The days when labels simply named a product and listed ingredients are long past.

When it comes to the cosmetic and personal care business, a label can be an elegant finishing touch, a fun novelty, a high impact image, a security device or a way to deliver government required information—and is often a combination of the above.

Label printers are constantly developing ways to improve existing technologies and find new ways to make a label that will stand out and help sell their customers’ products.

Enhanced Colors for High Impact
Hexachrome, or six-color process, is becoming more of a mainstream technique, according to Elisha Tropper, president of Prestige Label, Brooklyn, NY. “It’s still, overall, a small percentage, but for those looking for high impact graphics, especially for cosmetics and hair products, the six-color process really makes a difference,” Tropper said.

Hexachrome, developed by Pantone, modifies the existing four color process CMYK inks into more chromatic inks and then adds orange and green inks to the mix for a more saturated, richer look. Available without a significant increase in cost, according to Tropper, the results of six color process are more vibrant skin tones and richer shades.

Prestige is also using an advanced high definition flexographic system for printing labels, which creates sharper, more detailed images.

Logotech, Fairfield, NJ, is producing high definition labels with a refined look using a letter press, according Leslie Gurland, vice president of marketing. She said that Logotech is also adept at creating multi-panel labels to list ingredients.

Precise color matching for cosmetic packaging is a specialty at Ampersand Label Inc., Garden Grove, CA. “We can take the individual colors of the products and come up with a shade to print that matches what the product looks like on the skin,” said Kent Story, sales and estimating supervisor for the company. The effects are produced with special inks and varnishes. Ampersand created labels for Urban Decay, in which, by layering colors, the printer was able to create a shimmer effect that varies when viewed from different angles, according to Story. “The label gives a very good indication of what the color will look like when it’s applied.”

High Tech Materials for Special Effects
Specialty substrates such as holographic or reflective materials are also being used more for labels to good effect, according to Tropper. “When you print on them with UV flexo inks, you can get really great effects,” he said. Foils are also becoming more important, he said, adding, “We now can print colors on foil in either in-line or off-line process.”

No-Label Looks
Printing labels on clear materials has also improved because the material itself is better and pricing has come down. Tropper acknowledged that clear film labels are still more expensive than non-film materials but with the clear material a near-seamless look can be created on a clear bottle.

Through The Back, Clearly
Adhesive side printing on transparent or translucent bottles is also growing, according to Tropper, as it bolsters the look of the product and underscores the product’s clarity.

“Information printed on the adhesive side can be seen by consumers when looking from the back of the bottle, and in some cases, eliminates the need for a second back label,” Tropper said.

Cost Effective Advances
Digital printing for short runs is also increasing. “It’s expensive, and uses a small six-color press that is really more of a printer because it doesn’t use plates,” explained Tropper, adding, “It’s an advanced technology and great for variable information. You program the computer and each label can be different. It’s especially good for cosmetic samples where a marketer might want to produce 50 samples of 10 different products.”

Digital printing offers the look of top quality labels, which can be laminated, varnished or die-cut, for small runs.

Other Ways to Differentiate Labels
Prestige also has the ability to create rotary screen printing. Tropper said, “One of the best uses of screen printing is to print opaque white on a film. We can use that technology to apply texture to a label. We can give a plain white glossy label a pebbly feel.”

Special die cut shapes is another way to give a label an element of difference. “The cost of making the die is a one-time cost and can make a truly unique look,” Tropper noted.

Soft touch finishes on labels is another effect that Logotech sees catching on. “And, it’s less expensive than covering an entire bottle with a soft touch material,” added Gurland.

Label printers are being challenged by new shapes in bottles that dictate new label shapes and call for adaptable equipment to apply the labels.

So Many Techniques
“It’s hard for a project manager to know all the label options,” stressed Tropper. “We like to work with our customers to tell them what is available and what they could do.”

With any technology, he stressed, “The design is so important. The printer can’t take mediocre artwork and then turn it into a classic. That’s why Prestige established an internal design group about a year ago and now offers creative services as well as advanced printing techniques.”

Scratch and Sniff: Not Just for Kids Anymore
Scratch and sniff techniques have improved and are now saving marketers more costly sampling systems in the mass market, according to Bob Biava, president at Driscoll Label Company in Fairfield, NJ. “We take the essential oil from the perfumer and encapsulate it in a slurry. We then print the slurry on the label. When it dries, the oil carrying the fragrance is inside micro-beads on the label,” Biava explained.

