American FlexPak offers single- and multi-chamber flexible package solutions ideal for sunscreen wipes, post-sun moisturizers and other lotions, creams and gels.

Sun Care Packaging Glows

From sun care wipes to a spritz of foam to hands-free applicators, sun care packaging has evolved to reflect the product—and the times.

By Jennifer Hagemann, Contributing Writer

In one form or another, she’s been replicated on magazine covers, billboards and even tattoos since 1959. Her name is Cheri Brand Irwin, and if the name doesn’t ring a bell, the little girl with blond pigtails and a puppy tugging at her blue bathing suit to reveal her white, bare bottom surely conjures up memories of warm summer days, ocean breezes and good ol’ fashioned fun in the sun. Today, that iconic Coppertone baby still appears on bottles of sun care lotions and sprays. But perhaps with that single exception, a lot has changed in sun care—and its packaging—in the last half-century.

For starters, we now know much more about the dangers of ultraviolet (UV) rays. As today’s science dictates, ozone levels are declining and more of these harmful UVA and UVB rays are reaching planet Earth. As a result, the World Health Organization (WHO) and others anticipate that the occurrence of non-melanoma and melanoma-type skin cancers will continue to rise. According to WHO, recreational sun exposure and a history of sunburns are factors that “lie within each individual’s own responsibility.” Fortunately for everyone involved, there is no shortage of before-, during- and after-sun care products, which come in a variety of formulations and packages.

Diamond Wipes International manufactures and packages La Fresh Sunscreen SPF30 with a biodegradable towelette.

Good Things, Small Packages

American FlexPack forms, fills and seals sun and skin products in convenient, single-use packages that at once prevent contamination while extending shelf life. Two- and three-channel packs, which include combinations of wipes, lotions and gels, offer a creative spin to flexible packaging. “Our multi-channel products are used for pre- and post-treatments,” explains Mike Mackey, president American FlexPack. “These include sunscreen wipes and post-sun moisturizing, or similar paired items such as before-and-after spa products.”

Glenroy, Inc., also boasts flexible packaging solutions, supplying flat rolls of preprinted flexible foil- and non-foil-based packaging films to its customers. “The higher the SPF, the harder the product is on the package structure; it can cause delamination,” explains Tom Thompson, product development engineer. To minimize this effect, Glenroy’s sun care packaging uses Barex resin for higher water-vapor and oxygen barriers, and an extended shelf life. One particular Glenroy product—Great White—undergoes additional processing to ensure that the inner foil layer does not gray the outer package. With a 91% brightness level, this packaging film heightens the color pallet representative of the product’s look and identity. The package is a bit more costly to develop, but when combined with award-winning flexographic printing, the results are so brilliant, they’re sunglass-worthy.

Le Tan is among the first sunscreen and self tanning lines to utilize the HandsFree applicator tube.

One company that has made “wipes” its middle name is Diamond Wipes International (DWI), which manufactures and packages La Fresh Sunscreen SPF30. The biodegradable towelette featuring 100% rayon substrate and UVA/UVB protection “provides an efficient way to evenly apply sunscreen to the skin,” says Eve Yen, founder and CEO of DWI and its subsidiary, La Fresh Group, Inc., both headquartered in Ontario, CA. “Our sunscreen package is small enough for a person to carry with him or her everywhere, including onboard an airplane.” Yen adds that the package design, which is clean and compact, the product fragrance and the wipe-method application appeal to men and women of all ages—and when it comes to preventing skin cancer, greater product appeal is key.

The Emsar Portable Pump with re-locking door helps prevent lost dust caps and accidental spraying.

Sunscreen with Appeal

“The longer term trends that we have seen in sun care are a consumer desire for easy portability, which generally involves an easy re-locking system, and a need for easy application,” says Des McEttrick, global marketing director for Emsar. The company meets consumer needs with its innovative dispenser solutions. “We offer the Portable Pump, which has an easy-to-use re-locking door. It makes it easy to put your sun care in a bag without lost dust caps or accidental spraying,” she says. The Portable Pump boasts a larger finger pad for (perceived) effortless spraying, and the re-locking door can be molded in a variety of colors.

Emsar also offers a 360-degree all-over spray that makes application possible even while holding the package upside down. “Consumers are looking for value, which doesn’t always mean lower cost. In many cases, consumers will pay more for a product that offers more, and so our goal is to develop pumps that give the consumers added value—like something that is easier to spray all over,” says McEttrick.

Giving sun worshippers even more spray-on options is the Rexam Turbo Insert, which after two years in the making, is scheduled to debut this summer. According to Rexam, the Turbo Insert is “designed to powerfully boost the sprayed application of emulsions, gels and lotions as high as 100 times the viscosity of water,” while offering even, consistent, continuous spray without messy, unpleasant streaming. This greater dispensing appeal is good news in the fight against skin cancer since higher SPFs were until now, too thick for spray pumps. Virginie Lemeunier, global lotion product manager for Rexam Personal Care, explains, “When combined with our SP22 or SP32 emulsion pumps, which are pretty dynamic, the Turbo Insert enables the spray of very thick products.” The pump-insert combo functions similarly to other pumps and is available with various attachment systems (snap-on, screw-on or crimp-on) that work with any package, any bottle.

