Taste must be pursued in the packaging of cosmetics tube

In People's Daily life, cosmetics are becoming indispensable beauty and skin care products. While beautifying life, cosmetics have also formed a huge business opportunity and cannot be ignored in the consumer market. A variety of skin care layers, a variety of brands of cosmetic tube packaging competing dazzling. Many products sell not only efficacy, but also fashion and culture. Cosmetic "fashion sex" and "cultural sex" it is the grade that we say normally. In addition to product advertising and counter display, tube packaging plays an important role in how to reflect the taste of cosmetics. Appropriate Tube packaging not only stimulates the senses directly, but also embodies the brand's taste to the full. Therefore, as the "coat" of the product, the cosmetics tube package must not only have the function of storing and protecting the product, but also be able to attract the purchase and guide the use of consumption. The psychological value of cosmetics plays a big role. The same lipstick of 4g or so is sold at a high price by Shiseido, CD, Lancome, Givenchy, etc., while the price of lipstick of domestic brands is usually only dozens or even lower. Why is there such a huge disparity when the product ingredients are similar and slightly different? This includes the psychological value brought by potential factors such as the appearance of the product itself, tube package decoration, trademark name, corporate image and so on. The advertising expenses of cosmetics enterprises generally account for 10%-20% of their sales, and some are as high as 30%, but manufacturers can not advertise every product. From the perspective of consumer psychology, first of all, it is necessary to attract the attention of consumers, in order to trigger the desire of consumers to buy. Cosmetic itself caused the attention of consumer only namely, just can produce a series of behavior after. Studies of human eye movement have shown that people are the most responsive to color. Therefore,  there are many cosmetic tubes manufacturers which come up with various cosmetic tubes on the basis of makeup brands'  needs.

The power of the Cosmetics Tube package may depend on how well the colour contrast is balanced so that it is lively and eye-catching in the store and soft but not harsh when bought home. If the outer tube package itself or the terminal image of the product does not appeal to consumers who are drawn to the cosmetic display shelves by its advertisements, the tube package design has failed. Due to the differences in age, sex, occupation, culture and economic level, consumers' shopping psychological activities and effects are also different. Such as: mature consumers, wage earners, housewives, economic income is not much for the realistic type; Young people, intellectuals and those with better economy are the type of beauty seeking. White-collar and extroverted people are more concerned with "standing out". Therefore, different tube packaging design strategies should be selected according to the target consumer groups of the product positioning. At present, the marketing strategies of cosmetics tube packaging commonly used by cosmetic enterprises mainly include the following: First, the series of cosmetics tube packaging. In the enterprise production of the same product or brand, the same pattern, color, in order to remind customers, this is the family of the brand. This tube packaging is very common today. For example, the Bio-plant line from Hong Kong's Pang's Cosmetics Company is designed to reflect its theme of returning to nature. It is packaged in the light green tube series, which includes a light green frosted glass bottle and a hose of the same color, giving a refreshing visual effect. The second is the combination of cosmetics tube packaging. That is, products for related purposes are grouped together in one large tube box or bag and sold simultaneously. For example, many functional product sets include facial cleanser, massage cream, facial mask, nutritional water, nutritional cream, etc., which is convenient for customers to buy, but also more affordable than a single product. The third is multi-purpose cosmetics tube packaging. In other words, after the product is used up, its tube packaging does not need to be discarded and is easy to be used for other purposes. For example, a few toothbrushes are placed on the toothbrush holder and soap is placed in the soap box. Toothbrush holder, soap box can be reused. At present, the more commonly used cosmetic tube packaging with gifts, touting cosmetics tube packaging, positioning cosmetics tube packaging, etc. From the color and form of tube packaging, yellow and triangle are attractive, but this does not mean that people will like it. Customers to the shop or supermarket will see a lot of conspicuous printed on the package of the tube is "the latest formula," or "buy a few to send", the word is not actually the basic part of the tube packing products, in the industry known as "abnormal", the purpose is for consumers to choose reference, stimulate consumer purchasing desire. In the marketing behavior of modern cosmetics, tube packaging of cosmetics is its silent advertisement, which can play the effect of "other stones can attack jade".

security and safety of cosmetic tubes

However, along with the increase of brand products in the market, many negative news also came. In 2006, a variety of SK-II products were exposed to contain banned substances chromium and neodymium. In 2007, more than 60 percent of the cosmetics sold in the United States were affected by lipstick containing lead. Such messages have made consumers more aware of the safety of cosmetics, so many now check the recipe sheet to see if they contain harmful substances. But did you know that harmful substances do not only come from the makeup of the makeup, a substandard tube packaging material can also cause an unavoidable hazard to the safety of the makeup.

I used to work for FDA-FoodContactSubstance(direct contact with Food Tube Packaging). I have seen various cases of food tube packaging harming food safety, and I am deeply aware that Tube packaging material has a great impact on food safety. During my years at Estee Lauder, I came into contact with a variety of cosmetic packaging materials, which made me realize the necessity of tube packaging in cosmetics. Tube packaging not only attracts customers to spend money freely, but also isolates cosmetics from the outside world, providing anti-corrosion, anti-oxidation, and odor diffusion suppression functions. With the deepening of the understanding, I can't help but have a small question in my mind: is there any corresponding regulations and standards to supervise the safety of tube packaging materials for cosmetics, which are also in direct contact with products? As well as various regulatory standards relating to food contact with tube packaging materials. With this doubt, a little access to some information, from which some small experience, to share with you.

