Metal is always a useful material for packaging, but this year it seems to be more popular than ever. “The trend did not start this year, but has definitely been increasing over the last few years,” says Virginie Lemeunier, vice president, sales and marketing at Axilone USA.

Brands are using both metal and metallic materials in various ways. Fragrance and skin care bottles are being encased in metal over shells, while decorations for color cosmetic packages are becoming more elaborate. Aluminum bottles and cans have also been more popular for hair care, personal care products, and even fragrances.

Mike Warford, director of sales at ABA Packaging Corp., says the use of precious metals in decorating is on the rise, across all product categories. “Metal and metal effects for primary packaging give the perception of a high value and luxury product—and we’ve seen a surge in requests. There has been a very strong move to metal components for both treatment, color, and fragrance packaging projects within the last year,” Warford explains. 

Metallization techniques are often chosen to give a skin care bottle, jar or cap a more prestige look. Labels and cartons are getting the shine treatment as well, with the use of metallic foils. Metallic pigments, when used to color plastic, can create a bottle or squeeze tube that stands out on shelves.

Richard Sugerman, president of Providence Metallizing, says the demand for metallization has been consistent. “We have been working on more projects that require metallizing a full package, such as a cap and a bottle or jar. In fragrance, we have been doing more metallized glass,” he says.

Lemeunier adds, “Brands have been requesting both metallized finishes on plastic, as well as metal components, more often.”

ABA’s Warford agrees, and says, “In addition to metal components, we’re seeing more requests for hot-stamping with metallized foils.”

Brands Are After Luxe Looks More Than Ever

More prestige brands have been requesting the “real thing,” while mass brands are requesting metallized finishes on plastic bottles and caps to convey “luxury,” according to Axilone’s Lemeunier. “Mass brands tend to ‘premium-ize’ plastic packaging with gold or silver metallization finishes,” she explains. “But, both our prestige and even masstige customers are choosing metal components over metallization more often,” she adds.

In response to the market’s increasing demand for metal and metallized parts, Lemeunier says that Axilone recently developed all-metal versions of its stock lipstick cases. In 2013, the supplier invested in expanding its manufacturing capabilities. “In France, we have new varnish and metallization lines, as well as an automatic assembly workshop. In Spain, our new metal stamping factory helps meet the growing demands being made by our luxury brand customers, who demand high-quality production with shorter time-to-market,” she says.

Mark Greeves, director of sales and marketing, Color Logic, says that metallic effects are being used to convey luxury as well—on all types of materials. “Metallic substrates and metallic inks have always denoted quality and value,” he says.

The team at HCT Group reports a demand for metal components over the use of metallization techniques. “Many customers are looking for an even more luxe look than the normal vac metallized finish. Metal is a great alternative to this and is being requested more frequently,” says Denis Maurin, vice president of sales/Industrial Innovation at HCT Group.

David Greco, vice president of sales/East Coast at HCT Group, agrees, adding, “We have been getting many requests for metal, especially for lipstick cases and compacts.”

One of HCT’s customers recently went for an ultra-luxe look when it created a brush set that launched in time for the holiday season last year.

Nadine Yiang, director of business development/Brush Division at HCT, worked with Sephora to develop its Sephora Collection + Alexis Bittar Brush collection. “The brushes set a new standard for luxury metal packaging,”  Yiang says. 

Alexis Bittar is a jewelry designer, which is evident since the brushes in the collection glisten like jewelry. They have Zamac ferrules, which are manufactured in HCT’s own metals factory, and are electroplated in 24 karat gold, then hand-encrusted with Swarovski crystals.

Metal Makes Fragrances Look Luxe

There are various ways to use metal for a fragrance package. Traditionally, a cap and/or collar in metal or metallized plastic will give a bottle a luxe look.

Gilda Cutri, national sales director at Coverpla, says she has been working with many brands on developing metal caps for fragrance bottles, and she discusses one style that’s always been especially popular. “We are constantly receiving requests for weighted metal caps that have straight edges,” Cutri explains. It’s an elegant detail, and represents a classic look that will never disappear because it ‘screams’ luxury. The sleek style is timeless, and conveys an upscale sophistication.”

The new Mercedes-Benz fragrance, Intense for Men, launched in April and has a metal cap, but the brand went in an entirely different design direction for its first scent, called Mercedes Benz Club. The glass bottle is encased in a sleek metal over shell, which the brand describes as “an aerodynamic shape that suggests speed and motion.” It looks like a sculpture, and was designed to mimic the curves of the stylish luxury car.

