Girlie packaging a feast for the eyes
By Rhea Gordon
Design & Innovation General Age Excellence Foundation GOSH Copenhagen Light’n Shine Lip Glaze Quo Shoppers Drug Mart Triplet Sprinkler Twinkle Boxer DecorA monthly look at some of the hits and misses in the packaging world from the viewpoint of Joe Public, Canadian Packaging magazine’s revolving columnists. From the March 2017 issue.
Female cosmetic users spending a lot of money to buy specific products to enhance their looks have a right to certain expectation from the packaging of those products. Are they portable and small enough to fit into a purse? Are they reliably resealable and spill-proof after being used for the first time? Does the product’s package design make it simple to use outside the comforts of home? Happily, it seems like today’s leading cosmetic brand-owners are paying more than just the obligatory lip service to the consumers’ needs and desires for a little extra value-added with their purchase.
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The Light’n Shine Lip Glaze from GOSH Copenhagen of Denmark has literally illuminated cosmetic packaging to a whole new level of aesthetic flair. Lip gloss is often sold in a small tub, a squeeze-tube or a hard tube—with or without an applicator—typically with no special features to catch the eye. That’s more or less what I expected from this product until I opened up a GOSH “tester” in the store—to discover that the wand’s applicator handle has two LED lights to help you easily apply lip gloss even in low-light conditions. When the applicator top is opened, tiny round sensors pop out to turn the lights on. When done, closing the top promptly pushes sensors to the ‘off ’ position. No mirror? No problem, as the hard tube inside the package has one incorporated right into its side. This is one bright portable idea that is not to be easily glossed over!
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Retailing exclusively at the Shopper’s Drug Mart outlets, the Quo brand of cosmetics imports its Age Excellence Foundation product from Italy in transparent packaging that makes the product inside fully visible in the area between the silver-colored cap and the decorative bottom strip, with the sturdy rigid plastic outer tube housing a separate compartment containing the foundation. Using the product for the first time, I was happy to discover that the silver top is a actually a permanent part of an ingenious pumping mechanism employing an innovative system for opening and closing the package. Turning the cap counter clockwise raises the pump from its hidden position, whereas turning clockwise it lowers the pump to sit flush with the top edge—providing a highly effective safeguard against accidental openings and the resulting messy spills.
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While cupcakes once lived in the land of kids’ parties, nowadays many gourmet bakeries and confection shops specializing in designer cupcakes that replace formal wedding cakes are all the rage. As if to highlight this trend, the Triplet Sprinkler jar from Twinkle Boxer Decor makes optimal use of the sugary shapes and specialty items used by professional cake decorators to serve up a truly tasteful mood-lifting experience. Removing the cupcake top reveals a trio of separate pie-shaped jars inside—each with its own flip-top lid—containing a multitude of tiny pink and white pearlized beads to create a decidedly girlie ambiance wherever it’s placed.
Rhea Gordon is a freelance writer living in Toronto.
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