Save Your Greeting Cards

Oh Baby! began with a Mother’s Day card and a family’s determination to start a business.

By Janet Herlihy, Editor

We all know that packaging is important, but for Oh Baby! Cosmetics, a signature carton was the first element created in the line.

The inspiration for Oh Baby! Cosmetics began with a Mother’s Day card. The card, featuring a baby with her mouth rounded in surprise and delight, was displayed on Sarah Wood’s refrigerator door. The image was the inspiration for the Oh Baby! name, logo and unique Oh Baby! carton.

Sarah, who was considering ways to start a business with her daughters Meghan and Liza, created the first prototype box out of the card, with the baby’s face embellishing the lid. The final box has a baby’s face on the lid, which, when lifted, reveals a pair of baby’s hands, chubby fingers die cut out of the cardboard.

Based in Morgan Hill, CA, Oh Baby! became more than a clever carton in Jan­uary of 2001 when the Wood’s womendecided to start a cosmetics line by college women for college women. They began with Sarah’s retail experience at Bloom­ingdales, Gimbels and Empor­ium Capwell, along with her marketing and sales skills developed in several categories including health and beauty products. Meghan and Lisa were in college, an environment thatprovided consumer research and distribution.

By and for College Students

With two college students on staff—Meghan is sales manager and Liza is marketing manager—targeting college students for the Oh Baby line was a natural. The fledgling company enlisted friends for input, approving formulas, selecting and naming colors.

The line is sold through college and university bookstores and in boutiques near campuses. In August, Oh Baby’s fixture, designed to present the entire line in a small space, was in 22 student accessible locations. Students are hired to spread the word about Oh Baby Cosmetics as well as to manage the displays and reorders.

Eye Shadows with a Difference

The Woods knew they wanted to start the Oh Baby! line with eye shadows and were determined to come up with products that were different. The current assortment of 33 powder colors are formulated from minerals (not tested on animals) and were designed to be versatile. According to Sarah Wood, the shades can be added to clear nail polish to create a custom color and to clear lip gloss to create a custom gloss. The shades can also be easily blended together to make a personal palette.

In order to assure that its eye shadow is applied correctly, Oh Baby! developed two shadow brushes and then rounded out the collection with a liner brush, a crease brush and a feather body duster to apply shine to the entire body.

It’s the Lips lip gloss was added in Spring 2003 in six shades with aloe vera and vitamin E in a “super-shiny non-sticky” formulation, ac­cor­ding to the company.

Stock Can Be Special

With its original cartons to grab attention, Oh Baby! has managed to bring its line to market using stock packaging for the primary containers differentiated with simple decoration.

Clear plastic jars with black lids from Colts Plastic hold the eye shadows and the lip glosses are packaged in wands (clear barrels and black caps) from Roberts Containers. The Oh Baby! logo is silk screened on the black cap of the gloss as well as the eye shadow lid.

The lip gloss carton also features baby hands that appear to be holding the box. The hands are embossed to underline the notion that “You can’t wait to get your hands on this package,” explained Sarah Wood.