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Cap combines clarity and barrier

Special ingredients give Eleganzza lipstick extended-wear properties. Only a cap molded of the right copolyester can protect those ingredients yet still allow lipstick colors to shine through.

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As Zermat Intl. of Cuauhtemoc, Mexico, prepared to launch its Eleganzza brand of extended-wear lipstick, management was firm on one thing: The container cap had to be clear so that consumers could see each color in the family. Clarity alone, however, wasn’t going to be enough. The cap also had to provide an oxygen barrier. Exposure to oxygen can degrade the special chemicals that make the lipstick an extended-wear product.

Marketers at Zermat relayed these requirements to Spatz Laboratories (Oxnard, CA), the injection molder/contract packager scheduled to produce and package Eleganzza for Zermat. Spatz responded with a cap that’s injection molded of Eastar® copolyester AN004 from Eastman Chemical (Kingsport, TN).

“We had been using polypropylene for our opaque and semitransparent caps,” says Jim Flanagan, director of quality assurance at Spatz. The volatility of the extended-wear formulations required barrier properties at least as good as polypropylene, says Flanagan, but PP wouldn’t do because it wouldn’t offer clarity. “Even if it’s one of the clarified polypropylene resins, there’s still a slightly cloudy quality,” says Flanagan. “For clarity and barrier combined, this Eastman material we’re using is the best.”

Distributor input

Playing a key role in getting the resin into the hands of Spatz Laboratories was Eastman distributor Albis North America. “They identified the opportunity and then followed through to commercialization,” says Scott Rook, Eastman cosmetics market manager.

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