For cosmetics, skincare, and other health and beauty products, your labels should bring to mind exactly what your customers want from your product. From glitter queen makeup influencers to laid-back, cottage core vibes, we have a label embellishment that can help you stand out to your target audience. 

Before diving into the different types of embellishments that work well for health and beauty products, let’s talk about the benefits of choosing your label embellishments intentionally.

Label considerations:

• How does your label wear over time? A basic label might give you more profit margin from a first-time customer, but consider how that product looks after being in a bathroom drawer or makeup bag for a while. If you’ve ever picked up a product and noticed that the label is flaking, peeling, or otherwise giving janky vibes, you know what we mean. It’s hard not to draw (even subconscious) conclusions about the brand and quality from that.
  
  If this happens to a dyed-in-the-wool repeat customer, it might not impact their decision to reorder. However, a first-time customer, especially if they haven’t used your product enough to fall in love yet, can easily be swayed to another brand if this happens to them.
  
  
• What’s the expected use of your product? A product like an in-shower face mask requires far different considerations than a lip balm, for example. The label for a shower product needs to be waterproof but doesn’t necessarily need the same kind of durability as a lip balm that will likely be tumbled around the bottom of purses, backpacks, and makeup bags.  
  
  

VARIABLE DATA PRINTING

Variable data printing, or VDP,  is a great way to create a dynamic and engaging label. Instead of a run of labels that are all identical, VDP allows you to create labels with different designs in the same print run. A great example of this is Mister Hip West Coast IPA from Strange Fellows — have a look at the photo below and then we’ll explain more!

The brewery wanted to create a label that lovingly poked fun at the classic, West Coast yoga bro, and it worked perfectly! 

Another option that we love for VDP labels is a mosaic. Instead of a different image (or yoga pose) on each label, mosaic printing allows us to take a larger image and break it up between labels. The end result is that your customers get products with labels that are different but come together to create a cohesive but unique label lineup. Fun for everyone!

VDP can be used for health & beauty products to encourage customers to purchase the full product series of a certain line. For example, you’re adding a cleansing balm to your skincare line. Instead of just having a single dedicated colour or static design to personify your new product, we use the collage style VDP. The label for your cleansing balm have a set of vector items that cycle to different places on the label, giving you a much more spirited label design. 

This way, your esthetic-conscious customers don’t just get a matching lineup for their bathroom counter but they get a lovely, dynamic label series that engages them and gently encourages them to complete the mosaic by purchasing the full line. (Never underestimate the innate psychological desire to complete an image!)

PROS OF VARIABLE DATA PRINTING

We’ve talked about how cool VDP is, but here’s a quick summary of all the innovative things you can do with VDP:

• Encourages customers to purchase more products to complete their set.
• Allows you to showcase your brand’s creativity, personality, and style (all with a single product).
• Give you the opportunity to change up design features without straying off-brand. 

CONS OF VARIABLE DATA PRINTING

Don’t worry, we’re not going to ignore the potential downsides of variable data printing, so here they are:

• You may need to invest in multiple designs for the same product (if you have rotating images).
• If your designs aren’t different enough, there’s a chance that customers won’t notice that they are, in fact, unique images.

SPOT GLOSS

Spot gloss is one of our favourite embellishments if you’re looking to bring emphasis to specific elements of your label, especially on darker colours or metallics. 

This style of embellishment is perfect for custom health and beauty labels. Applied using gloss varnish and a plate, this technique allows for quite intricate details.

PROS OF SPOT GLOSS 

• Spot gloss is a great budget-friendly option to introduce an embellishment to your label.
• This type of embellishment works beautifully on metallic stock, giving you a unique and eye-catching label.
• Not only great on metallic stock — but spot gloss also creates a stunning effect on a monochromatic label. It’s the perfect way to draw focus to certain elements without straying from your monochrome palette.

CONS OF SPOT GLOSS

• Doesn’t work well on paper stock — it soaks in and doesn’t provide a satisfying level of contrast.
• Doesn’t show as well on lighter colours.
• For cost-efficiency across multiple labels of the same size, the area getting the spot gloss needs to be the same on all labels.
  

HIGH BUILD UV GLOSS

Whether you’re looking for an elegant, understated luxury feel, or something more punchy, high-build UV gloss is a great option. 

High-build UV gloss lets you choose very specific areas of your label to emphasize with a raised, glossy texture. Check out the photo below to see how we brought a vinyl record to life!

This option works well with a monochromatic label, allowing you to call attention to certain elements of the label using raised gloss instead of a contrasting colour. That being said, it’s also great for pulling specific coloured elements to the forefront, giving them an extra pop.

PROS OF HIGH BUILD UV GLOSS

We love the drama and uniqueness of high-build UV gloss, here are just a couple of reasons why!

• Creates a beautifully tactile label
• Perfect for bringing focus to important information or design elements
  
  

CONS OF HIGH BUILD UV GLOSS

Every rose has its thorn, as the song goes, and there’s just one notable one for high-build UV gloss:

• Due to the nature of the material, sharp angles are more difficult to achieve. (Angles are still possible, but they’ll be slightly softer.)

We dare you not to get psyched thinking about all the options that this embellishment offers! (Don’t worry, if you’re not sure how you could use high-build UV gloss but you’re intrigued by the idea, our Specialists are at the ready to show you beautiful examples and give you inspiration.) Check out the snaps below for some of our favourite uses of this embellishment, and feel free to get in touch with us if you want more details.

FOIL STAMP LABEL EMBELLISHMENTS

Foil is a perfect embellishment that can bring a ton of character and emphasis to your health and beauty products.

Whether you're looking for a bold, attention-grabbing statement or a delicately understated luxury element, you can't go wrong with foil stamping.

PROS OF FOIL STAMP EMBELLISHMENTS

• Foil brings that sumptuous, luxury feel to your labels. Metallic stock has a different, more playful feel, whereas foil evokes a much more high-end vibe. 

CONS OF FOIL STAMP EMBELLISHMENTS

• This eye-catching embellishment does come with a higher price tag.
• Foil is one of our more high-end embellishments, meaning that it may be best reserved for products that have a higher price point or margin.
•  Variation in size of foil elements increases cost. If you have different designs in the same size group, foil elements will need to be the same on each label to make it cost-effective.

Questions about what method would suit your product best? That’s what we’re here for. Give us a shout and we’d be happy to talk with you and create a bespoke labelling solution for your business.