09.08.09
Green Grows in Color Cosmetics
The pro-environment movement—along with other trends—is significantly impacting color cosmetic packaging in today’s marketplace.
By Leah Genuario, Contributing Editor
The packaging is non-toxic. It’s recyclable. It’s biodegradable. It’s also plastic. Tarte Cosmetic’s fall 2009 collection includes lifted natural eye primer with Firmitol. Aside from the advanced formulation, the product is turning heads because of its packaging. That’s because it’s housed in “breakthrough green-packaging technology,” according to the brand. Made with resin-additive EcoPure, the packaging boasts indefinite shelf life, but facilitates plastic biodegradation within five years in microbial environments, i.e., landfills. The launch aligns perfectly with the brand’s tagline: “Be green, be smart, be tarte.”
| The Maesa Group used multi-sensory components—another growing packaging trend—in the palettes it designed for Ed Hardy. |
Green Explosion
Tarte is charging forward with sustainable initiatives, one of many brands today that is practicing good stewardship of the environment. This green movement has had profound influence on product introductions and consequently on packaging.
“There is an explosion of natural products entering the market,” says Michael Salemi, COO, The Packaging Company, Long Beach, CA. This especially rings true for the color cosmetics segment of the beauty business—and of course, its packaging.
“The tendency for organic or natural formulas is ever-growing, and directly affects the components used,” says Joel Rosas Lopez Yanez, sales executive for private label manufacturer Swan Cosmetics de Mexico in Mexico City. He explains that these products often require eco-friendly components as well as an “image that goes hand in hand with the concept.”
How does a cosmetic brand take sustainability from concept to package? Many start with material selection. Eco-friendly brands often turn to packaging that utilizes post-consumer recycled (PCR) materials. Technology has allowed for packaging made entirely from PCR—even when using plastic. In response to the demand, Cosmopak, Port Washington, NY, has recently launched a lipstick case made from 100% PCR plastics.
| Tarte's lifted natural eye primer with Firmitol utilizes EcoPure to facilitate biodegradation. |
HCT Packaging, Inc., London, spent years “exploring and pilot tooling” various biopolymers when the technology first hit the market. The company concluded that the results did not meet its standards “for a number of reasons—some of which were related to disappointing product performance, and some more far reaching—taking into account the socioeconomic effects,” explains Rebecca Goswell, global creative director.
HCT has since taken a different approach. For one, the company focuses on sustainable materials, which it defines as “naturally occurring materials like bamboo, which can be harvested in great abundance and can grow in managed farms and forests,” says Goswell. Bamboo has been used successfully for an eyeshadow set for Urban Decay, which positions its sustainable packaging as a prominent selling feature.
Wood is also experiencing a resurgence as a packaging material. Toly USA, Waterbury, CT, recently introduced its stock Bobble compact using Kareline materials—a mix of wood fibers with “materials like ABS, SAN or PP,” says Dorien Bianco, head of Toly’s marketing team. “A large percentage of it, up to 50%, comes from a renewable resource.”
Yanez also notes the growth of wood as a packaging material of choice. “Some usual component materials such as PVC are now being taken off the market and are being replaced by either wooden liners or mechanical liners made from eco-friendly plastics,” he says.
There are other eco-friendly materials available, too. “In general, brands that are making organic statements and claims on their products are more likely to choose packaging that is more environmentally sustainable,” says Scott Kestenbaum, vice president of marketing, The Maesa Group, Los Angeles and NY, NY. “We’ve seen a tremendous increase in the demand for paper-based color cosmetic products, driven largely as a result of the consumers’ demand for brands to be more environmentally conscious.”
| Cosmopak has introduced a lipstick container made from 100% PCR material. |
Natural and organic formulations are also more volatile than traditional formulations, making ingredient preservation a priority. This priority plays out in a number of different ways. “It emphasizes the importance of the packaging to create a good protective environment for the product inside. For example, making sure the sealing is tight to minimize product oxidation,” says David Hou, director of marketing and sales, Cospack America Corp., Edison, NJ.
In regard to natural products housed in tubes, “Our tube business has shifted to an increase in multi-layer tubes to hold the SPF or essential oils used in the new products,” states Salemi.
Growth in Prestige Spurs Packaging
Port Washington, NY-based The NPD Group, Inc. recently reported thriving premium makeup sales. According to the company, premium-priced makeup ($50 and above) experienced strong growth in Q1 2009 compared to the same time period in 2006. This is good news for suppliers to premium brands, which often rely heavily on packaging to communicate brand messages.
| Toly USA offes its stock Bobble compact made with wood fibers. |
Nu Luxe, as HCT calls it, is a forecasted trend among prestige brands. “We define Nu Luxe as the creation of new products where performance formulations combine with specifically designed packaging to offer unparalleled functionality, creating a whole genre of prestige products with a true benefit and a reason for being, rather than being prestige only from an aesthetic point of view,” says Goswell.
Goswell points to Per-fekt eye perfection gel pack as an example. The product claims to smooth away fine lines and wrinkles around the eye “by combining a high-tech, lightweight formula with a luxury palladium coated tip. The pack now offers an unparalleled cooling application,” adds Goswell.
