Cosmetic Box Styles: Tuck End, Auto-Lock, Magnetic, Sleeve, Window and Drawer

Style is what decides whether the box survives a parcel, stands up on a shelf and opens the way you want. Get the style wrong and no finish rescues it.

Seven constructions cover almost every cosmetic product. Four are folding cartons cut and creased from one sheet of board. Three are rigid boxes built from thick greyboard and wrapped in printed paper.

This guide takes each one in turn, with the products it suits, the board it needs and the trade-offs. The table near the end puts them side by side.

It is the plainest carton in beauty and the cheapest to make, because the dieline is simple and the box glues along one seam.

It suits light products: a 30 ml serum, a lipstick, a 50 ml tube of hand cream, a lash tray. Anything under about 150 g sits happily in a straight tuck made from 350 gsm folding boxboard.

The reverse tuck end is the same box with the top and bottom flaps folding opposite ways. It costs the same and holds its shape a touch better on a shelf, because the two flaps brace against each other. For a first skincare carton, either is the usual answer, and the serum boxes for dropper bottles are a good example of the straight version.

The base is glued at the factory, so there is no flap to push in and nothing falls through when the box is lifted.

Use it for anything heavy or anything filled on a line. A 100 ml glass jar at 250 g, a 100 ml perfume bottle at 300 g or a 200 ml lotion pump all want an auto-lock base. Packing staff also fill auto-lock cartons about twice as fast as tuck ends.

The cost is a little more board and a slightly more complex glue line, so expect it to price above a straight tuck at the same size. Board for auto-lock cartons sits at the top of the 350 to 400 gsm range.

The lid folds over the front and holds shut on a small magnet. A steel plate or a second magnet sits in the front wall under the wrap.

The box arrives assembled and feels solid in the hand. It is the usual choice for gift sets, perfume at a higher price point and any product whose box stays out on a dressing table after purchase.

Two things to plan for. Rigid boxes do not fold flat, so storage space goes up by a factor of ten or more against cartons. And the magnet needs the lid flap to be at least 40 mm deep to hold well. The magnetic lid perfume boxes show the typical build with a foam insert.

It can be made as a folding carton in 400 gsm board or as a rigid box, and the tray often has an insert cut for the product.

The style suits sets, because the tray can be shallow and wide while the sleeve carries the print. It also suits any product you want revealed by sliding rather than lifting: lip gloss trios, lash collections, bath bomb pairs.

Measure the tray first and give the sleeve 1 mm of play on each side. Too tight and the sleeve scuffs; too loose and the tray slides out on the shelf.

It is a cut-out added to any of the cartons above, usually on the front panel, with or without a clear film glued behind it.

It pays when the product sells itself: a swirled bath bomb, a coloured soap, amber glass, a gloss shade. It does not pay for a plain white bottle or for products sold only online, where the box is inside a parcel.

Keep a window to about 60 per cent of the panel width and leave 10 mm of board at every edge, or the panel loses its stiffness. The bath bomb window boxes are a clear case of a window doing real work.

A drawer box is a tray inside a sleeve, pulled out sideways on a ribbon or a thumb notch. A lid and base box is a tray with a separate lid that lifts off, sometimes with a shoulder so the lid sits flush.

Drawers suit products presented in a row: brushes, lipsticks, a perfume bottle beside a mini. Lid and base boxes suit anything viewed from above, like a jar duo or a collection of three bottles standing up.

A drawer needs about 2 mm of clearance between tray and sleeve. A lid and base needs the lid 1 mm larger than the base on each side. Both are sized from the insert, so give the product measurements before anything else.

Weights are typical filled weights; your own product may differ, and the quote is always based on your measurements.

Most products are decided by the second or third step.

1. Weigh the filled product with its closure. Under 150 g points to a tuck end; over it, an auto-lock base.
2. Decide where it sells. Online only favours a carton; a counter or a gift shelf favours rigid.
3. Count the pieces. One product means a carton; two or more means a tray with an insert, in a sleeve, drawer or lid box.
4. Ask whether the product should be seen before opening. If yes, add a window to the carton.
5. Check the storage you have. Rigid boxes arrive assembled and need shelf space from day one.
6. Send the measurements and the answers above with your quote request, and the designer confirms the style on the proof.

What changes between styles is the board used and the work after printing.

A rigid box is cut, wrapped and glued by hand or on a slow line, so it carries more labour than a carton that is die-cut and glued in one pass. A magnet, a ribbon and a foam insert each add a step. All styles are made within the 4 to 6 business days that follow proof approval; rigid runs sit at the longer end.

For a set that mixes products from different ranges, the gift boxes and subscription boxes range covers the rigid and mailer styles side by side.

• Tuck end: least board, one glue seam, fastest to make
• Auto-lock: a little more board, pre-glued base
• Sleeve and tray carton: two dielines, two glue seams
• Magnetic: greyboard, wrap, magnet and plate, assembled
• Drawer and lid and base: greyboard, wrap, insert, assembled
• Window: a die-cut step and, with film, a gluing step