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| Lancôme’s Colour Dose Buildable Gel Colour for Lips & Cheeks is bright, fun and thoroughly portable. |
Today’s consumer is surrounded by smart products: cars with headlights that turn off by themselves; ovens that can be programmed to go from refrigeration to cooking to refrigeration again; vacuum cleaners that propel themselves through the house leaving a clean path behind them.
Modern women and men are willing to consider anything that promises to make their lives a little easier, keep them organized and make them feel like they have it all together—and they want to look good doing it.
Clever technological advances tucked into stylish designs provide welcome assistance in a woman’s daily grind, even if these advances come in as small a product as a color cosmetic. Just knowing that they’re not going to ruin a fresh manicure opening a compact, contaminate a product with their fingers, or have a formula spell inside a purse adds an appreciated element of convenience and comfort. Eliminating these problems with clever and stylish packaging that women are proud to carry—well, that’s enough to make anyone take notice.
A Classic Makeover
The new packaging design for ELECTRIC Intense LipCreme from Estée Lauder establishes a new icon for the Estée Lauder brand, according to Vincent Ditrichstein, vice president, global conceptual design, Estée Lauder. “ELECTRIC is a fusion of classic and modern. When we looked at all of the Estée Lauder designs of the past, we realized our makeup heritage is a study of blue and gold. So, we knew we needed to preserve those two key elements of the Estée Lauder identity in the packaging,” reported Ditrichstein. “The packaging for ELECTRIC is a monument to the Estée Lauder blue with clean, sharp gold lines that give it a new, modern feeling. It is a true object of desire.
“The packaging is modern and sleek, but it has a hint of the old Hollywood glamour to it,” remarked Paul Starr, director of the Estée Lauder National Makeup Artist Team.
“Nothing defines a brand like its lipstick,” emphasized Ditrichstein. “A lipstick case is the strongest visual representation of a brand, and this is especially true in the case of ELECTRIC.”
“The strongest influences on the design came from the worlds of architecture, design and art deco—shapes and structures that are pure, strong and iconic,” continued Ditrichstein. “We looked to the architectural works of Frank Lloyd Wright, le Corbusier, Eileen Gray—not just for their pioneering sensibilities but for their adventurous use of unorthodox materials and textures. We were also inspired by depth of color in the art of Paul Klee and Mark Rothko. And finally, we wanted to reference the Art Deco tradition, with its purity of line and timelessness.”
Available in 30 shades, the formula features a “revolutionary” silicone wax that melts upon application, along with protein spheres and a subtle fragrance of vanilla and fig. Color Memory Reflex Complex transforms the colors into a highly flexible film for maximum wear and minimal fading and feathering, the firm reported.
Portable AND Fun
“Finger paint yourself pretty” is a recent catch-phrase at Lancôme, where the company has introduced Colour Dose Buildable Gel Colour for Lips & Cheeks—two-in-one gel colors housed in paint-inspired tubes. The tiny, totable tubes are offered in five vibrant colors for the lips and cheeks that are applied with the fingers for just the desired coverage. The clear tubes display the exact product color for the customer.
Also from Lancôme is the Colour Focus Palette 4 Ombres Exception Wear EyeColour Quad, a compact of four color-coordinated shades that can be used to color, contour, highlight and line the eyes. The sleek, pocket-sized compact includes an interior mirror, four wells with color and three custom applicators.
Chanel’s Latest for Lips
A sponge lip product from Chanel will also be making news this fall, when the company introduces its Levres Impression. “The lip product, which is featured within a compact in three different shades, gets released from a sponge,” reported Alisa Highley, director of product development, Chanel Beaute. “The sponge packaging is innovative as it allows the perfect amount of product to be released each time. With the specially designed applicator, the consumer can press harder for more product, or softer for less.”
This brand new packaging concept for Chanel will be housed in the company’s signature sleek black color cosmetic compact with the intertwining Cs, a world renowned classic.
| Chanel’s Levres Impression presents three shades and a new delivery system. |
Mass Market Introductions
Playing to the consumer is an especially important element for color cosmetics manufacturers at the mass market level. Packaging that catches a woman’s eye, as well as conveys what the product is and its brand image, are essentials for mass marketers.
TruBlend Makeup is a breakthrough product because it matches up to 97 percent of all skin tones, according to Cover Girl. To communicate this benefit to consumers, the firm reported that packaging was of great importance.
“Not only did the package need to communicate the technological formula breakthrough, but it also needed to provide ease of use—a pillar of CoverGirl brand equity,” stressed Anne Martin, vice president of global cosmetics and marketing for Procter & Gamble Cosmetics. The end result was a clear plastic pump-bottle adorned with gradual shading silver accents and a convenient pump dispenser that allowed just enough product release to cover the entire face.
