Kate Bertrand Connolly, Freelance Writer

June 5, 2015

3 Min Read
3 new packaging concepts for health and beauty aids
Consumers warm up to heated creams and other products in self-heating tubes.

Some of the most intriguing new developments in personal care packaging and cosmetics packaging center on functionality or sustainability rather than looks, based on packaging designs highlighted at the Luxe Pack trade show held in New York City in May.

Several of the show’s standout packages offered unusual functionality, like in-pack heating of products, or playing audio messages when a button on the box is pushed. Others had a green focus, using post-consumer recycled packaging materials and targeting packaging waste.

In this slideshow, we bring you three of those packaging concepts. They are from packaging suppliers Cosmogen, Leo Luxe Packaging and Chicago Paper Tube & Can Co.

Paris-based Cosmogen turned heads at Luxe Pack with its patented Self-Heating Tube (shown above), designed for products like facial masks, anti-wrinkle formulations, hair products and body oil. By heating the products to a comfortable temperature, the package creates a more pleasant experience for the consumer and potentially enhances the product’s efficacy and/or ease of application.

The Cosmogen package incorporates two tubes, one inside the other. The outer tube is filled with the product formulation, and the hermetically sealed inner tube contains a sodium acetate solution. When the consumer breaks the peelable security strip on the package’s closure, the sodium acetate solution starts to crystallize. This generates heat, warming up the product.

The tube-within-a-tube package is designed for a single use. According to Cosmogen, the package is safe, non-toxic, eco-friendly and compatible with conventional filling and sealing equipment. The package comes in a 3- to 10-ml size and a 10- to 60-ml size.

Red thermochromic Self-Heating Tubes are available from Cosmogen. These provide a visual sign of the package’s temperature change.

Click next to see how your package can really "talk" to consumers...

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A novel concept from Leo Luxe Packaging uses printed electronics to create a package that plays audio content. The company’s Iconic package with Haptic Magic Technology is a wrapped rigid box; audio circuits are embedded in a flexible membrane that’s laminated to the paper used to wrap the hinged box. Thus mechanical switches, plastic housings and conventional wiring are eliminated.

Three buttons, which are printed on the laminated material, are prominently located on the front of the wrapped box. Pressing each button activates a 5- to 10-second audio clip, which could be a description of the product’s benefits, directions for use, a celebrity endorsement, music or a sound effect.

The Iconic concept uses audio, but according to Leo Luxe, the same technology can be used to trigger other kinds of sensory stimuli—for example, a combination of sound and flashing LED lights, a mechanical effect or even video content.

Next up...100% paperboard lipstick/lip balm container for Marula Pure Beauty Oil.

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Chicago Paper Tube & Can Co. won the 2015 Luxe Pack in green award for the EcoPush package, which the company developed together with one of its clients, Marula Pure Beauty Oil. The EcoPush tube is a 100% paperboard dispenser/applicator for Marula’s Lips 2 Lines on-the-go hydrating balm. Fill weight for the Lips 2 Lines tube is 25 grams.

According to Chicago Paper Tube & Can, the biodegradable EcoPush package is made from up to 95% recycled fiber (80% post-consumer), and it is manufactured using water-based glues. The package targets pre-consumer waste reduction, as well: The only manufacturing waste is paperboard fiber, which the company recycles.

All materials for the EcoPush tube, which is manufactured in Chicago, are sourced from the Midwestern United States. Consequently, the package’s transportation-related carbon footprint is well controlled. The tube’s decorative, printed top stock is Esse paper from Neenah Paper Inc.

About the Author(s)

Kate Bertrand Connolly

Freelance Writer

Kate Bertrand Connolly has been covering innovations, trends, and technologies in packaging, branding, and business since 1981.

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