Whether for an upscale fragrance or skincare line, glass bottles and jars deliver luxury and sustainability, effortlessly. Glass is an ideal material as brand marketers strive to design eco-friendly packaging without compromising the aesthetics that entice consumers to open their wallets.

Beauty and fragrance brands sell “a luxurious experience,” especially in the prestige market, and an elegant glass bottle or jar can help ensure that a brand “conveys luxury” in spades. A perfume bottle that feels beautiful to hold allows a brand to create an emotional connection with the user whenever they pick it up. A glass dropper or heavyweight jar instantly elevates the skincare application experience.

Sheherazade Chamlou, VP of Sales, Beauty-Americas, at SGD, says, “Beauty is typically luxury’s entry-level category, and the value proposition of luxury is to have something exceptional, exclusive, innovative, and distinctive,” she says. “Innovations in glass design are setting a new standard for packaging solutions that deliver on sustainability, quality, and brand identity.”

Ensuring that a glass package’s decoration isn’t going to affect the material’s recyclability has caused some issues—and confusion. “Glass packaging that balances eco-friendliness with a luxurious feel is a challenge,” says Verena Regina Fiori Ferreira, Marketing Director at Virospack. “But these issues are being addressed through thoughtful design and innovative manufacturing techniques,” she says.

Here, packaging suppliers discuss glass packaging trends, the latest innovations, and decorations that won’t prevent glass from being recycled. Read on.

Luxury Looks for Glass

Over the past year, many brands have been embellishing glass fragrance bottles with shiny, metalized, and lacquer-like finishes. We asked suppliers how to achieve these glamorous looks—and discussed some of the most often requested decorating processes for glass.

Related: Metal-Mania Radiates Luxury

“A metallic look can be achieved with electroplating, which will give glass a lovely gold or silver finish, but it’s a costly decorating process because it requires several steps that need to be done manually to achieve a consistent look,” explains Urszula Bosco, Marketing & New Business Development Director at Berlin Packaging. She notes that electroplated bottles are only recyclable if they are cleaned with a special chemical formula to remove the plating, which is costly. “Some brands prefer spraying because it is simpler and more cost-efficient,” Bosco says.

Coverpla offers various types of colorful decorations for glass bottles.

Regarding color trends for glass, Virospack’s Ferreira says brands use a wide range of hues, from translucent to opaque finishes.

“Modern palettes are popular, and these include pastels and metallics,” she says. “Our customization options, such as engraving, embossed logos, and intricate patterns enhance the luxury appeal of a glass bottle,” she explains.

Virospack offers in-house decorating, including metallization, spraying, screen-printing, hot stamping, and more.

Gilda Mirra Cutri, VP of Operations & Business Development at Coverpla, says spraying is a popular decoration for glass.

“Whether it’s one color or a gradient effect, spraying can give a fragrance bottle a luxurious look,” Cutri says. “But if the juice is colored, it will completely change the look of the deco. This detail shouldn’t be overlooked,” she advises.

Verescence offers several exclusive innovations, including red glass, as seen in the Chanel N°1 skincare line, and its patented “COLOR’in” technology, which decorates the inside of bottles, as seen in Tom Ford’s Private Blend collection.

Groupe Pochet’s team says there’s a trend toward bolder designs in glass packaging. “Metallic finishes, particularly gold, are in high demand,” says Yves Bouquier, Director of Communications, Groupe Pochet. “They evoke a sense of timeless luxury. Our Qualipac factories master advanced anodization techniques for Paco Rabanne’s One Million, creating a bottle reminiscent of a gold bar,” he explains.

Bormioli Luigi offers all the conventional decorating processes—plus, the supplier is developing a wide range of lacquers. “Lacquering opens up a world of decorating possibilities, and our lacquers can be used to create unexpected effects,” explains Jennifer Duffy, Vice President of Sales at Bormioli Luigi.

The supplier can use lacquering to create various looks, including replicating materials with effects that include stone, marble, porcelain, granite, terracotta, slate, and concrete. “And our patented ‘Inside Décor’ enables the inside of a bottle to be tinted while showcasing the thickness of the glass,” Duffy says.