Introduced concurrently in February with TruBlend Makeup was Fantastic Lash Mascara, a mascara product where “the formula and brush together create a beautiful fan of separated lashes,” noted Martin. She added that, to communicate these product benefits to consumers, the packaging needed to not only convey these advantages, but it also needed to stand out from other mascaras at the wall.
“By choosing a deep red shade and convex shape for the outer packaging, CoverGirl was able to communicate product benefits and grab consumer attention,” Martin reported.
Also recently introduced from Cover Girl is Outlast Smoothwear lipcolor, the latest incarnation of the company’s entry in the long-wear lip color competition. Offered in 21 fresh, natural shades, it promises “satiny-smooth, moisture-rich feel in a long-wear formula...”
| Max Factor’s Lipfinity Everlites is a light weight version of its long-wear product. |
Max Factor was also focused on brand and product recognition when it recently introduced its Lipfinity Everlites, a lightweight version of its successful Lipfinity lip product. Lipfinity Everlites is a lightweight lip color formula that is specifically designed for women who want a long-wearing lip product with a light touch in subtle shades. Like its predecessor, Lipfinity Everlites features a two-step process—a base coat that contains a fluid polymer matrix that gently adheres to lips and finely textured pigments for soft, sophisticated color, the company reported. The new topcoat formula includes Glossamer, a shine-boosting ingredient said to enhance the glossy look and soft feel that many women desire.
Lipfinity Everlites’ base coat is offered in a sleek gray tube that unscrews to reveal the applicator wand. A matching tube with clear base displays the pigmented product for the consumer. The lip color is offered in 21 shades.
Another recent launch, Max Factor’s Colour Adapt foundation is formulated to deliver personalized color, according to the company. “Colour Adapt conforms to the inherent color variations and contours of a woman’s face to avoid a masked look without sacrificing all-important coverage,” the firm reported.
“Max Factor Colour Adapt transcends current ordinary makeup to deliver personalized, perfectly adapting color,” stated Martin of Procter & Gamble. “It adapts to 95% of the skin tones in a woman’s face while fully covering minor skin imperfections.”
Colour Adapt features a pump dispenser designed for easy application and reduced spills, the company commented. The sleek, elliptical package design is presented in the signature navy and gold Max Factor colors.
Trend Setting Packaging
Keeping up with changing styles and technological advances were some of the reasons for recent packaging adjustments at Revlon. The company updated its New Complexion makeup line and added a concealer product. New Complexion One-Step Makeup is a lightweight formula that offers light to medium coverage with a foundation-and-powder that liquifies when applied to the skin, then dries to a powder finish; New Complexion Powder is a pressed powder formulated to control shine; New Complexion Concealer presents two coordinated, complementary shades in one compact that can be blended to create a match to skin; New Complexion Bronzing Powder provides a natural glow; and New Complexion Oil-Free Corrective Powder is a powder corrector that evens out skin tone and neutralizes skin imperfections, according to the company.
The packaging for the line includes makeup bottles that are modernized with sleek graphics and natural toned caps. Clear cartons reveal burnished-bronzed compacts. Each compact features a patented, first-at-mass shade selector tab to make shade selection simple, the firm reported.
Revlon has also consolidated its blush lines into one collection—Revlon Blush—that consists of powder and cream blushes and bronzer formulas. The sleek, modern compact features an exclusive button-activated pop-up mirror that is hidden from view when not in use. This distinctive design eliminates the “powder on the mirror” issue, noted the company.
Super Lustrous Lipgloss, the latest introduction from Revlon, is a high-shine formula with a silky-smooth texture and luminous sheer color, according to the company.
“Super Lustrous Lipgloss features an extraordinary upscale, sleek package that’s as sophisticated as the gloss itself,” noted Revlon. The clear vial housing the product displays the color selections, and its square, sleek design was created to fit into the smallest of evening bags. An angled sponge tip wand applies color smoothly and evenly, according to the company.
| Revlon’s latest blush compacts have hidden mirrors. | Lip Perks from Joey New York are pretty, practical pencils with matte at one end and shine at the other. |
New Formula = New Delivery
Almay, a division of Revlon, recently introduced Nearly Naked liquid makeup, which features a formula suspended in a sponge. The packaging for the foundation posed special challenges because the formula included an SPF, which can destabilize in improper conditions. An hermetically sealed package that was also lightweight and portable was required.
