Feature
Black & White
And Beautiful All Over
TEXT BY KARENA GUPTON AKHAVEIN
Cosmetics and beauty packaging is as much part of the experience as the product within. The design of the packaging is
extremely trend-driven, but also influenced by technology,
which is forever providing new delivery methods and vessel
concepts. In the past few years, the artisanal, “authentic” or
eco-friendly theme had the most traction, with retro or handlettered fonts, hand-applied labels, and rustic materials ranging
from galvanized metal or tin, to copper, recycled paper, twine,
and wood. Now, the pendulum seems to be swinging back to the
other extreme, with clean, graphic presentations gaining ground.
Simple package design allows one to focus on the product within.
It also imparts a sense of purity and potency. Typography
becomes key, with the lettering itself expected to communicate
a world of information in concise form. Here, SOMA scrutinizes
several beauty products with standout, black and white design.
No examination of graphic, high contrast packaging would
be complete without mention of the absolute classic of the
genre, the Chanel compact. With its luxurious, glossy black
lacquer-finished case stamped with either the instantly recognizable interlocking “C” logo or the equally iconic brand name
rendered in bold, white, capitalized sans-serif font, this packaging remains forever modern. This visual theme is taken a
step further with the Les 4 Ombres Tissé Smoky, an eye palette
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containing four shadows that range from white to black, impeccably engineered to render the perfect smoky eye. A pair of other
notable black and whi