One of Bormioli Luigi’s newest decoration innovations for glass is called “Inside Mirror.” The internal metallized decoration is “a coating applied to a bottle or jar’s inner surface. It provides a shiny effect, magnifying the reflective surface and the glass shape,” says Duffy.

PGP’s team is also fulfilling many requests for high-shine looks. “Many brands are requesting full metallization, and we now offer a translucent alternative that is more eco-friendly,” says Jeff Funk, Director of Sales & Marketing, Personal Care, at PGP.

PGP makes its own molds and offers brands in-house decoration, from translucent metallization to lacquering, acid-etching, and hot-stamping. PGP is one of the largest glass manufacturers and operates 11 furnaces. “We produce 705 tons per day of glass for the perfume and cosmetic industry,” Funk says.

SGD Pharma offers a digital printing decoration that it says “breaks through the boundaries of traditional silk-screening” with rich, bold color.

The process can replicate extremely colorful artwork with multi-layer detail. “This innovative artistic decoration allows images, drawings, and texts to be transferred onto glass packaging in a precise and detailed way,” Chamlou explains. “Digital printing can create textured embossing for a premium, tactile finish—inspiring a deeper connection with the consumer in luxury packaging.”

Balancing Luxury and Sustainability

There’s a growing need for packaging to be more eco-friendly, so how can a glass bottle or jar also be luxurious?

One way is to move away from designs that require mixed materials and extra embellishments. Another way is to consider choosing sputtering over metallization, suppliers say.

Balmain Beauty’s Les Éternels refillable fragrance collection; Groupe Pochet produces triangular-shaped bottles featuring a groove design created in the mold.

Adding plaques or other embellishments to a glass bottle will affect its recyclability, so Verescence’s Céline Le Marre, Marketing & Communication Project Manager at Verescence, suggests alternative solutions.

“Replace an accessory with engraving on the mold, and enhance the decoration with techniques like hot-stamping or silk-screening,” she says, and describes examples. “YSL’s Myslf bottle has its Cassandre logo engraved into the mold, and Armani’s SÌ Eau de Parfum Intense features a gold logo elegantly embossed into the glass.”

If you’re looking for more eco-friendly ways to make a bottle shine, Groupe Pochet has a few suggestions. “Balmain Sel d’Ambre, is in a glass bottle decorated with a translucent gold lacquering, and the package is fully recyclable,” says Bouquier.

Sel d’Ambre Eau de Parfum is a part of Balmain Beauty’s colorful Les Éternels collection (shown), featuring refillable and recyclable glass bottles.

Groupe Pochet, known for its intricate glass molding and decoration techniques, produced the bottles. The diamond-shaped bottles are decorated with grooves that are engraved in the mold. The perfectly uniform grooves were achieved by carefully calculating glass distribution on the shoulders, with a precise thickness in the corners.

Sputtering is a decorating process that can deliver a beautiful high-shine look, says Bormioli Luigi’s Duffy. “It provides all the benefits of metallization, but it is 100% recyclable,” she says.

One reason to use this process is to create a transparent decoration so glass will be detectable in recycling streams. “The chosen metal—steel, gold, silver or copper, for example—is transformed with gas and deposited onto the bottle’s surface in the form of micro-fragments,” Duffy explains.

“The process makes it possible to determine thickness of the decoration for a minimal impact on recyclability. Mastering this technique is a game-changer,” Duffy says. Bormioli Luigi recently added new equipment dedicated to sputtering at its decoration workshop in Parma, Italy.

Bormioli Luigi decorated these glass bottles with silver and gold finishes produced using a sputtering process, which is a luxe eco-friendly alternative to metallizing.

Virospack also has a sputtering line, in-house. “High-vacuum sputtering is the cleanest of all coating techniques,” says Ferreira. “It’s a sustainable and cost-efficient production method that produces subtle, uniform coatings while minimizing waste and environmental impact,” she says.

Virospack also metallizes its droppers, bottles, and packaging components, and says its process produces low levels of VOCs. “We offer thin-layer metallization and recyclable coatings, allowing brands to maintain luxury aesthetics while aligning with environmental goals,” Ferreira says.