Even before the fragrance is released, scratch and sniff can be an advantage, according to Biava. “Scratch and sniff labels attract consumers. They are tempted to pick up and try the package. It also saves the retailer money because often a shopper would tear open a package to find out what a product smells like. With scratch and sniff, they can find out of they like it without damaging the package.”

Foil Stamping: Some Like It Hot, Some Like It Cold
Driscoll is also saving marketers money with cold metal stamping, a less expensive process than hot metal stamping that produces the same look, according to Biava. Cold metal stamping can be done on a standard Flexographic press, using a standard Flexographic plate to print a glue in whatever pattern or copy is desired.

Then the foil is “nipped” to the glue on the label by passing the substrate and foil material through a press together so that the foil adheres to the glued areas. The foil layer is then peeled off and the metallic finish applied.

“Cold metal stamping is suitable for smaller runs because it does not require a hot stamp die and allows both light metallic coverage and heavy coverage on the same label,” explained Biava. “With hot metal stamping, if you want heavy coverage, you need to increase the heat, which will obscure any light areas.”

More Than A Label
In addition to communicating information and creating a brand image, labels can have very practical functions. Stanley Tools called on Brook & Whittle, a label specialist based in North Branford, CT, to help reduce in-store theft. The idea could be adapted easily for cosmetic and personal care packaging.

Stanley was experiencing targeted theft of its hammers as workers could walk in and simply take a hammer off the shelf, place it in their tool belts and walk out. “We needed to create a new tag construction, which could incorporate a Sensormatic EAS (Electronic Article Surveillance) device as well as conveying critical product information and branding,” said Ryan Sousa, packaging engineer, Stanley Tools.

Brook & Whittle worked with Stanley to create a tag that is formed from two pressure sensitive laminates brought together and cleverly die-cut in a re-engineered press configuration. A clear PP material is over laminated onto an eight point paper face stock, which is subsequently exposed to provide an adhesive carrier for the security device. Printed in five colors UV flexo on a Mark Andy 4150, the pressure sensitive wrap around tag is attached to the handle of the hammer.

LogoTech is working with Latent Image Technology, Ltd. (LIT), an Israel-based company, to make a new high tech anti-counterfeiting method available.

Latent imaging technology is based on the radiation chemistry of polymers which creates images in transparent polymer films. These images are latent—invisible to the naked eye—until viewed through a standard polarizer. The latent images can be embedded in a variety of materials, which can be used on stickers, tags, labels and tickets. Other copy can be printed on top of the latent image with traditional inks or the latent images can be combined with holograms and other effects.

Label Graphics, Little Falls, NJ, and Medicia Corp., Dayton, NJ, collaborated on CouPak, a new promotional package that integrates the benefits of an expanded-content label with those of a sample hangtag packette.

The two packaging companies were looking for a way to incorporate a coupon with a sample packette that would hang on the neck of a standard shampoo bottle for a cross-promotion without the usual materials’ waste and high costs.

Manufactured by Label Graphics, CouPak’s back panel includes a hangtag constructed of a polyester substrate that is die-cut to form the hangtag orifice. Label Graphics can customize the orifice to fit virtually any size or shape bottle neck. The hangtag section can be printed with additional copy and graphics if desired.

CouPak also includes an expanded-content label that can be constructed in a variety of fold designs with up to eight colors. Printing, assembly and finishing operations are performed by Label Graphics using an inline process.

The hangtag and label are pre-assembled on rolls and then adhered to filled sample packettes using a high-speed, automated process developed by Medicia.

Jack Ritz, sales manager of Label Graphics, said, “The multi-page detachable booklet can offer coupons, sweepstakes, additional promotion copy or ‘how to’ information.”

Labels to Meet Regulations
Extended content labels are likely to be a part of more personal care marketers’ futures as new FDA Over-The-Counter Drug Labeling Regulations come into effect for sunscreen, makeup with SPF, dandruff and acne treatments. Booklets or extended content labels will be necessary for some products.

Ampersand Label developed FlexView to meet the need for additional information on a flexible package. “When a tube is squeezed, traditional multi-panel labels would wrinkle, especially as the product is used over and over,” said spokesman Kent Story. The company developed FlexView, a polyolefin label with “a great deal of flexibility,” Story explained. FlexView is now replacing Ampersand’s TwinView label in some applications. TwinView is a two-layer label that was designed to have the top layer peeled off, leaving a permanent label. “With some products, you can’t discard the top layer, so those now have a hinge built in and the whole panel has a coating of adhesive so that it can be resealed.

“We were looking ahead to see what might be coming in terms of new requirements,” said Story. “We wanted to be proactive and have a solution ready for our customers. We’re now putting FlexView labels on other non-flexible types of packaging too.”