Make Up Packaging?

Hi everyone /emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" />

I was just wondering what our thoughts are of make up packaging? What do we like, dislike or feel needs improving in make up packaging?

This can include anything, from the function to the application technique to the aesthetics... anything at all!

If possible, if we can mention certain brands and products that would be fab too!

Thank you! xxx

-I wish brands stopped putting things in cute boxes. Because it makes me feel a lot more guilty to throw out cute boxes.

-I wish my Lumene moisturizers were in a squeeze tube rather than a jar. For health reasons. More bacteria floating around in a jar, ya know?
 

-Some blushes and eyeshadows have ridiculously bulky packaging. I don't think that's necessary.

I personally like practical, essential packaging (like MAC cosmetics, or Inglot, or Nars.. that's my idea of good makeup packaging) and totally agree with some products being too bulky.

Love the luxurious and shiny packaging of brands like Chanel, YSL, Dior (provided that the product itself is of good quality and worth the money, and that's not always the case with those brands)

I hate colorful and stupid packaging like Benefit cosmetics, I find it annoying, it could have worked if I was 12, it just gives me the idea of a very little professional product (even though I really like their Coralista blush)

Sleeker and sturdier packaging made with nicer materials and neutral colors (no cheap plastic that makes even neutral colors ugly or rainbow packaging like the Cover Girl glosses).

Whenever I go to the store, I get excited seeing all the makeup- then my eyes burn from Covergirl's display of larger than life faces and bright neons and thick ugly glass jars.

A few of my pet peeves: cardboard packaging (it's novel for a while but ... I'm a person who does their makeup on the bus or at school, so pretty impractical to carry around), palettes with no mirror, or no guard so that the mirror gets clotted with shadow fallout, palettes that are geometric so you have to squeeze your brush in to get one colour, lipsticks with caps so hard to yank off that you nick the product every time you open it, especially if it doesn't screw all the way down.

But the worst has had to be the little click-brush things that stila lip glazes inspired. I've seen that package used for everything from lip gloss to primer and concealer, and it's. Just. Straight-up awful, imo.

My favourite packaging is probably Anna Sui's, despite not owning anything by them. They're so FANCY! I've been lusting over their lipstick rings but I have small fingers.

My fav packaging is anything that has a solid feel to it and has a nice sounding click to it, like high-end compacts and palettes. The new redesigned MAC palettes fit into this catagory.

I wish I wasn't a sucker for pretty packaging, and am trying to stop being one. Sephora's Tokidoki line got me BAD 2 years ago. And that was all about the packaging. I spent too much on sub-par eye shadows for pretty boxes and cute charms that came with them (though, to be fair, one of the eye shadows is fantastic, and I wish it was still available). I like what @turtrekgodhead said about cardboard...I have a TooFaced palette that I've used about halfway, but it's falling apart to the point that I hate having it there in my makeup case. I know this isn't makeup, but I'm going to trow in that I dislike body wash in a pump container. At some point, there's about an inch of soap left in there, and you have to tip the container on a diagonal to get it onto your loofah (or whatever), and with a pump it won't come out. I replace the caps on my Ulta Smoothies with ones from other containers for this reason. Another peeve - nail polishes with skinny brushes. Some are really bad. I like a decent wide brush and often transfer polish to a new bottle to make it work.

I also wonder why the heck makeup companies package their eyeshadow palettes with little crappy sponge applicators or brushes. The shadows get a bad rep because people try and apply them with these junk applicators...

I like sleek, functional, and sturdy. Mac, Inglot, Nars, Illamasqua, Urban Decay singles and Bobbi Brown being my examples. I do like Tarte's blush packaging, but don't necessarily feel the same about the palettes, which are so freaking bulky. I hate anything that comes in a "box' type thing, so have stayed away from Benefit.

