Features

Luxe Looks Build Brands

August 24, 2005

By: Jamie Matusow

Editor-in-Chief

La Prairie’s Cellular collection of skin care products has the sleek, contemporary look of luxury today.

While the prestige packaging business is, as ever, all about creating a signature presence of ‘luxury and distinctiveness,’ the definition of these words has evolved. Today,. the twin forces of contemporary styling and functional creativity have replaced the glitz of 1970s-1980s beauty product imaging (Giorgio-Beverly Hills and White Diamonds).

The prestige beauty winners—for skin care, color cosmetics and fragrance—stand out and apart from their ‘would-be’ mass and class competitors with a contemporary modernity in both product concept and packaging that delivers the consumer’s expectation for real innovation. Recent technological advancements in packaging design and decoration techniques play into the picture, making it easier than ever to step up the pace of novel product introductions.

Estée Lauder’s Pure Color Eye Shadow features unique,
contemporary packaging.

Brand Leaders Set the Pace
Prestige brand names, including Estée Lauder, Chanel, Lancôme and Shiseido, fill their promotional marketing calendars with product launches to incite consumer interest. They convey the meaning of luxury today with new packaging reflective of the product’s performance.

“For Estée Lauder, ‘luxury’ in package design results from a sophistication of form, color and graphics,” explained John Fling, vice president, Estée Lauder product design. “The package has to serve and enhance the product, as well as relate to the lifestyle and environment of the Estée Lauder customer. Our package design strives for a lasting modern style that transcends fashionable trends.”

Pure Color Eye Shadow from Estée Lauder launched in department stores this past July, joining the Pure Color collection of lipstick, gloss and nail lacquer.

A great example of how Estée Lauder brings all the elements together, Pure Color Eye Shadow features a color palette ranging from the most subtle to the most dramatic shades delivered in a micro-processes formula of pigment and other ingredients that results in what the company calls “the creamiest powder formula ever to grace eyelids.”

The packaging too is unique. A clear cube, which showcases each color, has the look of ice accented with a touch of Estée Lauder gold.

Reflecting on the Estée Lauder Companies (ELC) ability to “personify the look of luxury today,” Marc Rosen, president of Marc Rosen Associates, Prêt-à-Porter and ACCESSmr, stated that the company’s skill is to “exude quality with sophisticated use of new materials and delivery systems.”

Commenting on the luxury beauty business in general, Rosen said, “Overall industry trends include heavier glass bottoms to bottles, translucent plastics that showcase the product color, frosted metallic plastics and more attention to carton packaging. The look to seek today is ‘expensive,’ not showy, but low key elegance with a flash of quality.”

Victoria Jackson’s Lola Cosmetics is a new line making a name with its contemporary luxe look.

Rosen named Victoria Jackson’s new Lola cosmetic brand, packaged in frosted metallic red as another contemporary prestige brand competing head-on with fast-track M.A.C and Bobbi Brown (both ELC brands).

Makeup artist Bobbi Brown, an established color authority with her namesake line of color cosmetics, is introducing a new collection of 12 skin care products. Brown described the subtle packaging as “inspired by the beautiful bottles you find in old-fashioned apothecaries.” The decoration is simple, yet serious with both product title and essential natural ingredients visible in both English and French. Each product is stamped with her Bobbi Brown Skin ‘coat of arms’ signature to highlight her ‘do good, feel good, look good’ philosophy.

Futuristic Visions
A constant stream of beauty newcomers is entering the market with a combination of unique products and a strong, identifiable concept to deliver real innovation. Names like Lola, Francois Nars, Orrea, Linda Cantello, Vincent Longo, Doll Face, Lily Prune and others are the new glamour phenomenon to watch at upscale retailers including Bergdorf Goodman, Henri Bendel, Neiman Marcus and Bloomingdale’s.

The established brands are now vying for the best traffic-stopping counter space with these newcomers. Exclusivity in distribution and high profile celebrity endorsements in publications such as Allure and In Style magazines further the appeal of these new brands. Young consumers are especially likely to welcome glamour looks in sync with the likes of Charlize Theron, Jennifer Aniston and Halle Berry. and to listen to their favorite celebrities’ recommendations.

As the men’s grooming market heats up, the prestige players multiply. Established pioneers like Zirh are taking steps to increase their presence with packaging moves, such as silver cartons now replacing transparent boxes to reflect a contemporary sensibility. Brian Robinson, president of Zirh, described the new look as “symmetrical with the brand and ideal to merchandise in department and specialty stores.”

Changing Counters
A critical shortage of time-to-shop has become a fact of life for consumers, leading both manufacturers and retailers to seek new environments to make beauty products both more appealing and easier to buy. Credit Sephora’s freestanding beauty stores with establishing the idea of open sell as the new standard for those on-the-go consumers looking to help themselves. It’s now in vogue to shop open-sell for prestige skin care, color cosmetics and fragrances.

This new merchandising has its limits but is a realistic approach quickly becoming commonplace in function-centric stores-within-a-store beauty boutiques in Federated Stores (Bloomindale’s and Macy’s) and May Company (Lord and Taylor, Hecht’s and Foley’s). Prime examples are the counter presentations of Clinique, Prescriptives, Bobbi Brown, M.A.C and Clarins at Bloomingdale’s 59th Street store in New York City. Simplicity in selection is the goal with the focus on the product as hero in each signature branded environment.

Makeup artist/photographer/entrepreneur Francois Nars is soon to unveil another example in Manhattan’s SoHo to showcase his Nars cosmetic products. Parisian interior decorator Christian Liaigre conceptualized the sleek, transparent counters with glass bases and embedded mirrors in the counter to eliminate shadows and cast a flattering light on customers experimenting with Nars makeup products. The environment makes perfect sense to expand his presence (soon to include skin care and fragrance) in department and specialty stores.