First from the current domestic routine detection methods. Considering the isolation effect, most of the detection methods used in China are developed from the visual and physical properties. For example: printing quality inspection (including wear resistance, fastness to adhesion, color difference......) ; The barrier of the packing material (whether it can prevent the loss of gas or liquid); Sealing; Impact resistance and so on. The above tests are only for the physical properties of the packaging material itself, and cannot completely guarantee the safety after contact with the contents, such as compatibility between the two and the residual solvent of the packaging material. But now is no clear standard to regulate domestic cosmetics packaging safety standards, not to mention cosmetic tube packaging materials in the content of specific standards, only mentioned in "cosmetics health standard" : "cosmetics container direct contact materials must be non-toxic, shall not contain or release toxic substances may cause harm to the user." Not only in China, but also in various directives of FDA and EU, there are few management specifications and inspection standards for cosmetic tube packaging materials, most of which are for food tube packaging. Moreover, the current testing of cosmetic tube packaging materials is mostly supervised by the enterprises themselves, and the testing methods and standards are naturally different.

Why does the safety of cosmetics tube packaging material have such a huge impact on the safety of cosmetics? Because once the packaging material itself contains excessive toxic and harmful substances, it may be slowly released into the cosmetics in direct contact with it, which changes the quality of cosmetics to a bad direction, and then causes great harm to the human body. The damage is similar to the effects of food on the human body - it can be absorbed into the body with serious consequences. Therefore, the development of detection of harmful substances in cosmetic packaging materials is inevitable. In addition, the national standards related to food tube packaging materials are a good reference for studying the migration of substances in tube packaging.

So those who can affect the toxic and harmful substance of cosmetic safety come from where?

One is the additive in tube packaging.

The most widely used and frequently used plastic today. Compared with other ceramics, glass cosmetic bottle and other materials, its advantages are beyond doubt -- light weight, high strength, good endurance, low cost. However, its disadvantages can not be ignored - various functions of additives and its own degradation.

There are many categories of additives, the most common of which are

1. Filler (change the hardness, wear resistance and dimensional stability of plastic, commonly used gypsum, metal powder, paper and wood, etc.)

2. Plasticizer (to enhance the softness, elasticity and fluidity of plastics, commonly used phthalic acid, epoxy compounds, etc.)

3. Stabilizer (prevent aging and degradation, commonly used aromatic amine, etc.)

4. The coloring

Many of them are toxic and harmful, such as phthalates and amines. These additives plus the plastic itself after the degradation of the monomer in full contact with cosmetics will migrate into the cosmetics, and then buried hidden dangers to human health. In the regulations related to food tube packaging, "Hygienic Standard for the Use of Additives in Food Containers and Tube Packaging Materials" (GB9685-2008), 959 additives are listed and their usage, maximum residual amount and specific migration amount are clearly stipulated. If a limited list of substances used in cosmetic tube packaging materials can be established by referring to similar standards, the chemical pollution of cosmetics can be greatly reduced from the source and the harm to human health can be reduced to a greater extent.

The second is the heavy metal content of tube packaging

Heavy metals can cause great damage to human health when ingested too much. Too much lead, for example, can interfere with heme synthesis, affecting intellectual development and the reproductive system; Chronic exposure to excessive chromium compounds may cause contact dermatitis and eczema. Mercury affects the central nervous system. In the current standard for food tube packaging materials, GB19778-2005 limits the dissolution amount of lead, cadmium, arsenic and antimony in food glass (for example, for containers less than 600mL, the dissolution amount of lead, cadmium, arsenic and antimony is 1.5mg/L, 0.5mg/L, 0.2mg/L, 1.2mg/L, respectively). GB12651-2003 limits the dissolution amount of lead and cadmium in ceramics (the dissolution amount of lead and cadmium in commonly used cups is 0.5mg/L and 0.25mg/L respectively). However, in addition to ceramics and glass products, there are often some heavy metals in tube packaging, paint and even paper products - such as tin cans, paper with paint or adhesives added. If tube packaging material comes into contact with cosmetics, especially weak acid products, it will slowly enter the cosmetics and then be absorbed into the skin; Not only that, but when tube packaging is discarded, the heavy metals it contains slowly leach into the soil and water, causing devastating damage to our environment. The establishment of a standard for the content of heavy metals in cosmetics tube packaging materials would be a great improvement in the safety of cosmetics, but also a contribution to our society and our environment.

Therefore, the research and detection of the potential risk of chemical substances contained in cosmetics packaging materials can not only add the corresponding knowledge reserve to the inspection system of cosmetics quality, but also add a powerful barrier to the protection of people's health and safety and the environment. In recent years, Estee Lauder Shanghai Tube Packaging Lab has not only devoted itself to the testing of cosmetics tube packaging (including physical function testing and compatibility testing), but also paid close attention to the changes and updates of relevant standards at home and abroad, striving to contribute to the development of tube packaging industry.