Online Exclusive — A Little Something Extra
Decorative accessories, like flowers, bows, charms and other jewelry, adorn the latest beauty packages and can increase consumer appeal and perceived value.
By Lisa Samalonis, Associate Editor

Bond No. 9’s Central Park West fragrance, launching mid-March, is inspired by New York’s roadway that

Bond No. 9 uses a flower as a decorative accent on its Central Park West fragrance. Later it can be worn as a bracelet or brooch.

runs alongside Central Park, and the package is designed to capture the spirit of the neighborhood and the season, right down to the blooming spring flowers. The bottle for Central Park West sports a bright green background and an oversized purple houndstooth check pattern that pops. Wrapped around the bottle’s neck is a little something extra—a detachable, double-row bracelet of pink beads with a matching floral blossom which, like the popular flower on last spring’s Madison Square Park, can be worn on its own as a brooch.

Central Park West is the latest addition to the company’s New York park eau de parfums —Central Park, Gramercy Park, Bryant Park, the High Line, Washington Square and Madison Square Park. The fragrance, with its floral accent, follows the decorative accessory trend used of late by beauty and fragrance all-stars such as Juicy Couture’s Viva La Juicy (perfume necklace), Justin Beiber’s Someday (heart and key charms), Taylor Swift’s Wonderstruck (multiple charms on a chain) and others. The Central Park West scent starts off with narcissus mingled with tangy ylang ylang and piquant pepper, then comes a white-petal mélange—orris, jasmine and linden. The centerpiece is gardenia, while the base is white oak and vetiver, combined with a hint of musk. The fragrance sillage will linger a while, but the floral accessory will last even longer. Central Park West retails for $250 (100ml) and is sold at Bond No. 9’s six New York stores, Saks Fifth Avenue and bondno9.com. Line extensions include cream and candles, also featuring the flower.

The decorative accessory trend includes jewelry accessories, ornaments, plaques, logos and emblems that provide the product and the consumer with that special surprise detail. Metal Dynamics makes some of the decorative accessories on the hottest selling fragrances, beauty and other products, including handbag hardware and jewelry.

“Though the cosmetic industry is a substantial portion of our business, it is a substantial portion due to the sheer volume of the goods sold in the cosmetic industry,” explains Bob Adelstein, founder of Metal Dynamics. “But as far as the amount of SKUs that we run, most of our SKUs are done in jewelry or accessories that then get sold at retail in the jewelry business. The cosmetic business will run 100,000 and the jewelry business will run 1,000.”

The company draws on its vast industry experience and knowledge of what is selling in the jewelry industry to work with its customers to design the decorative accessories that will go on their bottle. “We find that these decorative accents add a tremendous perceived value to the actual product and they make the product pop. The accessory item on the bottle stimulates sales,” he says.

Many of the charms Metal Dynamics makes have secondary uses because they are not permanently affixed to the bottle.“For example, the Justin Bieber fragrance has a lobster claw so the consumer can take off the heart and key that’s on it and put it on a bracelet or a necklace and that also is a selling point,” Adelstein says.

The benefits of adding an accessory definitely outweighs the additional cost or it wouldn’t be such a successful trend, he points out. “For us, given the sheer volume in the cosmetic industry we produce the product more mechanically because we have the volume to do complex, very sophisticated tooling to actually produce the jewelry item,” Adelstein explains. “This is different than the way we would produce goods for the jewelry industry. Although it gives the same look, it is done in steel dyes compared to rubber molds used in the smaller runs for jewelry.”

Other jewelry accents, like Swarovski crystals, are making their way onto beauty packages. The

The Swarovski crystals that adorn the Sharon-Lee Cosmetics sleek black matte packaging provide simple elegance.

Swarovski crystals that adorn Sharon-Lee Cosmetics products provide a touch of simple elegance. The products are housed in sleek black matte packaging encrusted with the fine gems and topped with the Sharon-Lee logo. Sharon-Lee, a leader in Australia’s beauty industry, has a range of multifunctional cosmetics, including patented tweezers and magnifying mirrors, to mascara, liquid eyeliner, The Perfect 10 brush collection, Glam Glosses, (with built-in lip liner), and her She She compact, with neutral compressed powders that can be used as blush, bronzer or eye-shadow.