Providence’s Sugerman says he has been working with fragrance brands, and the decorative effects that have been “trending” include partial and transparent metallization effects. “An example is the Victoria’s Secret Bombshell fragrance,” he says. “The pink diamond shaped bottle has metallization only on the bottle’s back facets,” he explains. 

Providence also decorated the Juicy Couture Fragrance bottle with a crackle finish and partial metallization. Plus, the supplier produces the metallized Jay Z Gold Extreme fragrance bottle and the cap for Michael Kors.

Axilone also works with fragrance brands often, and has been using numerous decorating processes, in various ways. “We have been using a lot of double anodization on metal components, which allows for multiple colors with the best quality. We also often use traditional silk screening and hot stamping techniques,” says Lemeunier.

Some prestige fragrance brands, such as Aftelier, market solid fragrances, and require a package that looks extra special. Aftelier’s new square solid perfume case is hand made from an ounce of sterling silver, the brand says, for a luxurious keepsake. 

“I designed this sterling silver case to replace our old rectangular ones that had sold out. The new design is an elegant square with rounded corners. It is more shallow, and larger than its predecessor,” explains Mandy Aftel, the brand’s founder and perfumer. “It fits perfectly in the palm of your hand, and can be sent to us to be refilled and polished,” she explains.

The fragrance case features a stylized “wood-cut” rose and leaf pattern designed by Patricia Curtan, an illustrator and printmaker. It is packaged inside a silk pouch, and a luxe box.

Gold, Silver and More

Beauty brands using metal packaging are choosing both gold and silver, but one color usually trumps the other each season, as far as trends go. “Gold seems to be more popular lately,” says Axilone’s Lemeunier. 

There is also a slew of other metallic shades, as well as many variations of gold and silver. “Gun Metal has been a popular color choice,” says Providence Metallizing’s Sugerman.

Branding agency Soulsight consulted leading color forecasters and looked at emerging trends in a number of industries to come up with its own top four color trends for 2015, and one is called “Hard Metal.”

According to Soulsight, the color trend includes both gold and silver, but with a twist. The agency explains on its website, “Shiny silver now has a hard, modern edge. Metallics also have a ‘dustier’ look, like burnished bronze and antique gold. It’s a futuristic color palette influenced by new technology.”

HCP Group chose classic silver this year, instead of being influenced by trends—for a sentimental reason. The supplier created a commemorative gift set to celebrate its 10th anniversary. The set featured the supplier’s round Magnum pressed powder compact and matching lipstick in silver aluminum, which is the metal associated with the anniversary year. When packaged flat inside its gift box, the packages represented the number 10, with the lipstick as the “1” and the compact as the “0”. Gotha provided the fill.

Rather than traditional metallic colors, Smashbox created a metallic decoration for its Fade to Black palette that is predominantly pink and purple. HCT Group worked with the brand to create the package.

“The palette features a high-end gradient that uses vacuum metallization and a heat-transfer label. The heat-transfer allowed us to create a consistent metallic gradient effect,” explains HCT’s Maurin. 

Going back to traditional gold, Besame is a cosmetics brand long known for its vintage style metal packaging in its signature bright yellow-gold hue. The brand describes its aesthetic as Old Hollywood glamour.

The brand’s elegant packaging may be the reason why it’s more accessible now, Besame launched at Sephora stores in January. Catherine Cason, assistant buyer/Specialty and Trend Brands, Sephora, said, “We are very excited to launch Bésame at Sephora. It is a beautiful niche brand we feel will do well in our environment and deliver some exciting product to our clients.”

(To see Besame’s luxe boxes and red velvet pouches, see Beauty Packaging’s Slideshow: Boxes, Pouches & Bows That Turn a Beauty Product Into a Gift).

The gold packaging includes a lipstick case decorated with red chrysanthemum flowers, which are silk-screened. “Our lipstick case is gold-plated aluminum, and custom-molded because we try to design packaging that recreates vintage designs,” explains Gabriela Hernandez, co-founder, Besame cosmetics.

About the color, Hernandez says, “We chose gold because we wanted a vintage feel, and we tried to come close to the color of the brass compacts that were made around the turn of the century—so we made the gold a very warm shade.”

Benefit Cosmetics is a brand that’s also inspired by vintage design elements, but in a completely different way. Metal is incorporated into the packaging for its “Puff Off!” eye gel, in several innovative ways.

“Puff Off!” is in a light pink squeeze tube, with HCT Group’s patented Cooling Tip Technology applicator, made from Zamac. The applicator resembles the bottom of an iron, and Benefit uses this as the basis for its design concept, and as a way to link the package to the product’s benefits.

