Cosmetic Packaging Terminology Cheat Sheet
Communicating with your Cosmetic Packaging Manufacturer
In this blog we are going to dive into some terminology to help you better understand what your factory is talking about when they spit seemingly esoteric acronyms at you during the purchasing and proofing stages. (AKA how not to look silly when your factory asks you tough questions.)
I would call this a “Cosmetic Manufacturing Terminology Dictionary”, but we're not quite there yet. So for now, we'll call it a Cheat Sheet. Without further ado:
The Cheat Sheet
1. PET
PET is an environmentally friendly plastic material. It's lightweight with shatterproof properties, chemical resistance, and strong transparency. It can be made pearl, colored, magnetic white, or transparent, and is widely used with a water-installed jelly aspect. The bottle is generally standard, with 16#, 18#, 22#, 24# diameters, and can be coupled with the use of the pump head.
2. Bottle Material
They may ask you: “What kind of material do you want for your bottle?". When asked this question your potential options are: PP, PE, K material, AS, ABS, acrylic, and PET. There are others, but the ones mentioned above are the most common and feasible.
3. Acrylic
Acrylic material is injection molded into bottles. It's chemical resistance is poor, it generally can not be directly loaded, and paste is required with a liner barrier. Transport packaging requirements are higher, due to the fact that the post-scratch look is particularly pronounced in high permeability packaging. The packaging wall is thick, but the price is quite expensive.
4. PET bottle blowing
Commonly used for cosmetics container with thick walls, like cream bottles, bottle caps, corks, gaskets, and pump heads for injection molding, PET bottle blowing is for the two-step formation process.
5. AS vs ABS
AS has better transparency than ABS, and a good toughness.
6. Custom Order
A custom order can refer to a custom mold or just custom coloring/printing. If the order quantity is generally 5,000+ units, your item can be custom colored or screen-printed. A minimum of 10,000+ units is generally required to create an entirely new mold.
7. UV vs Silkscreen
There are ordinary printing inks and UV inks. UV ink looks better; it's shiny and three-dimensional. UV printing lasts longer and can protect the bottle.
Regardless of whether you get UV or ordinary ink, the first sample in production should be made to confirm the color, as the silk screen effect in different materials will vary.
8. Gaskets and Plugs
Caps are generally equipped with internal gaskets, pull covers, inner plugs, and with very few packaging--teaspoons or a droppers--which mainly function to aide in sealing, air-tightness, and ease of use.