Anything bulky is a big no no for me. I don't have the space nor the energy to try and figure out how to store it. I have fallen for the packaging BS before but now I'm more on looking for items that are good quality -- surprisingly drug store items have been getting very good... maybelline's color tattoos, revlon lipsticks, nyc sunny bronzer, etc. nice packaging that won't fall apart. I love stay matte powders but hate the darn package, so I haven't bought any after I ran out of one.... won't be dealing with that mess. I need my makeup to snap shut so that I know if I toss it in my bag and takes a beating, I won't find crumbled makeup smeared all over the bottom of my purse.

Let's see, my favorite packaging would have to go hands down to DIOR. I love their packaging and presentation, plus I think they have great products.

My least favorite packaging goes to Too Faced, I just find their product packaging and marketing cheesy. I also don't like how Benefit packages their products because it is so inconvenient and cumbersome.

I also wish companies would stop including brushes with their products unless they start including ones that are the same quality as single brushes that they sell. You can't tell me that any professional MUA would actually use those products. If you go to the makeup counters, even the girls there don't use the brushes that come with the product. It's a waste of money that could go toward better packaging or more overall product.

Quote: Originally Posted by KellyKaye /img/forum/go_quote.gif
I also wish companies would stop including brushes with their products unless they start including ones that are the same quality as single brushes that they sell. You can't tell me that any professional MUA would actually use those products. If you go to the makeup counters, even the girls there don't use the brushes that come with the product. It's a waste of money that could go toward better packaging or more overall product.

This is such a good point. We should start writing to companies to tell them this. Those stupid little "sponge" applicators drive me crazy. No one ever uses them, and I think even those customers who do use them would be better served in the long run by having the counter makeupartists explain about the single brushes and try to sell them those, so that the customers can see a difference in how their application looks.... so many people going about with unblended shadows put on with a little sponge brush, not knowing why their makeup doesn't look as good as they would like it to!

Tools are important! 

At some times I love the sleek packaging. Simple black and white packaging with sleek words or logos on them are nice, like my NARS, Chanel, Marc Jacobs or MAC products. Then at other times I want in your face gag me with a spoon oh gawd that is cute packaging Ie. TheBalm. DIES! I cannot get enough of their packaging!

@turntrekgodhead AMEN about the Stila lip glazes packaging! Who thought that was a good idea?!?! I have a Chanel gloss and I regret buying it based off of the stupid clicky applicator. I either get no product or an insane amount that is such a waste of product. That is my biggest makeup pet peeve!

Stop putting creams beside the powders in palettes. Why is that even a problem for makeup companies to figure out?

Quote: Originally Posted by jaylilee /img/forum/go_quote.gif
 
This is such a good point. We should start writing to companies to tell them this. Those stupid little "sponge" applicators drive me crazy. No one ever uses them, and I think even those customers who do use them would be better served in the long run by having the counter makeupartists explain about the single brushes and try to sell them those, so that the customers can see a difference in how their application looks.... so many people going about with unblended shadows put on with a little sponge brush, not knowing why their makeup doesn't look as good as they would like it to!

Tools are important! 
I agree! The sponge applicators that come with eyeshadow, I only use those for doing my daughters halloween makeup!

I also wish companies would stop including brushes with their products unless they start including ones that are the same quality as single brushes that they sell. You can't tell me that any professional MUA would actually use those products. If you go to the makeup counters, even the girls there don't use the brushes that come with the product. It's a waste of money that could go toward better packaging or more overall product.

Click to expand...

The old MUFE sliding lip palettes had a nice lip brush that came with it, as does Ben Nye's lip palettes. I've used their lip brush as a hero lip brush in a couple of films because they look so good, and regular lip brushes are too long for a good looking portable brush that looks high-end. Kryolan has some good thick sized round sponges in their foundation compacts, that are surprisingly quite practical. But you're correct, most product packaging comes with really crappy applicators of all sorts that just ends up in up landfills. And I agree, companies need to stop making and including them in packaging. Even most travel sized brushes from various brands are of poor quality too. But they are much better than applicators.

