plastic or a glass package.”
Terrific Tin Types
Tin is also used in a variety of packaging for the cosmetics and personal care market as both primary and secondary containers. “Using the larger tins for gift sets has been big for us and is getting bigger,” reported Todd Waxgiser, national accounts manager for the HBA market for the U.S. and Canada for J.L. Clark Inc., Rockford, IL.
“In a tin, they can package a bottle of cologne with a cream or an article of clothing. The great thing about using a tin is that it is a value-added item,” Waxgiser explained. “People end up re-using or even displaying these cans, so they act like a mini-billboard to remind the consumer to go out and buy more of the brand.”
Europack supplies tins for Kate Spade. |
Brad Willick, market development, for United States Can Co. in Baltimore, MD, said, “We provide basic tin packaging, and it’s being used for a wide range of items—everything from the hair care market, which is using our seamless tin products, to various shaped and sized containers being used for overpacks, where companies package multiple items to a case.”
Rectangles are the most popular shape for larger items, while smaller cosmetic and hair care lines are using round tins, according to suppliers.
U.S. Can is paying special attention to its round seamless tins for the cosmetics category.
Europack offers tinplate screw caps, tinplate tins with slip-on or screw-on lids, and three-piece tinplate cans.
“We recently produced a tinplate can for Aveda’s depilatory Plant Wax program,” said Meyer. “The hard and soft waxes are packaged in three-piece cans and feature an easy-open lid with no sharp edges.”
For Aveda, “it was very important that the manufacturer be able to certify that the can is manufactured with 78% post-consumer recycled tinplate steel,” Meyer noted.
While there isn’t any single fashion trend in tinplate packaging, Willick noted that several companies are interested in old vintage looks. Waxgiser agreed, saying, “I see HBA companies going back to cans of yesteryear for the retro look.” He observed that an oval talcum powder can from J.L. Clark is getting a lot of attention. Yardley of London is just one of the companies currently using the can, which is all metal and available in three sizes.
In addition to the standard round lip balm containers, J.L. Clark also offers a rectangle that has a slide top. “The rectangle has gotten a lot of response in the last year,” noted Waxgiser. “The slide lip balm is another example of nostalgia appeal,” he added, “because J.L. Clark used to supply the tin to a company that is long out of business, but people still remember it from childhood.”
Cosmopak manufactures Alchemy’s copper lipstick tube. |
Appealing Alternatives
Aluminum and tin aren’t the only metals in use for HBA packaging. Brand marketers are exploring ways to distinguish themselves with unusual materials and finishes.
Cosmopak’s Adolph noted that, while the most popular types of metals used in cosmetics packaging are aluminum and brass, “we have had clients like Alchemy experiment with materials as exotic as copper to create beautiful and unique cases.”
Techpack-CMI offers iron mirrors and compacts. “Iron items are a bit heavier, but offer amazing finishes,” said Defrance. “They can, for example, be chrome electroplated for a very masculine and luxurious finish.”
“More recently, we have become very strong in what I think is the king of metals—a zinc alloy called Zamac,” said Qualipac’s Vanin, who believes Zamac offers a wider range of applications and uses than aluminum.
“You can have a gunmetal finish, white bronze, gold and others, in either matte or glossy finish,” he noted. “So, it gives you a lot of versatility.”
Vanin said Zamac’s white bronze finish is the most popular right now, “because it’s as close as you can get to silver. In general, silver tones work better for men and women, because gold is usually more for women than for men.”
In working with Zamac, Qualipac discovered a way to create a recessed area on the product, allowing for the setting of stones—diamonds, Swarovski crystals and others. The company also offers a new line of Zamac mini compacts for solid perfumes and color eye shadows. “They come in square, round and as a flower (shape) for teens,” Vanin said.
Zinc alloy compacts are also part of Techpack-CMI’s line, as seen in Elizabeth Arden’s 5th Avenue promo compact. “They are, however, heavier and more expensive,” observed Defrance.
The use of a combination of products—either two tones of metal or metal and plastic combinations—is also increasing. The former yields a distinctive look, while the latter helps achieve unusual shapes while keeping costs down.
Philip of Eyelematic noted a recent project for Celine Dion’s new fragrance from Coty that combined a silver collar and a gold tone cap. “It’s quite an interesting piece. It has three different walls, and it’s actually very difficult to make,” he said.
“We did the Lancôme Miracle cap and column a while back, and this reflects a new trend, which is to combine metal and plastic,” added Seidel’s Schaefer. The bottle features a metal collar surrounded by a plastic ring. “We assemble the plastic ring in the collar, and the customer puts it on the pump. The metal and plastic are visible.”
“A metal sheath or outer shell, permanently affixed to the casing, obviously adds weight to the component, which increases perceived value for the consumer,” noted Adolph, who has seen an increase in the use of metal for sheathing. “It certainly gives a package a completely different feel, one of those intangible values that could sway a consumer toward one brand over another.”
The Decorative Touch
Metal also provides decorative options for the primary package, according to Adolph, “including embossing, debossing, etching and spray effects that aren’t as easily or stylishly achieved on plastic packaging.”
“All of these finishing effects can make a stock package very unique,” Han Hean’s Wang emphasized. Han Hean also does double anodizing, which provides a two-tone finish, such as wording in shiny silver on a matte silver background.
Pountney of Roberts Metal agreed that embossing is very popular. “We supply a range of tins to Valerie of Beverly Hills for a range of body glitter powder and her tin is extremely heavily top- and side-embossed,” said Pountney. “Embossing allows a plain tin to be personalized with a logo, a name or wording. It makes what is a very plain cap or container into a very personalized product.“
Metal embellishments such as medallions from Stoffel Seals Corp., Nyack, NY, are another great way to dress up stock or custom packaging. “Stoffel Seals created a medallion for us that went on a private label fragrance that we created called Midnight Velvet,” said Vito Giardina, national sales manager, Michael Giordano International. “It’s a gold (colored) embossed medallion that hangs around the neck of the bottle from a gold cord.
“Our customer was looking for something very unique and upscale, and we were using some stock components,” Giardina explained. “In order to make it completely unique, we needed to dress it in a way that wasn’t being done out there in the retail market.”