A polypropylene ring that snapped into the upper inside edge of a polypropylene jar was devised to help keep the sponge in place, as well as anchor a heat-applied aluminum foil seal to keep the product sealed until the customer opened it.
| Georgia from Benefit is powder and a brush in a colorful, portable paper box. |
Indie’s Have Something Special
While many women are still slaves to the satchel, carrying their lives around on their shoulders, others are paring down to small, sleek bags. How do these women carry such small purses and still manage to look great? They’ve discovered the wide variety of portable color products available that are ideal for quick touch ups.
Joey New York recently unveiled a new color line. “We just launched over 75 products,” reported Joey Roer, chief executive of the company. The collection includes compacts for Eye Shading Powders, Chiseled Cheeks Blush Powder and the Pure Pores Finishing Powder that are elegant and yet have an exciting dramatic and kicky look and feel, according to Roer. “Since we do sell to exclusive spas and salon, we wanted to be able to convey our message of ‘healthy makeup’ plus ‘hot new exciting colors and components.“
An assortment of pencil products are also elegant and fun, including Lip Perks and SoBe Smudgies, jumbo pencils that are very ‘now and new’ according to Roer. Lip Perks are double-sided pencils with a matte lipstick on one end and a lip shine on the other. The pencils impart rich color and are “visually beautiful to look at, as the casing is split on each end to match the color of the product,” Roer reported. “Then, we added the fun of tasting like different coffee flavors.”
Georgia, the new face powder from Benefit Cosmetics, was packaged to be portable. The scented peach-colored powder is presented in a cardboard box container that evokes the color of the product itself.
“The box is very special, because it is the only paper box on the market to house a powder,” said Alison Haljun, associate director of public relations, Benefit Cosmetics. “It protects the powder so that it doesn’t break or make a mess.”
To have a totally self-contained product, “There is a special ‘squaretangular’ brush that fits neatly inside the box, right on top of the actual powder,” Haljun said. It makes it “easy to throw in your makeup bag or purse, or to travel with.”
Georgia joins Benefit’s other boxed powder product—Dandelion powder. “We wanted it to register with the consumer that this was another face powder from Benefit, but that this powder would provide a peachy look, as opposed to the pinker look of Dandelion.”
| Lucky Chick’s first color compact shows off the product colors in a crystal palette. |
Out on the Town
Lucky Chick has emerged from the bath and gone out on the town, according to Stephanie Sakoff, president and creative director of the company. Lucky Chick’s Pucker Up! Lip Palette is the company’s first foray into color cosmetics, noted Sakoff.
“We’ve been doing bath and body for years, and because the character is Lucky Chick, we sort of make up a story about her when we’re about to come out with a new product,” she explained. “The story for this product is, ‘what would Lucky Chick need for an evening out on the town?’ She would definitely need a palette to throw in her purse.
“We wanted to dress Lucky Chick up a bit, so we designed a palette with four colors and a well for a little brush in the center,” reported Sakoff. Each of the colors has a mix of softening ingredients and Lucky Chick’s signature scent.
“We’re known for our boxes—which feature the Lucky Chick woman—and how colorful they are,” explained Sakoff. Lucky Chick decided to put its signature character on the box for brand identification but not the palette. “We decided that the box would be fun, but the palette inside would just be a simple, clear, beautiful design that shows off the colors. It includes the Lucky Chick logo in purple across the top,” she noted.
Sakoff added that it was very important that the customer be able to see the lip colors in the palette through the box. Therefore, the outer carton features a round die cut in the back that allows for the display of all four colors. There are also four squares on the back of the box that match the lip colors. “The front also features die cuts, and flaps can go behind the die cut to color in the lips,” said Sakoff. “It’s just a quirky little thing that we’re having fun with.
Refresher Course
An update of compact componentry led to the enhancement of many products in the color cosmetics line for Laura Mercier. “While we were improving the use, we took the opportunity to improve the aesthetics,” explained Deborah Kaplan, vice president product development and marketing, Laura Mercier, Gurwitch Products, L.L.C.
In the past year, the company has transitioned into new packaging for its compacts and lip colors. The compacts now have a push-button opening for ease of use, as well as a deeper brown color and a bit more luster.
“The push-button opening for compacts was really important to our customer,” reported Kaplan. “That was kind of the impetus that started us into redesigning it.
“Because we were updating the push button, we took another look,” added Kaplan. “The color was matte and it didn’t really have the depth. We felt that this was just more oomph that we could give to it.” Acknowledging that the packaging has virtually the same aesthetic—it’s still brown and it has the same dimensions and curved dome top—Kaplan noted, “The improvements just make it more luxurious.”