Differentiation through increased functionality has led to other interesting constructions. Rexam, Purchase, NY, recently teamed with Chanel on its Allure lipstick case with an innovative opening and closing mechanism. “The very sleek package looks seamless until a gentle push on the golden top reveals the lipstick, which is stored the same way after usage,” says Jean-Charles Forster, product manager-make-up, Rexam Personal Care Division. The package owes its functionality to the Rexam R2000 mechanism.
| HCT and Per-fekt worked together to create a "Nu Luxe" package. |
Not all prestige packaging trends relate to construction, however. Kestenbaum from Maesa has seen movement away from differentiating through construction. He explains: “As the mass brands have done an excellent job investing in the architectural design of their brands, the best indicators these days [of prestige products] are less structural and more material.”
Kestenbaum points to increasing use of secondary and tertiary decorating processes, the use of stones and crystals, as well as incorporation of multi-sensory components. For Ed Hardy Palettes, Maesa utilized sound and LED lights for the compacts.
| Rexam used its Illusion inner lacquering for Dior Addict Lip Color. |
Decoration capabilities continue to expand. Rexam recently utilized its new surface treatment called Illusion inner lacquering to add shelf impact to Dior Addict Lip Color. The technique enables “deep rich application of opaque, metallized or transparent colors, as well as laser decoration on internal product surfaces. Based upon a traditional lacquering process, perfectly applied and cured at high heat, Illusion can be used even with products of great depth and a narrow diameter,” says Forster.
Innovative packaging materials also offer premium brands the ability to stand out. The über luxurious compacts from Rock&Republic brand are chrome-plated, and include an R&R logo set on a piece of high-gloss leather. “An exclusive line extension of the R&R compact was also produced by using more than 400 Swarovski crystals. This gives the compact a prestige look,” adds Toly’s Bianco.
Metal is also a differentiating factor. Hou says that “makeup packaging with metal accents is usually reserved for the more premium-level products.”
Of course, not all brands are vying for high-end consumers. Those brands competing at lower price points are benefiting from more cost-effective technologies allowing for a prestige look for less.
“Many of Toly’s customers request a metallized finish to provide an upscale look. Unfortunately, metallizing is a costly process that cannot be done in line with the assembly process. To offer a competitive solution, Toly Group has developed new printing techniques to give a metallized look, utilizing metallic hot foil stamping,” says Bianco.
| HCT used airtight packaging for Smashbox’s eye products. |
Eye Spy
In its Color Cosmetics U.S. June 2008 report, global market research company Mintel International Group asserts that eye makeup sales exceeded face makeup sales in 2005, holding onto the lead throughout its research period (through 2008).
“Eye makeup as a category is indeed growing, and with it, are new trends to watch such as volumizing mascara, anti-clumping formulations, waterproof mascara and more,” says Forster of Rexam.
Mascara sales accounted for the lion’s share of eye makeup sales—48%, according to Mintel’s report. This has driven strong packaging innovation in this product category, especially with applicators. Kestenbaum of Maesa sees oscillating brushes used in tandem with mascara formulations as a popular item.
No matter which style is chosen, the “quest for the holy applicator” continues, says Forster. “Applicators, whether traditional twisted-wire-and-fiber brushes or more recent molded polymer applicators, have become extremely efficient and produce spectacular makeup results,” he adds.
Forster also sees changes in waterproof mascara containers, where a “new generation of materials” is “offering high barrier property” that is “more affordable and easier to process.”
Goswell of HCT believes this trend extends well beyond mascara. She points to the growth of long-lasting makeup formulas for eyeliners, eyeshadows and prep products. “These longer wearing high performance products all have one thing in common. Due to their volatile ingredients, many have to be housed in airtight packaging; historically this meant glass, but now we have introduced a range of compact mini airtight packs that have removable poly-propylene engines that keep the formulas from drying out.” She points to Smashbox Airtight Trio as an example.
Walter Dwyer, president of Cosmopak, has noticed a strong movement toward liquid shadow formulations, “and with that, a slew of different applicators and dispensing systems.” To meet this need, the company has launched a new range of products, including a sponge applicator that allows product to pass through and dispense.
Salemi of The Packaging Company has seen an increase in eyeshadow palettes expanding from one-well pallettes. “We have seen the demand for three- and four-well eye palettes,” he says.
Trends to Watch
The dynamic color cosmetics market continues to evolve. Sometimes this means looking
backward to plan for future launches.
Kestenbaum notices a return to vintage-look packaging. “We’ve received a number of
requests from clients looking to recreate the glamour looks of the 1920s and 1950s.
Our clients are asking us to meld the boundaries between beauty and fashion,” he says.
The current climate is also providing new opportunities for independent—a.k.a. “indy” brands—says Dwyer. “There’s room for new products driven by packaging and formula development. There are some really unique products at the moment, with a lot coming from smaller brands,”
he says. “There’s a lot of energy at the [indy] level.