Designer Miuccia Prada has launched her signature skin care line in simply-styled, single dose bottles.

Making A Contemporary Mark
Influential designer Miuccia Prada relishes the opportunity to be unique. “I always wanted to be different,” she noted, “to be the first one to do something as long as it’s something that expresses me personally.” Prada’s entry into skin care aims to fulfill her personal goal with the appeal of single mono-dose packaging to simplify women’s lives. The individuality of the units, which range from basic cleansers to serious moisturizing care, are modern in concept as they ease the pain of packing—ideal for those with heavy travel schedules. Not only is the packaging unique, but the selling environment is clearly Prada in styling with its simple elegant signature.

Calvin Klein Cosmetics, designed by Calvin Klein and Fabien Baron, capture the minimalist mystique in the line’s translucent and silver packaging. The over look is clean and contemporary and totally consistent with the Calvin Klein fashion statement.

Seasonal color news invites consumers to experiment with new products and shades like Yves Saint Laurent’s Fall- Winter 2002-2003 palette for its

YSL’s Fall – Winter collections feature new shades temptingly packaged for maximum effect.

Rouge Pur Transparent lipstick and Vernis Laque Pur nail polish. Heavy-glass walls are squared off for the nail polish bottle, while the lipstick tube features a rectangular base colored to match each shade. Both packages are topped with a rich gold cap embellished with the YSL logo.

Angel Fragrance Plays Variations on a Theme
Parisian fashion designer Thierry Mugler has made his mark in the fragrance world with blue glass, chrome plating and the signature “Angel” star. While his choice of scent is distinct, so too is the essence of the packaging that presents his Mugler branding. Consistency in packaging elegance and richness in quality are attributes featured in every sku of Angel, Angel Innocent and Angel For Men. Refillable bottles add to the consumer’s perception of delivering modernity and have the bonus of building client loyalty.


Thierry Mugler maintains the essence of his Angel brand of fragrances by repeating variations of chrome, blue glass and a star in the packaging for women’s (left) and men’s (right) products.

Mass Pushes Class
Tough economic times and new technologies in packaging are influencing the prestige beauty world. As consumers’ purse strings tighten, they have turned to mass distribution outlets for their beauty products and have found the mass brands much improved. This reality is added incentive for prestige brands to pay close attention to maintaining a difference in their packaging sensibilities.

Gregg Lukasiewicz, president of Lukasiewicz Design, practices this art with creative ingenuity, playing with color, texture, finish and carton construction. Working in collaboration with in-house creative teams, he is credited with the packaging of Michael by Michael Kors and Marc Jacobs perfume.

Shiseido’s Future Solution cream is contained in a jar that mimics fine Japanese art with a luminous lacquer-like finish.

Other packaging subtleties beyond the outer carton include Shiseido’s upscale packaging which marks every product with a seal to ensure ‘product freshness’. Well known for its upscale skin care lines, Shiseido has recently launched Future Solution, Total Revitalizing Cream, its ultimate (so far) treatment product. Described as “the ultimate anti-aging cream,” by the company, Future solution is packaged in a jar with the look of a Japanese treasure. Called “a precious vessel that nestles perfectly in the palm of the hand,” the container has a mysterious luminous quality that is created with “layers of light and color in the style of Urushi lacquer.”

Color the World of Prestige
Showing a flash and dash of color adds to the optimism of marketing virtually any product as seen recently with the success of the bright VW Bug and the cheerful iMac computer. Color helps sells in the beauty world too.

Polo Ralph Lauren Blue makes a cool, cobalt blue splash as it launches this fall.

The new Polo Ralph Lauren Blue, launching this fall, is a great example of intense color. The cobalt blue fragrance packaging was conceptualized because Ralph Lauren sensed, “like style, a color is capable of changing the way you feel and the way you act. Blue has always had a calming effect on me. It reminds me of sitting by the ocean, staring at a clear blue sky, or the comfort of my favorite jeans.”

Andrea Robinson, president Worldwide Ralph Lauren Fragrances, added, “Blue is not only the signature color of the Ralph Lauren world, but it also happens to be the world’s favorite color, creating an aspirational statement.”

Many skin care introductions have taken on a blue hue as the shade imparts a visual sensation of soothing relief. Lierac’s Aqua Calm Facial Mask, packaged in a transparent blue jar, is just one of the new stress-relief care products that exemplify this trend.

Red is a glamour favorite as Hollywood’s Victoria Jackson attests. She embraced the hue for the packaging of her new Lola cosmetic collection as it represented the sexy, fun, feminine nature of makeup. Using new metallic frosting packaging techniques helped create a sensual touch and distinctive look to stand the brand apart.

Clarins too loves red with new color packaging coming to the scene. Their line-up of makeup products, initially packaged in white with gold trim, has now moved to a frosted metallic red. While white remains Clarins’ signature shade for a serious skin care statement, red is the over-riding packaging shade considered a necessity to increase market share through attention-grabing color.

Creative Innovation
As the economy remains tight, it becomes an increasing challenge (and an absolute necessity) to innovate. Thinking ‘outside box’ to deliver beyond the consumer’s expectations is a packaging necessity to showcase the product difference in a tube, bottle or compact. Exploring color options, subtle patterning and surface techniques helps to differentiate. Charles Revson was so right when he outlined the importance of the 3P’s of beauty success—Product, Packaging and Promotion. Perhaps today he would underscore ‘Packaging.’

The new look of luxe can also be fun and colorful as in Lancôme’s Juice Bar gift set of Juicy Tubes lip gloss, scheduled to be on-counter November 2002 through January 2003.