waah...when i first started getting into makeup...even before my NAKED palette (which is my first sephora purchase), i use those sponge applicators. I have plenty of those loreal hip eyeshadows which always come with the sponge applicators. i loved them! LOL i use those everyday for at least a year haha. i use the flat part to part shadow on my lid, and the edge to put it on my lash line. those loreal ones are relatively good quality sponge applicators, but of course, brushes are the way to go. i'd like to say that they are good if you have 0 brushes (like me back then), and applies my eyeshadow fine. /emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" />

Quote:

 
I also wish companies would stop including brushes with their products unless they start including ones that are the same quality as single brushes that they sell. You can't tell me that any professional MUA would actually use those products. If you go to the makeup counters, even the girls there don't use the brushes that come with the product. It's a waste of money that could go toward better packaging or more overall product.

I've been guilty for being a sucker for cute packaging even if the product isn't so great. I have recently been trying to decide between different powders and did also find that Benefits Hello Flawless powders packaging was too bulky and it was hard to use the mirror. I also wanted to buy Kat von D's powder because it's black with cute floral prints. Needless to say the powder was too heavy for me. I guess some makeup companies put more effort into their packaging than the actual product itself.

Quote: Originally Posted by jaylilee /img/forum/go_quote.gif
... I love stay matte powders but hate the darn package, so I haven't bought any after I ran out of one.... won't be dealing with that mess. I need my makeup to snap shut so that I know if I toss it in my bag and takes a beating, I won't find crumbled makeup smeared all over the bottom of my purse.
Are you referring to Rimmel's Stay Matte? Because i totally agree. They're fantastic an cheap, but who the hell designed that container. Fine for home use, but the top doesn't stay on at all, and they couldn't even throw in a powder puff? I mean, I use brushes for powder at home, but a cheap little puff is fine for on the go touch-ups. Great product, crappy packaging.

Re: the sponge applicators for eyeshadow, actually, my mom uses those and apparently she didn't even know eyeshadow brushes existed until recently! I was throwing away the applicators from a Wet N Wild palette, and she asked why. I said I use brushes to apply my eyeshadow, and she thought I meant like a big powder brush, she didn't even know that other kinds of makeup brush existed! And even when I showed her, she asked why because "there's no problem with the free applicators...." It made me cringe a little but I guess not everyone is a makeup junkie! She also says things like, "but you already have a pink lipstick, why do you need another?" Or, "why did you buy that eyeshadow for $15, you can get eyeshadow at the dollar store!" 

Anyway, back on topic to the packaging...

Eyes: I definitely think mid-range and higher-end products shouldn't come with flimsy applicators because the people buying those surely have their own brushes (or should, anyway), but I guess I understand for drugstore products. As was mentioned above, I am not a big fan of palettes with cardboard packaging.

Face: All foundation bottles should come with a pump! Or in a squeeze tube for cheaper brands I guess. But no glass jars, it's so dirty and hard to get out the right amount of product. Also agree with the above posters about the Stay Matte powder packaging!

Lips: I dislike squeeze tube lipgloss, but I know that's just a personal preference. But no lip products in little pots, please, for the same reason as no foundation in glass jars - sanitation! Doe foot applicators for liquid lip products are my preference. Also, lipstick caps must be secure! I want to be able to throw a lipstick in my purse without worrying that the cap will come off! Finally, I have a few lipliners with little built in sharpeners, and I think that is genius. If I had my way, all automatic pencils (lip or eye) would come with these!

I tend to be really sort of, not really obsessive, but, I love love love my special boxes and bags because I don't use makeup, I normally get small tiny gift sets and I always want to keep the boxes that are really pretty to me.

Let's see here...

-I can't stand lipsticks that don't twist all the way down ::cringes::
-Compacts with a "bubble-like" top (like MAC's msf) that pop out..UGH! Nothing is worse than having to worry about your makeup being fully exposed
-Old Urban Decay Primer Potion packaging..enough said
-Sample baggies..I have a bazillion of these and I won't buy anymore because they are such a pain to use
-Those plastic sheets that come over makeup. They usually come in palettes and I ALWAYS end up nicking one of the shadows /emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" />