Packaging guide
Common Cosmetic Box Sizes in the UK
Inside box sizes for the containers UK beauty brands use most, how to measure and how much clearance to add.
Is there a standard cosmetic box size?
No.
Bottles and jars are not standard, so the boxes around them are not either. A 30 ml dropper from one glass supplier is 32 mm across; from another it is 35 mm. The box is drawn from your container every time.
What does exist is a set of common sizes that most containers fall near. They are useful for budgeting, for checking a shelf plan and for spotting when a quote looks wrong.
This guide lists those sizes in millimetres, explains the clearance that turns a container measurement into a box measurement, and shows how to measure the awkward ones.
How much clearance should a box have?
Add 2 mm to the width and depth of the container, and between 3 and 5 mm to its height.
The product then slides in without force and does not rattle.
Round containers are measured by their widest diameter and boxed square unless you ask for a cylinder. A 50 mm jar goes in a 54 mm square carton. Glass needs the clearance at the lower end, 2 mm, because it should not move; plastic tubes can take 3 mm.
Inserts change the sums. A card platform adds its own thickness, usually 1 to 2 mm, under the product, and a foam block adds whatever surrounds it. Size the box from the insert, not the product, when there is one.
Which inside box sizes suit the common containers?
The table gives container sizes that are common in the UK trade and the inside box size each one usually needs.
Every figure is a starting point for a quote, not a stock size.
| Container | Common container size | Inside box size |
|---|---|---|
| 15 ml dropper bottle | 28 mm across, 85 mm tall | 32 x 32 x 90 mm |
| 30 ml dropper bottle | 33 mm across, 105 mm tall | 37 x 37 x 110 mm |
| 50 ml dropper bottle | 38 mm across, 120 mm tall | 42 x 42 x 125 mm |
| 30 ml cream jar | 48 mm across, 40 mm tall | 52 x 52 x 45 mm |
| 50 ml cream jar | 58 mm across, 48 mm tall | 62 x 62 x 53 mm |
| 100 ml cream jar | 70 mm across, 55 mm tall | 74 x 74 x 60 mm |
| Lipstick | 20 mm across, 73 mm tall | 23 x 23 x 78 mm |
| Lip gloss tube, 5 ml | 20 mm across, 105 mm tall | 23 x 23 x 110 mm |
| Foundation bottle, 30 ml | 35 mm across, 125 mm tall | 39 x 39 x 130 mm |
| Perfume bottle, 50 ml | 45 x 35 mm, 115 mm tall | 48 x 38 x 120 mm |
| Perfume bottle, 100 ml | 55 x 40 mm, 140 mm tall | 58 x 43 x 145 mm |
| Lotion pump, 200 ml | 52 mm across, 175 mm tall | 56 x 56 x 180 mm |
| Hand cream tube, 50 ml | 35 x 25 mm, 125 mm tall | 39 x 29 x 130 mm |
How do you measure a dropper or a pump bottle?
Dropper bulbs and pump heads are the parts that get missed.
Measure the bottle with the closure fitted and, for a pump, locked down. A dropper bulb adds 15 to 20 mm above the glass; a lotion pump adds 25 to 35 mm.
Measure the width at the widest point, which on a dropper bottle is often the collar rather than the glass. On a shaped bottle, measure the shoulder and the base and send both.
The cleanser and pump bottle boxes are sized for the locked pump height, with a note on the proof so nobody packs the bottle with the pump raised.
What size box fits a cream jar?
Jars are short and wide, so the box is nearly a cube.
A 50 ml jar at 58 mm across and 48 mm tall goes in a 62 x 62 x 53 mm carton. A 100 ml jar at 70 mm across needs about 74 x 74 x 60 mm.
Jars are also the heaviest item for their size in a skincare range. A 50 ml glass jar with lid and product weighs about 180 g; 100 ml glass can reach 300 g. Above 150 g, an auto-lock base or a lid and base box carries the weight better than a tuck end.
Many brands add a card collar so the jar lid shows when the box opens from the top. The cream jar boxes with a card collar are built that way and sized from the jar plus the collar.
How big are lipstick and lip gloss boxes?
Lipstick cartons are the smallest boxes most brands order.
A standard bullet at 20 mm across and 73 mm tall takes a 23 x 23 x 78 mm carton. A chubby stick or a squeeze tube is wider, often 25 to 28 mm.
Lip gloss tubes are taller because of the wand. A 5 ml tube is around 105 mm with its cap, so the carton is about 110 mm tall. A 10 ml tube can be 130 mm.
Because these cartons are so small, a 1 mm error shows. Measure with a ruler against a flat surface or, better, digital callipers, and send a photo of the reading.
What box does a perfume bottle need?
Perfume bottles are rectangular, round, faceted or tall and thin, so the box follows the bottle more closely than in any other range.
The two common retail sizes are 50 ml at roughly 45 x 35 x 115 mm and 100 ml at about 55 x 40 x 140 mm, both measured with the cap.
Clearance for glass perfume is 2 mm on the width and depth and 5 mm on the height, because the cap often sits proud of the shoulder. If the bottle has a decorative cap wider than the glass, the cap sets the width of the box.
The folding perfume cartons for retail bottles are the plain version; rigid and magnetic boxes are sized from the insert instead, usually 10 to 15 mm larger all round.
How do you measure a container properly?
A wrong measurement is the single most common reason a proof goes back for changes.
This is the order to do it in.
- Fit the closure: cap, dropper, pump or sprayer, in its locked or closed position.
- Stand the container on a flat surface and measure the height from the surface to the top of the closure.
- Measure the width at the widest point, turning the container to find it.
- Measure the depth the same way, unless the container is round, in which case the width is the diameter.
- Weigh the filled container with the closure on, in grams.
- Photograph the container beside a ruler and send the photo with the figures.
Which mistakes make a box the wrong size?
Most sizing errors are a few millimetres, and a few millimetres is enough.
These are the ones the designers see most.
- Measuring the bottle without its dropper, pump or cap
- Taking the width from the base of a bottle that is wider at the shoulder
- Rounding 33 mm down to 30 mm because the supplier's listing says 30
- Forgetting the insert thickness under a jar
- Ordering one carton size for a 30 ml and a 50 ml bottle
- Sizing a rigid box from the product rather than the insert
Can one box size cover two products?
Sometimes, and it saves a dieline.
If two containers are within 2 mm in width and 5 mm in height, one carton with a card insert can hold either. A 30 ml dropper and a 30 ml foundation pump often share a box this way.
It stops working when the gap is larger. A 15 ml and a 50 ml dropper are 35 mm apart in height, and the small bottle would rattle in the big box. Two dielines are cheaper than a damaged bottle.
If you are planning a whole range, send every container size at once. The skincare packaging range is where most multi-size sets are quoted, and the designer will say which boxes can be shared.
