Beauty in the Details

Color cosmetic packaging defines a brand with styles ranging from subtle chic to over-the-top glam.

By Joanna Cosgrove, Contributing Editor

The package for Physicians Formula’s F.L.A.T. Mascara features a package with a built-in mirror for convenient application.

With the myriad of lip, eye and face cosmetics beckoning consumers from mass displays, drugstore shelves and department store counters, packaging design plays a pivotal role in product differentiation and brand definition. Some brands, like Revlon, are known for their use of simplistic packaging that makes product colors pop. Other brands, like Urban Decay, use packaging as the hook, drawing customers in with outrageous designs and intriguing presentations. Whether companies choose the simple or the elaborate route, what matters most is that the package is well executed.  

Laurent Hainaut, president, Raison Pure International Inc., New York, said the color cosmetic market has been dynamic in the past few years, prompting a flow of new brands into the market. The packaging, he said, can be broken down into three broad categories — those targeting young consumers, “make-up artist” packaging and classic prestige packaging. Although each type of packaging is visually unique, they each exhibit a similar approach in terms of style and design.

“There is a large category of brands targeting a young consumer (that are) very creative, certainly the most creative and reactive to the trends, especially in graphic treatment,” he said, offering examples like Paul & Jo, Sugar, Benefit, Stila, Dessert, Urban Decay and Hard Candy. “(They are) very colorful, fun, sexy, a little bit retro — really giving the idea of having fun and pleasure of seduction. In terms of shape, it is mainly standard shapes but the innovation comes from a real graphic and colorful approach.”

Hainaut pointed to Fresh as a brand that’s doing a great job in terms of style, colors and graphics and also in the quality of the packaging. “They have really created a story with their products,” he said. “I love their last product launch with the movie Memory of a Geisha. There is dreamy simplicity and elegance in all of their products.”

The second packaging category centers on the traditional black pack of the make-up artists. “Here I don’t see a lot of effort in design approach (since) the consumer is buying the make-up itself,” he said, citing color lines from make-up artists such as Vincent Longo, Nars, Paula Dorf and Bobbi Brown. “It’s all about the brand, the name and the product.”

Lastly, there are the classic, prestige brands. Hainaut singles out Lancôme as a brand that consistently puts forth interesting packaging designs and branding approaches. “There is a mix of technicity, innovation and style that are well balanced,” he said. “This brand has a dynamic approach, I think they are always trying to go further, to really innovate, and they have a very strong branding sensibility.”

Generating Mass Appeal

Revlon is a time-tested brand that makes great use of simple, classic packaging to frame its colorful formulations. “Revlon’s general approach is to develop clean, modern forms that show the maximum amount of color to the consumer with equally streamlined, straightforward topography,” commented John Butcher, senior vice president, package development, Revlon Inc., New York, NY. “Revlon tends to experiment with custom embellishments for seasonal color stories or limited edition products to convey a mood and entice the consumer. A more subdued packaging and topography is used to give regular business products a more streamlined feel.”

Dancing Darlings from Benefit evoke holiday festivities with a ballroom feel.

For its limited edition Perfectly Plum fall color story lip gloss collection, Revlon chose a purse-portable, round package with a clear lid. The lid frames the lip gloss colorwheel design inside. “It allows adjacent and diagonally positioned hues to play off one another,” said Butcher. “It also presents an interesting positioning of the color palette (which we refer to as the colorwheel).”

The compact was supplied by Shya Hsin Plastics of China and filled by NuWorld Cosmetics, Deerfield, IL.

Physicians Formula, a color cosmetic line that typically shares the aisle with Revlon, is known for its uniquely functional packaging. “Our packaging design philosophy is based on providing consumers with high quality problem-solving delivery systems that improve upon current use of cosmetics and satisfy the need of our time starved consumers,” said Ingrid Jackel-Marken, senior vice president of marketing, Physicians Formula Inc. “Our mission is to bring class to mass with department store quality packaging at affordable price. We thrive to design visually impactful packaging that (is) made for the commuting, car-pooling, business-meeting lifestyles.”

The company’s F.L.A.T. (Fabulously Long And Thick) Mascara features a package perfect for the time crunched gal on the go. A custom-designed, flat, full-bristled mascara brush offers both long and short hair bristles to completely coat each lash, while a built-in mirror on the vial allows for convenient application.

The company’s Mineral Wear Talc-Free Mineral Loose Powder is also packaged for maximum consumer-friendliness. Doubling as both a foundation and a finishing powder, the product is contained in a package designed to ensure mess-free application thanks to an innovative sifter lid which keeps the powder contained. A brush applicator provides full face coverage and snaps in place for convenient storage.

Secondary cartons for Lucy B’s Stung Lips collection are ripe with fresh Australian imagery.

Jackel-Marken said the company works hard to present thoughtful packaging concepts, working in value-added benefits whenever possible. “The uniqueness and quality of the content is critical but so is the delivery system, as our products are used daily,” she said. “Consumers are value-conscious and look for multi-dimensional benefits in products: a good formula is not enough.”

Jackel-Marken added that most of Physicians Formula’s packaging ideas are created in-house, with some ideas originating from improvements upon existing packaging.

