How to Choose Plastic Packaging for Skincare Products

Most packaging mistakes are made in the first meeting, when a format is chosen before the formula has been considered. This guide sets out the order of decisions that prevents rework — and the questions a supplier should ask you in return.

Step 1: Start from the formula, not the picture

Two properties decide the format:

• Viscosity — water-thin fluids need a pump, sprayer or dropper; gels need a flip-top or wide orifice; thick creams need a jar, tube or wide-plate airless pack.
• Active sensitivity — retinol, vitamin C, peptides and probiotics degrade with air and light exposure, so they belong in airless or barrier packaging rather than an open jar.

If the formula cannot be preserved for the intended use period in a jar, the packaging decision is already made for you.

Step 2: Choose the format family

Product	Recommended format	Typical capacity
Serum, stable	Dropper bottle	15–50 ml
Serum, sensitive actives	Airless bottle	15–30 ml
Cream, rich	Jar	50 ml
Cream, pumpable	Pump or airless bottle	50–100 ml
Cleanser	HDPE bottle, flip-top or pump	150–250 ml
Toner	Bottle with disc cap or mist sprayer	100–300 ml
Sunscreen	Tube or airless bottle	50–100 ml
Eye product	Airless pump or gasketed jar	15 ml
Body care	Large HDPE bottle or jar	250–500 ml

See serum packaging and face cream packaging for the full reasoning behind each row.

Step 3: Select the material

Material follows the formula and the format:

• PET for clear, water-based formats where visibility sells the product
• PP for acidic, alcoholic or hot-filled formulas, and for mono-material recyclable design
• HDPE for opaque formats above 250 ml, and for the widest recycled-content availability
• Acrylic for prestige jars where the formula sits in an inner cup

Our material guide compares all of them on clarity, chemical resistance, heat tolerance and recyclability.

Step 4: Size the pack from the fill volume

Use this calculation rather than an approximate capacity:

1. Fill volume = fill weight ÷ formula density
2. Nominal capacity = fill volume × 1.03 to 1.10
3. Check the fill height stays 3–5 mm below the closure

A 50 g cream at density 1.0 needs roughly 54 ml of nominal capacity, which is why a 50 ml jar is filled to 45–47 g and a 60 ml jar is often the better choice.

Step 5: Choose the closure before tooling

Closure output and neck finish are engineering, not decoration. Pick the pump dose (0.20–0.30 ml for face serums, 0.5–2.0 ml for body care), then confirm the neck finish and matching closure specification with the packaging project. Changing the closure after the bottle is tooled is expensive.

Step 6: Plan decoration with the mould

Decoration choices constrain mould design: print bands must avoid parting lines, hot stamping needs flat surfaces, and coating changes the surface resin. Combine the formats you are considering with our decoration guide before you approve a drawing.

What to send a supplier

• Fill volume or fill weight, and formula density or viscosity
• Active ingredients with sensitivity or compatibility risks
• Target quantity for launch and expected annual volume
• Retail price band and market
• A reference image or existing pack if you have one

With those five items we can usually recommend a format and quote it in one reply.