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How to create luxury cosmetic packaging design that sells

Posted by Edoardo Cavagnetto on October 04 2022 - Reading time: 5 minutes

01 - Packaging - BlogClients today have greater expectations than ever before for luxury cosmetic packaging design in terms of innovation and possibility of choice. To stay ahead in the market, you should offer a wide catalogue with the latest innovations and styles to meet clients’ needs.

Discover the 5 elements that make successful cosmetic packaging in the following article!

The 5 characteristics of successful luxury cosmetic packaging design

Cosmetic packaging that sells must have some features that can’t be ignored. If even one of these is missing, the products will almost surely fail.

Let’s discuss them!

Functionality

First of all, packaging must be functional. The primary aim of packaging is protecting the contents during transportation, storage, and delivery to avoid damage, contamination, and leakage all while preserving the quality of the product.

Cosmetic caps, for example, must fit perfectly on the bottle, especially if the two parts are made of different materials, e.g., wood cap and glass bottle. If the cap is not managed perfectly, it won’t fit, causing many possible problems.

luxury cosmetic packaging design

One of the most important aspects is relying on a competent manufacturer that has the necessary experience and technologies to create state-of-the art packaging components. Luxury packaging is often made of wood, as it is elegant and prestigious but very difficult to manage.

A wood maker must know perfectly how to process this raw material and have the right machinery to manage it to guarantee precision and quality. Each type of wood, in fact, has specific tolerances and differences in terms of hardness, flexibility, grain size, and machinability that must be considered to create a perfect object.

Aesthetics

Luxury companies and brands won’t put an ugly object on their shelves. Once functionality has been tested, you must ensure it to offer beautiful and glamorous products.

Clients today look for special and distinctive products enhanced with any kind of finishing. If you choose to sell wooden packaging, you should find a manufacturer that can create unconventional shapes and designs and offer a wide range of options, such as:

  • polymer coating
  • water-based finishes
  • embossing
  • engraving
  • soft-touch finishes

luxury cosmetic packaging designMany luxury green brands prefer to maintain the rough effect of wood to give a sense of purity and naturalness to their products. Some finishes can enhance the natural characteristics of wood making the product elegant and beautiful while preserving its typical roughness.

Wood makers often cannot propose many shapes of wooden components, and they only offer small cylindrical and rounded shapes. Larger diameters, multifaceted caps, or any other geometrical shapes are feasible, but the supplier must have the right machinery and tools to process wood.

Sustainability

Clients today, especially millennials and Generation Z—the so-called Green Generations—are aware of the problems our planet is facing and try to make more conscious choices in their lives.

Brands and companies can’t ignore the sustainability demand, so the most successful luxury cosmetic packaging is eco-friendly without giving up elegance and prestige.

The challenge is offering luxury packaging that combines luxury and sustainability. Besides being elegant and beautiful, wood is eco-friendly by its nature, so wooden packaging is an ecological solution (ensuring that the raw material is FSC or PEFC certified). If you want to offer a completely sustainable object, however, you can choose threaded wooden caps, which avoid the use of inner plastic.

Want to discover the most resistant and durable threaded cap?
Download the free presentation!

Multisensoriality

Packaging is multisensory if it stimulates many senses through different elements (visual enhancers, olfactory elements, tactile experiences, and other packaging aspects) so that buyers can enjoy multiple sensory impressions from it.

This emotional experience is considered an effective way to create a sense of loyalty between the company and its consumers leading to repeated purchases.

Wood can produce very different sensations when touched. Some people appreciate the rough effect that makes it closer to its naturalness, while others may prefer a more refined effect.

luxury cosmetic packaging designIt can also be shaped and customized to boost this emotional experience for consumers by an expert manufacturer.

If you would like to deepen this topic, read our article about multisensory packaging!

Cost-effectiveness

Cost-effectiveness doesn’t depend just on price, as many factors influence the overall cost.

When you create a plastic object, for example, you need a mould. The problem is that if you want to make modifications you must create a new mould, wasting time and money.

Wood doesn’t require moulds and can be easily modified if necessary. This makes the initial investment much lower compared with other materials and time to market faster.

Moreover, if your manufacturer lets you buy products in small lots and experiment with different finishing options to adjust production according to market trends and customers’ preferences, you can test the market during the launch phase and understand if some modifications are necessary. This allows you to put on the market only those products that are in line with clients’ preferences with more probability of success.

Prototypes may also influence overall expenses. If the manufacturer doesn’t produce a prototype that corresponds 100% with the final product, you might have to face unforeseen problems that could have consequences on overall production costs. 

If you decide to offer luxury cosmetic packaging designs made of wood, choosing a reliable and expert manufacturer makes the difference.

Your partner must be able to meet your and your clients’ requirements and have the right expertise and modern machinery to manage wood properly to create successful wooden components.


The Minelli Group has been working with wood for more than eighty years and has gained the necessary experience to advise its clients about the best solution for them.

If you are looking for innovative, perfect, and sustainable products to offer in your catalogue, contact us right now!

Topics: cosmetic packaging, luxury packaging, cosmetic design