Protective & Light-Shielding Coatings for Glass

Lacquering glass isn’t only for aesthetics. “A lacquered surface means greater protection for a glass bottle or jar,” says Bormioli Luigi’s Duffy. The supplier’s “Safe Glass” decoration is a thin, flexible coating applied to a glass to protect it from breakage. “It is invisible, and ideal for large bottles in the bathroom or for nomadic mini formats,” Duffy says.

Stoelzle Perfumery & Cosmetics’ recent innovation is Lumi Coat, launched in partnership with Nexdot. It is a transparent UV filter solution for glass bottles, and ideal for premium fragrances. When applied to a clear or transparent glass bottle, Lumi Coat absorbs 86% of harmful UV rays to prevent color fade and scent degradation for up to two years, which can extend the product’s shelf life.

Lumi Coat’s innovation lies in its high level of protection and its ability to maintain full optical clarity of the glass. It blocks harmful UV rays without affecting visible light, to ensure glass bottles remain optically clear. “It aligns perfectly with clean beauty standards because it reduces the need for stabilizing molecules, such as UV absorbers, dyes, and preservatives,” says Alexandra Seidl, head of marketing at Stoelzle.

Bottle Design Trends— for Fragrances & Skincare

What’s trending in glass bottle shapes? Craftsmanship with luxurious details, suppliers say. “Organic, fluid shapes for glass bottles with nature-inspired forms reflect a sense of artistry and uniqueness,” says Le Marre, from Verescence.

Le Marre notes a design feature created during the glass molding process. “A notable trend is the deep punt at the base of bottles, which conveys an added sense of luxury,” she explains. “The new Le Sel d’Issey, the men’s fragrance bottle by Issey Miyake designed by Tokujin Yoshioka, is an example. The bottle’s elliptical shape and deep punt required precise glass distribution,” she explains.

Verescence produced bottles with a punt at the base for an elegant look for the new Le Sel d’Issey by Issey Miyake fragrance.

Groupe Pochet’s team says more brands are choosing unusual or unexpected bottle shapes for luxury fragrances. In addition to Balmain Beauty’s Les Éternels, shown above, the supplier produced the drop-shaped bottle for Dior’s J’Adore. “Producing this bottle requires exceptional precision during the glass-blowing and molding processes,” says Bouquier. Groupe Pochet also offers its “Laser Tone” technology. “This technology prints intricate decorations directly on glass—with unprecedented detail,” Bouquier says.

“We help brands create distinctive, high-quality designs to stand out in a competitive market,” says Lorena Alencar, Regional Sales Director at Heinz-Glas. The supplier’s Yarrow glass flacon features a frosted glass closure. The glass cap as a closure is one of the supplier’s latest innovations.

The bottle features lettering in a custom-designed font, and the decoration is applied using digital printing. Heinz-Glas has a history dating back to 1622 as one of the world’s oldest family-run glass manufacturers. The supplier has a global footprint that spans 18 locations across 13 countries.

Berlin Packaging helped create Doft New York Skincare’s distinct look with custom-shaped glass bottles and jars. “They are unique, with a soft heel that complements the soft shoulder of the custom-designed plastic caps,” explains Bosco, Marketing & New Business Development Director at Berlin Packaging.

The bottles and jars are sprayed with a soft white hue. The caps feature a gold medallion. “The components work together to create an ovular shape that differentiates from the standard round profile of many skincare products,” Bosco says.

Berlin Packaging supplies stock components, and its Studio One Eleven innovation division creates custom packaging solutions. “We source hundreds of glass bottle designs from our supplier partners around the globe, and have our own exclusive stock designs,” Bosco says. “Our value-added services set us apart, including warehousing and inventory management, turnkey decorating and labeling services, a quality service division, and a dedicated sustainability team,” Bosco says.

Berlin Packaging says it is the world’s largest hybrid packaging supplier, with extensive glass expertise—plus decades of experience providing primary and secondary packaging solutions.

Berlin Packaging gave Doft New York Skincare a distinct look with custom glass bottles and jars in unique shapes.