The product’s tube and carton feature illustrations of the applicator tip, with the message that it’s an “ironing tip” to smooth wrinkles.

“The work we did with Benefit on their Puff Off! product is a great example of a unique metal effect,” says HCT Group’s Maurin. He continues, “There are several uses of great metal effects within the component, including the usage of a tin plate, which we used to achieve a vintage feel.”

Maurin is referring to a silver shield, which is made from tin, and affixed to the tube’s pink cap. It lets consumers know about the applicator tip, which is hidden beneath the cap. The tin shield says, “Smooth-o-matic” to reinforce the product’s wrinkle-smoothing benefit, and it’s a nod to the name of one of the first steam irons used in the 1940s.

In addition to the applicator tip, HCT produced and decorated the cap’s tin shield. “A great advantage of using tin is that you are able to keep the metal finish, but have the same decorative freedom in printing as you can get with printing on paper or board,” Maurin explains.

Metal’s Versatility Shines

In addition to color cosmetics, metallic elements are often seen on skin care packaging. One brand that uses metal and metallic for both its cosmetics and skin care is Charlotte Tilbury. Its packages are adorned with a copper-gold hue that looks modern. The line includes tubes decorated with hot stamping and metallized caps, as well as luxe jars with copper-gold caps.

Although it is most common for a skin care package to feature one metal component, such as a cap or lid, some brands are taking cues from fragrance bottles and using over shells.

HCT recently created a metal over shell for Kate Somerville’s Dilo Oil Restorative Treatment. The brand wanted consumers to be able to tell how much product is left inside the bottle, so HCT used a die-cutting technique to create a long, narrow window on the back of the over shell.

“Die cutting aluminum has become increasingly popular,” says HCT’s Maurin. “Die cuts are a great design element for metal because they provide an alternative to choosing a clear bottle for a skin care product when the product inside doesn’t look that appealing or interesting. An aluminum over shell with a die-cut window will give a skin care product that sought-after luxe feel,” he explains.

Stand-out Designs for Aluminum Cans

Aluminum cans are a practical choice for certain brands such as hair care, and necessary when a product is formulated to be dispensed with a pressurized spray. Depending on how a can is decorated, this type of package has the ability to help ensure that a brand stands out on store shelves with a statement-making design.

Indie Hair utilizes the natural finish on its silver aluminum cans, and its line has a brushed look. Graphics in neon colors pop against the silver packages. 

Sexy Hair typically uses a shiny red finish as a signature color for its line, which includes different size aluminum cans. Now, the brand has launched the Marilyn Monroe Limited Edition Collection. The collection’s aluminum cans are decorated with iconic black and white images of Marilyn Monroe.

The images are printed directly on the cans, using a semi-matte finish and great attention to detail, according to Karina Lutzy, marketing director/product & brand development for Sexy Hair

“These vintage images had to be manipulated in such a delicate and precise way, to ensure they were printed in a way that achieved a high quality look,” explains Lutzy. 

The designs are being printed in low quantities, for a limited time, which makes the packaging more special—and more valuable to collectors. “They’re a true work of art,” says Lutzy. 

ABA has been noticing the demand for aluminum cans—and high-quality designs. In response, the supplier recently partnered with Envases. ABA’s Warford says, “We represent their high quality line of aluminum bottles and cans, here in the U.S.”

Warford says this type of metal packaging is not only for personal care or hair care products. “There is a trend toward luxury brands using aluminum bottles, with quality crimp and threaded finishes, for fragrance products. Our bottles by Envases are ideal for these applications,” says Warford. 

Envases also has expert decorating capabilities, and has developed systems to apply hot stamped foil decorations to bottles, which conveys a luxe look, according to Warford.

Eco-Friendly Metallic Looks

Since using foils often makes recycling paperboard more difficult, some brands are looking for “greener” alternatives. Redken recently achieved this when the brand designed glitzy packaging for its new Fashion Collection products. The brand is fully embracing the metallic trend; two of its products even contain metallic pigments, to make hair shine.

Redken’s new Fashion Collection consists of four new products inspired by hair looks created by Guido Palau, Redken’s global styling director, during Spring/Summer 2015 Fashion Week. One is Metal Fix 08, a set of two clear squeeze tubes, containing gold and silver liquid pomade—to make hair look as metallic as the packaging. The carton is decorated in metallic yellow, gold and silver inks.

