Custom Cosmetic Boxes

Three ways a beauty box is made

Beauty packaging comes in three builds: a folding carton, a rigid box and a sleeve, and each is made differently.

A folding carton is one sheet of paperboard, cut and creased flat with a single glued seam. It is the standard build for tubes, bottles and jars, and it arrives as a flat tube that is opened up at filling.

A rigid box is wrapped board formed into a lid and base. A sleeve is a short open tube that slides over a tray or a carton. Much of what a beauty box does for the product sits in the insert, which holds a bottle upright or a jar in place so it cannot knock about inside.

• Carton: solid paperboard, single glued seam
• Rigid: wrapped board, lid and base
• Sleeve: open tube over a tray or carton

SBS, rigid or recycled board?

SBS prints cleanest, rigid board holds up best, and recycled board shifts every colour printed on it.

SBS is bleached through the sheet, so a printed colour lands close to what the screen showed. That is why skincare and makeup lines often default to it. Recycled paperboard is greyer and absorbs more ink, which softens fine detail and dulls pale shades.

Rigid board is the choice for fragrance sets and gift packs where weight and stiffness are part of the impression. It is also much bulkier to store and to ship than a flat carton, so it suits the products that need it rather than the whole range.

• SBS: whitest surface, closest colour
• Rigid: stiff, heavy, bulky to ship
• Recycled: duller whites, softer detail

Measuring bottles, jars and tubes

Measure the filled product with its cap or pump on, because that is the shape the insert has to hold.

Height is the dimension people miss. A pump head, a dropper or a fat cap can add several millimetres above the bottle, and the carton top has to clear it. Shoulders and tapered necks change the width at every level, so measure the real item, not only the label size.

A fitted insert, in board, pulp or foam, keeps contents steady. It also takes space, so the outer dimensions grow. When the product comes in several sizes, send us each one and we work out whether one carton can take them all with different inserts, or whether each needs its own cutting tool.

A box, or print straight on the container?

Printing on the bottle or tube saves a layer. A box adds protection and a lot more surface to print on.

Direct printing on a bottle, jar or tube means less material and less to store. It does nothing for the product in transit, and the printable area is limited to the shape of the container.

A carton gives flat panels for ingredients, directions and batch details, and a place to carry the brand story. It also protects the container from scuffs. Whichever route you choose, we leave room for the information your product must carry and lay it out on the proof.

Colour match, foil and soft-touch

Brand colour, metallic effects and a velvet feel each behave differently on beauty board, and each needs to be specified early.

A brand colour built from the four process inks can drift between runs and between boards. A spot colour is mixed to a recipe and holds more steadily, at the cost of an extra plate. Settle the board before approving the proof, because the same ink looks different on white SBS and on recycled stock.

Foil sits on top of the board and catches the light, but it fills in if the type is too fine. Soft-touch coating feels velvety and scuffs, and the marks show most on dark solid colour, so it is often kept to the products that need the feel rather than spread across a whole range.

Cosmetic carton alone, or inside a mailer?

A cosmetic carton is the pick for protecting a product on a shelf. A mailer box with the carton packed inside is the pick when glass and liquids go in the post.

Paperboard has no cushioning, so glass and liquids that are posted travel better with the carton packed inside a mailer box or a shipper with a fitted insert. A carton sent alone will arrive creased, and a leaking pump will mark it.

A box is also unnecessary if the product is sold only through a salon or refill counter and the container itself carries the brand. Where the buyer will throw the box away on arrival, a printed label does much of the same work with less material.