“Being from a multicultural background and servicing clients from around the world, I developed the Sharon-Lee cosmetics line with every woman in mind,” says Sharon-Lee Clarke founder and creator of Sharon-Lee Cosmetics. “From the Madame Lash mascara to the Glam Glosses, everything is made from the highest quality ingredients and is practical, multifunctional and aesthetically pleasing. The high-quality products and the added touches of luxury from the packaging’s double matte black finish and adornments of Swarovski crystals truly encompass the Sharon-Lee brand, setting standards of product integrity that give consumers the first glimpse of what the brand is all about.”

The cosmetic line launched last month in the U.S., when Sharon-Lee brought her brow artistry services to New York and Los Angeles so consumers could experience her Brow Wow! 30-minute all-inclusive service.

Providence Metallizing frequently partners with high-end beauty companies that go the extra step in order to create a signature statement with their latest beauty offerings. Recent decorative accessory projects include work with Bond No. 9 and Juicy Couture Viva la Juicy. “We see a lot of emblems, charms and findings. I have been dealing with the fragrance industry for a long time, and I definitely feel that this trend is on the upswing,” says John Feeley, director of sales and marketing, noting that he doesn’t recall seeing this type of extra detailing 20 years ago.

Recently the company worked with Bond No. 9 to create the Madison Square Garden package with its signature flower accessory, which is being added to candle covers and cream covers. The same flower is used as a bracelet or brooch, he notes.

Of course, decorative accessories or accents can be more costly for the beauty company because it is another piece to be produced. “Typically it is another piece to be made and then it has to be attached. Some of the ones we have made are pretty complex, like the flower for Bond No. 9. It is produced from a centrifugal casting, which is polished and silver clear coated and then it is glued onto the package. There is a bit of work and a bit of money that they spend to dress things up, it definitely adds cost,” he says.

When it comes to accessories, the additional investment can be a sticking point. Feeley points out that in

Providence Metallizing painted and assembled decorative accessories for the Madison Square Garden fragrance, Body Silk, and candles.

many cases price is an issue and sometimes companies decide not to add the decorative element because they don’t necessarily want to put that kind of money into the project. However, when companies do, they oftentimes get significant results and many clients then note that the biggest problem is that they didn’t order enough. However, reorders tend to be easier. He says: “We know what the client wants, we have already done it for them, and usually there is a custom mold that is built. By the time we have the custom tooling, we know what they are looking for, and we already have the procedures set up so it is easy to do that second run.”

Laser technology has become a game changer for decorative elements. “If we compare what was done 20 years ago and some of the manufacturing techniques that we do now, the big difference is the advent of the laser technology,” says Feeley. “We have lasers that engrave, and lasers that cut. Previously we might have had to make a fairly expensive metal stamp or tool, where now if someone has a short run of 500 or 1,000 pieces, we can produce that using one or two flexible lasers rather than an expensive or dedicated tool.”

Clients with smaller orders or those who want to try a project out from a marketing standpoint to see how it would do, can now be helped efficiently and economically. “We can replicate that faster and cheaper than we used to be able to,” he says.

Gift bags and totes with decorative accessories can be a fun addition while also increasing perceived value. “Over the last couple of years we have seen some customers investing in personalized zipper pulls incorporating their brand name or logo into the zipper. We are also seeing a few orders with charms or beads being utilized as a zipper pull or as decorative design additions on the bag,” says Jaimey Wilman, director of marketing, Action Bag Company. Kiehl’s and Pink Beauty are two companies that have gone in this direction .

“We have a vendor coming out with a stock design bag with a beaded decorative accessory, but no

Action Bag is receiving orders with charms or beads utilized as decorative design additions on bags, such as this one for Kiehl’s.

current customers launching a decorative accessory product. Many are still dialing back during these economic times and not adding additional embellishment,” she adds. “Typically decorative accessories require additional labor to apply so the challenge can lead to increased production time and, of course, increased cost.”

Bows and ribbons are also being used to dress up packages. While Allstate Paper Box Company manufactures set up boxes for the beauty industry, the Premier Ribbon and Packaging Group division provides ribbons and bows to the industry. (Figure 6)

“We are seeing a trend toward bright colors and polka dots and stripes for accessory ribbons going on packages,” says Howard Greenberg, sales manager, Allstate.

Whether it is a jewelry-like element or a ribbon, bow or decorative zipper pull, that extra accent often can attract the consumer’s attention and lead to a successful sale.