Cosmetic Intelligence

Smart packaging is hitting the cosmetics industry with batteries, sensors and speakers, among other developments. Here are the most recent innovations—and what will hit next.

On the reality television show “Beauty and the Geek,” glamour and genius come together for the greater good of entertainment. The two forces have also recently been joined for the greater good of packaging. Chemistry and electrical engineering are increasingly being used to enhance luxury cosmetic goods with smart packaging.

According to recent reports, the smart packaging market is expected to grow to $4.8 billion in 2011. And as the cosmetics industry sees the value in value-add, electronics and other outlets will help attract customers—and prevent theft.

But what is smart packaging? The boundaries of the definition differ with every application, but professionals (and practitioners) agree on the overarching purpose. The package must provide an interactive experience for the user. And, oftentimes, the point of the sophisticated package is to provide functionality and enhance product performance.

“Cosmetics has always been about absolutely beautiful packaging,” says Paul Butler, a smart packaging private consultant with Packaging Materials and Technologies Ltd. in the United Kingdom. “It’s all about beautiful objects rather than functionality. There’s only so far you can go with that.”

Improving product efficacy

Most of us haven’t thought about electrically charged particles since high school chemistry, but they’re creeping into our beauty regimens.

Cosmetics manufacturers like Procter & Gamble have recognized and invested in electronics as a way to improve product efficacy. These technologies are incorporated into the applicators, and the applicators double as the packages.

For anyone willing to pay a price for beauty, SK-II’s Air Touch Foundation pushes past the conventional over-the-counter cosmetics product. Originally introduced in Japan and distributed in the United States through P&G, the applicator uses ionization technology to deliver flawless foundation coverage.

With the push of a button on the compact, the foundation is given a positive charge. When the foundation is applied, the positively charged molecules are immediately attracted to the negatively charged moisture particles in the skin.

“This sounds crazy, but it’s genuine science,” says Peter Harrop, chairman of IDTechEx. “Cosmetics are increasingly in the middle ground between health care and the [Food and Drug Administration].”

It’s chemistry in a compact, and it’s garnered much industry attention. The SK-II Air Touch foundation was awarded the title of “Best Makeup Face Product” at the Cosmetic Executive Women beauty awards in May.

Sometimes the cosmetics industry is hot and cold, literally. Icy Beauty, a cosmetics manufacturer based in France, is leading a cryotherapy movement with skin care products that cool themselves to 36º F. in two minutes before application. The innovation is in the ingredients, which have natural cooling effects, and the packaging, which operates like a well-oiled machine in a case little bigger than a lipstick container. Icy Beauty offers an entire line of Ice Source products following similar technologies, and the company’s recent introduction of Play & Rewind takes the cosmetic cake.

Marketed as a before/after party kit, Play & Rewind combines product and packaging to reduce signs of tiredness through the application of cream held in two “monodoses” with pistons for activation. The application directions are reminiscent of products at a hardware store, not a beauty emporium:

1. Start cooling by pressing the piston firmly.
2. Turn piston counterclockwise for 1/4 of turn.
3. Pull till the click (about 1 inch).
4. Wait one minute for complete cooling.
5. Open the cap.
6. Push piston to release the cream.

The cooled cream is said to have deeper penetration and more immediate lifting effects on the skin than products applied at room temperature. Icy Beauty products are now offered at a few luxury outlets in the United States.

But while these products were developed overseas and simply marketed here, some U.S.-based companies are finally exploring “smarter” options. Hotel royalty Kathy Hilton recently developed her own product line to treat skin damage, aging and wrinkles and signed an agreement with Israel-based Power Paper Ltd. to develop a unique delivery patch.

Printed mini-batteries are included in micro-electric patches from Power Paper, which also include layers of hydrogel and electrodes, to more effectively apply the product. According to Harrop, the technology is safe. “They don’t deliver a large amount of electricity, but they don’t need to,” he says.

No products have been launched yet, but P&G recently invested in new technologies to expand its anti-aging and depilatory product offerings. For example, the company signed a partnership with Syneron to use its “elos” technology, which combines energy from bi-polar radio frequency and optical energy (laser or light) to combat the signs of aging. The technology would be offered in a product and package that facilitated use at home.

But just because these packages are more functional doesn’t mean they can bypass the established feel of a cosmetic package, says Jonathon Ford, creator of design firm PearlFisher Inc. The most successful products continue to be those that customers are proud to display at home.

“It is about style, it is about glamour, it is about fashion,” Ford says. “And when smart packaging can create a more intense, emotional, personal relationship with the user, it really works.”

Attention grabbers

The scope of smart packaging stretches far beyond enhancing product delivery, although some applications aren’t necessarily smart investments.

Sensors are now being manufactured in a small enough size at a low enough price point to be incorporated into individual product packaging. The products can “see” you walking down the aisle at a store and call out to you—literally—to get your attention.

“Some of them might talk to you, light up or actually emit a burst of fragrance to draw you in,” Harrop says.

But with these technologies, a little goes a long way, or perhaps even too far. A package that “talks” may be a point of difference now, but when others adapt the same technologies, the retail aisle may offer little more than a headache to customers.

Here’s a subtle use of sensor technology: The Sexy Little Things fragrance bottle from Victoria’s Secret purrs when a customer picks it up. While the added feature doesn't necessarily enhance the product, the overall package delivers a playfulness characteristic of the typical Victoria’s Secret customer. But Ford says time is already ticking on its shelf life.

“It gets attention, but there’s no intimacy there or connection to credibility,” Ford says.

As tempting as providing a point of difference is, Ford reminds manufacturers to stay true to their brands.

“There’s a fine line between gimmick and enhanced experience,” he says. “There’s a plethora of opportunities, but companies can go astray when they produce something just for the sake of it. It has to come down to consumer benefit.”

Brand protection issues

Radio frequency identification (RFID) isn’t necessarily pretty, but it’s necessary. According to Harrop, RFID chips have already been tested in cosmetics distribution in countries like Japan and Korea.

Smart packaging, combined with smart shelves, creates the perfect venue for consumer research, Harrop says. With a chip installed in the packaging and/or applicators of test products on display, sensors in store shelves can sense how often a particular product is picked up or moved. In the case of lipstick, for example, RFID tagging could determine if customers are testing the matte finishes more often than the glosses, or vice versa.

“It’s a great way of studying customer behavior patterns,” Harrop says.

Manufacturers can then determine which flavors or colors customers prefer and develop product lines around those trends, and retailers can determine which products to stock more heavily.

With continued product development and sourcing overseas, anti-counterfeiting continues to be an issue for all industries. Through the application of an invisible hologram or microchip to a luxury cosmetics package, manufacturers implement a tell-tale for shippers to verify the authenticity of a product.

According to Harrop, mass-producers like Revlon have used RFID tags in lipsticks to detect sweeping—when one person would “sweep” the shelf and steal an entire line of products. But due to privacy concerns of the customers legally purchasing the products, the monitoring was discontinued.

New revelations like thermo­chromatic inks, for example, are also effective for tamper evidency or product safety. Technologies that indicate whether or not a product has been subjected to ultraviolet light or extreme temperatures would be invaluable assets to facial creams, for example, whose ingredients become permanently defective when exposed to extreme conditions.

The opportunities stretch as far and as fast as the technology can be developed, and manufacturers are increasingly pushed to create that next great idea. While miniature batteries, sensors or speakers might be the right road for some companies, they might not fit with the brand equity of others.

“If a client is considering smart packaging, I tell them to think about, what is the truth of my brand and how is that going to be recognized in the way I innovate?” Ford says.