Rexam’s Turbo Insert boosts the sprayed application of thicker products, including higher-numbered SPFs.

The Turbo Insert can also be adapted for use with Rexam’s Dispenser Tube. “The Dispenser Tube is unique because the product can be delivered with either a lotion pump or a spray pump, giving consumers precision of dosage that they don’t otherwise have today with a tube,” says Lemeunier. The Dispenser Tube is airless, has a good evacuation rate and offers 360-degree application (since there’s no dip tube), so that consumers can apply the product from any angle.

Sunless Tanning: A Brilliant Idea

Fifty years ago when the late Joyce Ballantyne Brand sketched her 3-year-old daughter for that infamous billboard, she likely never imagined that a tan would come in a bottle, but at the time, sunless tanning was already in the works. However, the products didn’t catch the attention of consumers until the 1980s—and today, with skin cancer affecting as many as 3 million people worldwide, it’s no wonder that self-tanning is a booming market niche.

Xen-Tan, packaged by Trico Packaging and Paper Products, Inc., in Anaheim, CA, is one such premium sunless tanning solution. Formulated with a white color guide that doesn’t stain clothes, the color also serves as a reminder for consumers to keep blending until the white has completely faded. “As a smaller company, we can respond to new ingredients in the market quickly such as our time-release ingredient,” says Dera Enochson, president Xen-Tan. “Plus, we’ll have a new self-tanner this fall with an odor-eliminating ingredient that we think will be a big success.”

Further attributing to Xen-Tan’s success is the package. “We packaged this product in a
tube to make it easy for travel since Transform and Transform Luxe are great to use on vacation,” explains Enochson. “We also made sure the tube is soft and flexible so you are able to use the entire product in the tube.” Working with Trico, which handlesnot only the packaging, but the printing, boxing and applicator tops, the package’s simple, clean lines give it a spa-like feel, and the uncomplicated font enhances legibility.

The Xen-Tan tube is soft and pliable so that consumers can use all of the product.

For Casper Kleiman, product manager for foam, Rexam Personal Care, package and product are a synergy of function, feel and form. “Every one of our foamer products implies a certain way of using it; it’s all about shape semantics,” explains Kleiman. Rexam’s Airspray F2 instant-foam dispensing technology looks like an ordinary dispenser so that consumers understand how to use its simple, geometric design. However, the press of a finger mixes a precise dosage of the formulation with air in a fixed ratio producing a foam without propellants. Slightly different in appearance, but still familiar to consumers, is Airspray’s dual-foamer dispenser like the one used with Coppertone’s Endless Summer Sunless Tanning Foam. The dual-foamer combines a color activator and a moisturizer upon dispensing the foam. “These features give our product greater universal appeal,” says Kleiman.

Adding to the product’s consumer appeal is the very nature of foam itself; its formulation is a conservative choice that feels good, goes on cool and smooth, and yields practically no waste. Kleiman explains, “You use very little of the formulation when dispensing foam. Plus you spill less, so consumers use the product more efficiently.”

Sun Care’s Bright Future

Rising into the world of before-, during- and after-sun care packaging is another bright idea: hands-free, mess-free application from a tube. “The trend in sun care has gone hands-free with the introduction of continuous spray. HandsFree now expands on this concept and provides a package that improves upon the traditional tube all other companies use,” says Jenifer Brady, VP of sales and marketing for Brad-Pak Enterprises, Inc., based in New Jersey. “The HandsFree applicator tube sets our customers apart from the competition by allowing a high-quality sunscreen lotion or gel to be applied directly to the skin,” she explains, adding that the package is also ideal for sunless tanning. “Nobody wants that on their hands—period.”

Rexam Airspray’s Dual-Foamer combines a color activator and a moisturizer upon dispensing the foam.

The tube’s applicator comes in a variety of sizes and materials. Those most suitable for sunscreen are the closed-cell, rub-in applicators in 22mm round (for small areas on the face), 35- or 38mm oval (for face, neck, upper arms), and 50mm oval (for body). Flock and felt surface applicators are ideal for “streak-free” sunless tanning. And any one of the aforementioned applicator surfaces is recommended for anti-aging products. In addition, the tubes are recyclable and the applicators are biodegradable.

Despite the latest movements and developments, one trend that started well before the world met Little Miss Coppertone seems like it’s here to stay. Today, more than 80 years after French designer Coco Chanel reportedly appeared at a Paris fashion event donning a deep, bronze tan and forever changing how the world looks at the sun, sporting a healthy glow—no matter how you get it—is still very much in vogue.