Prestige Premonitions

Urban Decay has carved a niche among younger consumers using fashionably over-the-top packaging and brash product names. According to the company’s Wende Zomnir, executive creative director, her inspiration for new packaging ideas comes from what she sees around her. “I like to look at what’s going on with fashion, art and design to get inspiration for packaging. I also like to check out new fabrics, patterns and motifs,” she said. “And, of course, I meet with packaging people from all over the world to learn about new technology and what can be accomplished now in manufacturing; what new materials are available and how they can be combined. Sometimes something you’ve seen at a movie or museum will click with something a packaging manufacturer has shown you and voila! There’s your idea.”

One of Zomnir’s latest packaging incarnations resembles something straight out of I Dream of Jeannie. Bottles and caps for Surreal Skin Make-up and Surreal Skin Concealer are genie-esque, made of squeezable, molded metallic lavender plastic, topped with silver-sprayed, twist-off caps. “We saw a cap we liked in the World Wide Packaging catalog, and then worked with them to create the base,” recalled Zomnir.

For its Precious Metal Eye Sheens, Urban Decay went gusto for glam, opting to encase the color-loaded jewel toned collection in an acrylic, diamond shaped package manufactured by HCT Packaging, Bridgewater, NJ.

“We chose the diamond-shaped package for the Precious Metal Eye Sheen product because it’s an unusual, luxe formula with a beautiful sheen to it. It leaves a glamorous, gleaming finish on the eye when applied, so we thought a diamond-inspired package reflected the look and feel of the product itself,” Zomnir said. “It is such a beautiful package to showcase a truly beautiful formula. And, the diamond-shaped container is extremely eye-catching, so we knew it would help give the product shelf appeal.”

Like Urban Decay, San Franscico, CA-based Benefit co-founders Jean and Jane Ford know a thing or two about pairing color cosmetics with whimsical packaging and memorable, light-hearted product names. “With our packaging, with our product names, with our products, it’s about creating a universal giggle and giving women products that will make them feel good about themselves,” said Jean. “Jane and I would not have the privilege of creating such fancy wrappings around our products if we didn’t have the knowledge that the product inside delivered.”

For its limited edition Perfectly Plum lip gloss collection, Revlon chose a round package with a clear lid.

Jane added that she and her sister use a collaborative effort to create products and packages that inspire and intrigue the women who use their products. “We hold weekly creative meetings on Thursday afternoons. A small group of us sits around a silver table, munching on M&Ms,” she said. “We brainstorm product names and themes. Then once we have our name, it leads us to possible imagery, colors and design ideas. For example, one time Jean got pulled over on the freeway, and that inspired a collection of lipsticks for our Winter Pink Collection.

“We don’t believe in taking things too seriously; make-up and beauty should be fun,” she said. “They should make you feel good, and that is what we capture with the names and images we use for our products and packaging.”

Benefit’s holiday 2005 offerings include Swinging Sweeties, a trio of shimmering loose sparkle powders, and Dancing Darlings, a quartet of sparkling lip glosses. The packaging for both lines uses correlating imagery on the outer cartons, with images of dancers and a festive, holiday ballroom feel. “With the black ink on silver foil treatment of the cartons, we were trying to set off the jewel-like hues of the glosses,” remarked Megan Fletcher, Benefit’s senior graphic designer, and the lead designer on the Swinging Sweeties and Dancing Darlings packaging. “The cartons are wrapped with the dancer images — cropped in tightly — to evoke a snippet of a magical evening — a whirl around a dance floor. The hand around the waist and the swing of a skirt on the ‘Sweeties’ evoke the motion of dancing. The texture of the swinging skirt is repeated on the inner box. The legs on the ‘Darlings’ are captured mid-dance-step. The dance theme captures the frenetic and celebratory feel of the holidays.”

Stila’s Holiday Deluxe Palettes portably package everything a girl needs to stay beautiful this holiday season.

Stila also unveiled a family of glamorous holiday palettes designed in ultra portable clutch-sized compacts. For example, Holiday Deluxe Palettes include four eyeshadows, one cheek color, one lip color and one lip gloss in a chic, slim, magnetized compact. Other holiday palettes are similarly packaged and offer everything from lip colors to eye shadows, everything a girl needs to look her best this holiday season.

According to the company, Stila’s original packaging goal was to create a signature packaging style that was environmentally safe. The result was modern, chic packaging made out of recycled paper, aluminum and glass that is durable as well as distinctive. The company employs unique illustrations and inspiring feminine quotes to bring the products to life, adding a sense of fun and whimsy.

And speaking of whimsy, Lucy B Cosmetics, a brand new cosmetic line created by international make-up artist, Lucy Baldock-Sacchi, pulled from its Australian roots to create a “Natural Alchemy of Beauty and Healing” for its Stung Lips collection of lip color products.

The products employ ingredients from the Australian botanical apothecary to provide benefits that “go beyond beauty, transforming the body, mind, and soul.”

The line’s packaging features bold Australian-inspired imagery and colors. Baldock-Sacchi said she drew her inspiration from Australian beaches, the breezy Australian lifestyle and the Frangipani flower, a rare flower native to Australia. Lemonade Stung Lips, like the other products in the line, is housed in a light blue package to convey the Australian water and sky. Each package also bears the image of a young girl with her hair blowing in the wind and the Frangipani flower.

The Lucy B line launched globally this past November 2005, with the introductory collection including a full range of lip care products to achieve “bee stung” lips, including a lip refiner, tinted lip balms, and ultra shiny lip gloss. A complete color collection will follow in 2006 and is set to include an expansion of the lip range, products for cheeks, eyes, and face, skincare, body, and an extensive accessories line.