The company also updated its lipstick tube with the same color and finish and is just now introducing the update to the foundation bottle and cap. The interior foundation pump has also been improved to provide smoother dispensing of the product, according to Kaplan.
| ERA products from Classified Cosmetics use aerosol delivery for an airspray finish. |
The Future is Now
From Classified Cosmetics comes ERA, a line of spray-on makeup that projects a high-tech, futuristic concept, according to the company. Housed in sleek aluminum cans, the outer package design is as modern as the product concept.
“The idea of being able to apply airbrush-perfect makeup without the bulk and cost of a machine is unquestionably innovative—some have even dubbed the concept ‘Jetson-esque,’” commented Hillary Hunt, creative director, Classified Cosmetics LLC. “A primary focus of the company has always been to balance futuristic technology with approachable femininity.
“The modern woman leads a busy life, works hard, enjoys luxuries, but is short on time,” she continued. “ERA spray-on makeup gives the modern woman airbrush perfection in seconds.”
Hunt noted that when Classified Cosmetics designed its new ERA RAYZ spray-on bronzers and ERA GLAZE spray-on shimmers, it needed to visually establish these products as part of the ERA line. The flagship product, ERA FACE spray-on foundation, comes in a solid, brushed aluminum aerosol can.
“To build off this image and convey the concept that the new spray-on bronzers and shimmers act as buildable color on top of your foundation base, a gradiated color fade was added to the aluminum can in the shades of the corresponding colors,” she reported. “A sparkle coat was also added to the can to show that both ERA RAYZ and ERA GLAZE contain shimmer properties.” The sleek, aluminum can represents the technological aspects of the product line, offered Hunt, while the graduated color washes on the ERA RAYZ and ERA GLAZE cans add an element of softness.
She noted that the biggest challenge came in creating a color wash for the company’s Platinum ERA Glaze. “We had to create an opalescent silvery color that would contrast enough on the aluminum can without looking white, heavy or chalky,” she noted. “Our efforts yielded a shade that actually appears to change intensity depending on the viewing angle.”
The final result for the new products in the line is that the can design is sleek and portable, she stressed. “The makeup is multi-tasking and the contamination-free packaging provides first-time fresh applications with each and every use.”
The outer packaging was also important to the overall concept, Hunt added, and the vellum boxes support a twist on the Classified Cosmetics concept. “Instead of instigating a harsh and cold image of something ‘hidden,’ it lends itself to a more subtle and cosmetic-like feel,” she reported.
| Too Faced introduces Eye Shadow Luxe in its Couture Collection, with high fashion packaging. |
Couture and Indulgence
Too Faced Cosmetics continues to push the packaging envelope with its latest. The Little Black Box, created by Jerrod Blandino, co-founder of the company, appears to be a lip gloss collection housed in a petite black and pink compact. But slide back the secret compartment to reveal three eye shadow shades that can be used to line, contour or provide full cover. Available in two color palettes—Beauty Box and Boom Box—each compact features four shades of lip gloss plus a mini mirror and lip brush set.
Looking to embrace the ultimate in high style, Too Faced Cosmetics has introduced Too Faced Couture, a limited edition line of color cosmetics formulated with some of the most decadent and rare ingredients on earth—including champagne, truffles, caviar and lotus flower. The luxury line of cutting edge color was created for women who are fashion forward and pursue the best of everything.
| Too Faced hides its eye shadows beneath its lip glosses in The Little Black Box. |
Too Faced Couture was modeled after the philosophy and craftsmanship that the couturiers of Paris and Milan follow when creating one-of-a-kind fashions, according to Too Faced Cosmetics. “Each Couture Collection product is made using the finest, triple-pigmented colors, produced in small batches and compounded by hand to ensure the utmost perfection in texture, color and result,” the firm reported.
“We spared no expense with the creation of this line,” stressed Blandino of Too Faced Cosmetics. “Our goal was to create the most indulgent line of color cosmetics that will out-perform, out-wear and out-do any other product available. We literally scoured the globe to find the finest, rarest ingredients and packaging.”
The packaging for the Couture Collection, which includes Eye Shadow Luxe, Whipped Lip Luxe and Lip Gloss Luxe, “exudes extravagance with its faux crocodile pink boxes,” the company noted. “Once opened, delicate opalescent compacts—reminiscent of beautiful pastries and gorgeous petits fours—emerge as little ‘treats’ for the beholder.”
Whether it’s high society or high technology, today’s women want what fits their lifestyles. From updated classics to futuristic designs, today’s color products deliver on function, form and style.
