Makeup Packaging for Lipsticks, Lashes, Nails and Sets

A lipstick is 20 mm across; a brush set is 200 mm long; a palette is flat and a nail polish bottle is squat with a tall cap.

This range has a box for each of those shapes, plus two general cartons and a counter display. Lash and nail studios have their own items here because they order often and in small runs.

The ten products, with the job each one does.

Studios often sell their own branded lashes or polishes alongside treatments, so they need small runs that still look retail.

Marketplace sellers and online beauty shops need a carton that photographs well and survives a parcel. Private-label brands buying filled stock need boxes before the stock arrives.

For a single item in a plain folding carton, start with cosmetic boxes in a tuck end style. They cover most small makeup products at the lowest cost.

• Indie makeup and lip brands
• Lash studios selling strip lashes
• Nail salons and nail polish brands
• Makeup artists with a branded kit
• Online beauty shops and marketplace sellers
• Private-label brands with filled stock on order

Its carton is roughly 23 x 23 x 78 mm inside. Squeeze tubes and chubby sticks are wider, so measure your own.

Lip gloss tubes vary more. A 5 ml wand tube is about 20 mm across and 95 to 110 mm tall, so the carton is close to 23 x 23 x 115 mm. The box in our photos holds the tube in a black tray with a side-opening front.

Sets change the shape entirely. A six-lipstick box lays the bullets side by side in a slotted insert about 170 x 90 mm. Lipstick boxes for singles and sets cover both.

The pump head adds 20 to 30 mm above the bottle shoulder, and some pumps unlock a further 10 mm.

Measure the bottle with the pump locked and the cap on, then add 5 mm. A 30 ml glass bottle with a pump comes to about 125 mm, so the carton is around 135 mm tall.

Glass foundation bottles are heavy for their size. Foundation boxes with a snug fit are made in 350 to 400 gsm board and can take a card insert at the base.

The usual format is a lid-and-base or drawer box about 100 x 70 x 20 mm, with the lashes on a clear or card tray inside.

Studios tend to want a soft colour, a script logo and a small window so the lash style shows. A window needs a clear film on the inside of the lid, which we fit as an option.

Eyelash boxes with a drawer or lid can carry a different lash name on each box within one order, as long as the box size is the same.

For nail polish, the insert is a card or foam layer with a round cut-out per bottle, about 35 mm across, so the glass bottles never touch.

Brush sets go in a drawer box with a slotted insert. Each brush lies in its own channel, bristles up, so the handles do not scuff the hair. The dark drawer box in our photos holds ten brushes with the handles showing when the drawer slides out.

Nail polish boxes for single bottles and sets are quoted with the insert included once we know the piece count.

Give the number of pieces and the largest piece size and the designer draws the insert to suit.

That is stiff enough for a lipstick or gloss and prints well in full colour. Kits and sets with a mirror or an insert move to wrapped greyboard, because the box is opened and closed many times.

Drawer boxes are built from two rigid parts, a sleeve and a tray, with a ribbon or thumb cut to pull the tray. Makeup brush boxes with a slotted drawer are the clearest example. Magnetic lid boxes have a magnet in the lid and a steel plate in the base, hidden under the wrap.

Counter displays use a heavier folding board, often with a double-layer base, so a full display does not sag. Rigid, board and finish choices are all options you can ask for on the quote.

Full colour CMYK across every panel is the usual choice, with the front panel kept simple and the pattern on the sides and back.

The pastel cartons in our photos show this: a wave pattern in four colours, one line of type, nothing else. Foil on the logo adds shine. Soft touch lamination gives the velvety feel that premium lipsticks use.

Printed cosmetic boxes with full-colour patterns are the item to look at if the design is the point.

Each product sits in its own cut-out: a compact, a lipstick, a brush, a sponge. The insert is drawn from your piece sizes.

Kits are the most work to set up and the most striking on a shelf. Allow a few days more for the proof, because the insert layout usually goes through two versions.

Makeup boxes with a mirror and insert are quoted once we have the list of pieces and their sizes.

The header panel at the back carries the brand and the product name at eye level.

Displays work for lip balms, glosses, mini polishes and single lashes at a salon desk or a shop counter. The cells are cut to the product, so a gloss display and a lipstick display are different dielines.

Cosmetic display boxes with a header can be printed to match the cartons that sit inside them.

A few come up often enough to list.

• Boxing a lip gloss tube without allowing for the wand cap
• Choosing a window on a carton that will be posted loose
• Using a dark background with small white text that fills in
• Ordering a display without matching cartons to go in it
• Forgetting shade names, which change per box
• Sending a logo as a small JPG rather than a vector file

For sets and displays, a photo of the pieces laid out together helps the designer more than a description.

1. Measure each product with caps, pumps or wands in place.
2. Count the pieces per box for sets, kits and displays.
3. Choose a style: tuck end, drawer, magnetic lid or display.
4. Send artwork, shade names and the quantities you want priced.
5. Read the written quote and the free proof.
6. Approve the proof; your boxes print over 4 to 6 business days and are sent free, tracked, anywhere in the UK.