For brands looking for glass packaging in smaller formats to accommodate serums, oils, or fragrance minis, Virospack offers Tubular Glass Vials. The vials are designed to combine with the supplier’s extensive range of droppers, push buttons, caps, pumps, roll-ons, and spatulas, and feature the supplier’s patented Blowback functionality. “The Blowback system minimizes drips and spills, ensuring a clean, precise application—perfect for luxury and high-precision products,” Ferreira says.

Virospack’s Tubular Glass. 

The vials also feature anti-rotation ribs, which are discreet ridges inside the bottle’s neck to prevent unwanted movement between the cap and bottle. “This preserves both the look and performance of the packaging,” Ferreira says. “Our tubular vials can be highly customized without the need for new mold investments, offering flexibility for brands looking to create a distinct visual identity,” Ferreira adds.

Eco-Innovations Include Lightweight & Refillable Designs

Packaging suppliers are offering more ways for beauty brands to be eco-friendly, and refillable glass bottles and jars are a popular option. Lightweighting is another option, which reduces a glass bottle or jar’s overall weight by using less material to produce it. Some suppliers are also using higher levels of PCR in glass packaging.

Related: What's New is Sustainable Packaging?

Stoelzle Perfumery & Cosmetics’ new Phoenix collection, a line of standard refillable glass bottles. 

Coverpla offers both lightweight glass and refillable bottles and jars. “Both are ideal eco-friendly solutions, and they are a part of our stock offerings,” says Cutri.

Stoelzle Perfumery & Cosmetics recently introduced its new standard collection of refillable perfume bottles, Phoenix.

The new range features six cylindrical bottles that are all lightweight, ranging in size from 10- to 200ml. Screw necks make refilling effortless, and easy to separate the pump and cap to recycle the bottle.

Reducing a glass bottle’s weight won’t cheapen its look and feel, suppliers say. “Glass inherently feels luxurious—light weighting doesn’t compromise this when paired with a thoughtful design,” explains Verescence’s Le Marre, mentioning the Chanel N°1 skincare line as an example.

“The weight of the glass bottles was reduced by an average of 30% compared to similar Chanel bottles. The Orchidée Impériale and Abeille Royale glass jars by Guerlain also demonstrate how lightweight glass can still deliver a premium look and feel,” she says.

Verescence’s Moon and Gem lightweight glass bottles.

Verescence offers two lightweight 100ml fragrance bottles, Moon and Gem, designed in partnership with design agency De Baschmakoff. Moon weighs 106 grams and Gem weighs 97 grams. “These complex creative shapes are 50% lighter than the average bottle on the market,” says Le Marre.

“We have mastered the production technique and can produce lightweight bottles while maintaining the same glass resistance,” she says. Verescence also pioneered PCR glass with its launch of Infinite Glass in 2008. “We now offer compositions with 20% or 40% PCR content without compromising quality,” Le Marre says.

For skincare brands, Bormioli Luigi’s Reverre Jar is elegant and refillable. This patented mono-material design includes a glass inner cup that the consumer can replace with a simple gesture. Adding a plastic ring to the cap will make the jar airtight and won’t interfere with the jar’s recyclability. “Our Reverre Jar is a premium design that encourages brand loyalty and pushes the limits of eco-design,” says Duffy.

Bormioli Luigi offers the jar as a standard package that’s customizable using various decorating techniques, including inside lacquer, hot-stamping, engraving, and sputtering. Reverre is also available as a custom package called “made-to-measure.” “A brand can personalize everything from the glass shape to the size of the cap and inner cup,” says Duffy.

Groupe Pochet’s Seva 3 is a lightweight material made from recycled glass with 15% PCR. “Glass inherently conveys luxury through its tactile and visual qualities. By incorporating lightweight and recycled materials, such as our SEVA 3 glass, brands can achieve eco-friendly goals while retaining elegance,” Bouquier says.

Groupe Pochet says it is a “green manufacturing pioneer,” with its 100% electric glass-melting furnace. “It will reduce our carbon emissions by 50% by 2033 and aligns with our mission to combine sustainability with luxury,” Bouquier says. The supplier also offers Morphoz, a digital tool that enables precision in design, reduces material waste, and accelerates package development. 

Bormioli Luigi’s Reverre refillable glass jar.

Heinz-Glas offers lightweight designs for glass bottles and jars, and incorporates PCR into its packaging.