The cartons open up to reveal a how-to guide for recreating the runway hairstyle that inspired the product. The cartons are also designed with a built-in insert that doubles as a display stand. The cartons are made with FSC mixed certified paperboard.

The metallic decoration isn’t created using foils, so the cartons are easily recyclable. The cartons are printed with LusterBright ink, plus a mix of gloss and matte varnishes. “A pearl ink and glossy varnish has the ability to create a vibrant, metallic look without using foils,” explains Palau. He says: “With Metal Fix 08, I can add a flash of gold or silver to hair for a fashion-forward feeling.”

The other products in the collection are all packaged in black bottles, with metallic cartons in different colors. They are: Braid Aid 03, a braid-defining hair styling lotion; Stay High 18, a high-hold gel-to-mousse formulation; and Short Sculpt 19, a texturizing styling gel.

Another eco-friendly way to create metallic looks for packages is to use metallized papers by Metalvac. “Our Lecta range is designed for high-quality labels and packaging,” says Carmen Burgo, corporate marketing & sustainability, Lecta Group/Metalvac. The Oui fragrance, shown, features Metalvac’s paper, used as a metallized label.

Metallized paper can be laminated on a board, to create an elegant gift box, for instance. “It is recyclable, and will meet a brand’s requirements for sustainability,” says Burgo. “This offers a competitive advantage in comparison with other substrates that are laminated with plastic film or aluminum foil. As a mono-material, our Lecta papers can easily be recycled,” she explains.

Metalvac’s paper is available in silver and gold, with gloss or matte finishes. They can also be printed, using various types of embossing.

Utilizing Graphic Design Technologies

Designers are often asked to come up with unique metallic looks for packages such as cartons and labels, but Color Logic’s Mark Greeves says that designers are always faced with the challenge of coming up with a unique design while staying under-budget, and reducing time-to-market. Color Logic makes software tools for graphic designers to help streamline the design process.

“A designer can put 250 different metallic colors on their packages, as well as create unlimited decorative effects with only five inks using Color Logic’s tools,” explains Greeves.

How is this possible? Greeves explains, “A brand can choose to use only silver ink with conventional CMYK inks on ordinary substrates, or white ink with conventional CMYK inks on reflective metallic stock.”

The use of white ink with metallic substrates has the possibility to “open new creative vistas for brand clients,” Greeves says, and it’s now available on many digital presses as well as conventional presses. “To utilize white ink, however, a designer must create a white ink mask, which is a very tedious task,” says Greeves.

Color-Logic’s software solves this issue by generating white ink masks automatically, which enables a brand to add decorative effects at the design stage. “This cuts time and costs, drastically,” says Greeves. “Expensive post press finishing processes such as foil stamping can be eliminated entirely in many cases,” he says.

Color Logic’s tools also include a viewer, so a designer can see the metallic effects in their designs on their monitors before committing to production.

GHD recently used Color Logic’s tools to create three limited edition metallic colors for its iconic flat iron, the 1-inch styler—along with vibrant outer packaging to match. “Our technology gives a brand the ability to create a large number of different SKUs without an added cost,” says Greeves.

GHD’s limited edition metallic collection is called Birds of Paradise. The professional flat iron is available in three shiny, colorful hues—Coral, Sunset and Lagoon. The boldly colored flat irons match the reflective pattern on its keepsake gift boxes. (See these featured on Beauty Packaging’s website in the Online Exclusive: GHD’s Luxe Keepsake Packaging).

Will The Trend for Metal and Metallics Continue?

Color trends may change, but suppliers say the use of metal and metallic substrates probably won’t show signs of declining anytime soon. Color Logic’s Greeves says, “Metallic substrates and metallic inks have always denoted quality and product value, and they probably always will.”

ABA’s Warford attributes the rise in the popularity of metal packaging to an expansion across more product categories. “Interestingly, we are seeing the surge in metal and metallized effects being used widely now across all platforms. We have new treatment projects that use custom colored buff and lacquer decorations, and anodized over caps. Our business is also growing for color projects using similar effects.”

HCT Group says the demand for its innovative packaging and applicator tips made from Zamac has been increasing, and the supplier has also been utilizing different design techniques more often. “Many of our clients continue to request packages made from Zamac, and they are also etching their design into the component to create different effects,” says HCT’s Greco.

Coverpla’s Cutri adds, “Metal will always be synonymous with packages that convey sophisticated, elegant looks.”

Greeves adds that as package design continues to be a driving force for brands, metallic effects will continue to be an ideal solution. He concludes, “Metallic decorations will continue to be an ideal way for a brand to differentiate on shelf.”