“Our lightweight glass designs demonstrate how we blend ecological responsibility with the luxurious aesthetics of high-end packaging—without compromising quality,’ says Alencar.

One of Heinz-Glas’ key sustainable initiatives is its proprietary Product Carbon Footprint Tool. “This IT-based system enables us to calculate the precise carbon footprint of every single bottle, down to the gram,” says Alencar.

“We are fully dedicated to innovation and sustainability, and create eco-friendly glass packaging that meets the highest standards of aesthetics and functionality,” she says.

SGD Pharma Beauty & Care is investing in sustainable innovations, and its team excels at glass distribution optimization, which reduces a bottle’s weight while providing exceptional mechanical resistance. The supplier’s lightweight glass packaging range, Nova, includes a new 200ml bottle (shown) ideal for skincare products.

The supplier can decorate it using its eco-friendly PVD (Physical Vapor Deposit) decoration (also shown). “This decoration  interacts with light to produce a vibrant spectrum of colors and creates a visually stunning iridescent effect,” says Chamlou.

The bottle has an approximate 20% reduction in CO2 emissions during manufacturing than SGD Pharma’s standard Dorado bottle, due to less raw material use. “The new 200ml bottle in the Nova range has reached an extremely low weight-volume ratio 0.65, while retaining the same properties and safety as our heavier Dorado model,” says Chamlou.

SGD Pharma’s lightweight Nova glass bottle, decorated with its eco-friendly PVD decoration.

When developing its Nova range, SGD Pharma’s expertise in its Narrow Neck Press and Blow forming technology was essential—and was originally developed for the pharmaceutical industry.

“We adapted our technical know-how used in our premium pharma glass vials for beauty packaging,” Chamlou says.

What’s Next? More Advances in Eco-Friendly Innovations, Suppliers Say

As glass packaging innovations will no doubt continue, we expect brands to work more closely with suppliers to further close the gap between luxury and sustainability.

Virospack’s Ferreira says refillable packaging is “the future,” and the durability of glass makes it an ideal material to use. “Refillable designs promote a circular economy by reducing single-use packaging. They align with the eco-conscious preferences of modern consumers and enhance brand loyalty through sustainable practices.”

Bormioli Luigi’s Duffy says luxury and sustainability can coexist. “There are a thousand ways to combine luxury and sustainability—and desirability. Above all, a luxury beauty package or perfume bottle must remain a coveted object that conveys a brand’s identity. But it’s up to us, as suppliers, to support brands by offering our eco-designed solutions, such as lightened glass or decorations that are more respectful of the environment.”

We can’t wait to see how glass decoration continues to evolve to ensure recyclability—stay tuned.

The team at The Estee Lauder Companies is helping propel the industry forward—read on. 

Estée Lauder Companies Aims to Ensure Glass Packaging Is Recyclable

 

Estee Lauder's Advanced Night Repair is shown above, in a limited edition glass bottle decorated for Lunar New Year.  

ELC always aims to ensure its glass packaging is truly recyclable, and plans to help the entire beauty industry do the same.

Brands often say that glass is “infinitely recyclable,” but the truth is that decorations, and other factors, affect a glass package’s recyclability, even if the deco is “eco-friendly.”

The Estée Lauder Companies (ELC) partnered with Strategic Materials, Inc. (SMI) to conduct a cosmetic glass recycling case study, and the published results are available as a resource through the Glass Packaging Institute. The findings will help brands deliver luxury decorations, colors, and formats that can be identified as recyclable—by recyclers and at scale.

More than 200 glass beauty packages were subjected to in-depth testing during the study, which identified key criteria for designing cosmetic glass packaging. One key metric is luminous transmission, which is the measurement of how much light can go through a glass package so sorting machines can identify glass. Results showed that glass decorations that allow light transmission of 5% are more likely to be sorted correctly as recyclable glass.

ELC says that the findings will enable brands to “design-in recyclability.” Robert Peterson, Senior Vice President, Global Engineering & Packaging, The Estée Lauder Companies, says, “We’re proud to be able to incorporate more sustainable concepts into glass packaging designs and advance responsible packaging solutions for our brands and the entire cosmetics industry.” 

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