Choose roll labels in White Plastic BOPP for anything that lives in a bathroom or gets handled with oily hands: lotion, body oil, scrubs, shampoo, and bath salts. Water and oil wipe off BOPP and soak into paper. Bar soap and squeeze bottles need a little more thought, and both are covered below.
Paper or BOPP
| Product | Label |
|---|---|
| Lotion, oils, scrubs, anything used in the shower | Roll labels in White Plastic BOPP |
| Boxed or wrapped products and dry goods | Roll labels in White Satin Paper, for a softer look |
| Small batches applied by hand | Vinyl sheet labels |
| Glass jars and bottles where the product should show | Clear Sheet Labels |
Our roll labels come in white BOPP and paper only, so a clear label means Clear Sheet Labels, applied by hand. Ask for white ink behind the text so it stays readable over a tinted bottle or a colored product. BOPP or paper goes deeper on the roll materials.
On roll labels, matte reads soft and natural, and it's the finish to write batch numbers on, with a pen or a Sharpie. Writing on a gloss roll label scratches off with a fingernail. Vinyl sheet labels follow the sticker rule: gloss takes a Sharpie, and matte takes a ballpoint pen too. Gloss makes colors look brighter. Neither finish outlasts the other.
Bar soap
Labels don't hold well on bare soap. The surface is slick and often damp, and cold-process soap keeps shrinking slightly as it cures, so a band that fit last week slides off. Label what the soap is wrapped in instead:
- A box or wrapper, labeled before or after the soap goes in.
- A band that wraps around the bar and sticks to itself where the ends overlap. Paper suits this well. Size it after the soap has fully cured, and leave a generous overlap.
Bottles and tubes
Rigid bottles (glass, and firm plastic that doesn't give when you squeeze it) are the easy case for shape. Wipe them clean and dry first.
Squeezable bottles and tubes are harder. BOPP is a fairly stiff film, and when the bottle flexes, the label can wrinkle or lift. A squeezable label film isn't on our order form, though we may be able to help, so ask. With BOPP:
- Put the label on the stiffest, flattest part of the bottle.
- Keep the label smaller than that panel, with rounded corners.
- Apply it to a full bottle.
- Test a few before a big run.
Why labels wrinkle on squeeze bottles has more.
The plastic matters too. Many cosmetic bottles and jars are polyethylene or polypropylene (recycling codes 2, 4, and 5), and those resist adhesive. Clean the surface, press firmly, and test. See why stickers don't stick to some plastics.
Bubbles under labels on new plastic bottles can come from the bottle itself. Freshly molded plastic bottles can give off gas for a few days, and it collects under a label. If you see it, ask your bottle supplier how fresh the bottles are, and let new stock sit before you label it.
Jars, tins, and lip balm
- Jars: the lid is flat and easy. The side of a small jar curves sharply, so size a side label to the straight band.
- Tins for salves and solid perfume: wipe off any oil first and label the lid. If labels lift, High-Tack Stickers hold harder.
- Lip balm tubes are the hardest label job in cosmetics: the diameter is tiny, and a laminated label is stiff enough to lift at the edges. Make the label long enough to wrap all the way around and overlap itself, since a label holds better on its own face than on a tight curve. More in labels for tins, tubes, and tight curves.
The ingredient list
Cosmetics usually need an ingredient list and other required text, so check the rules for your product and for where you sell it. Rectangles give the most room, and a front label for the brand with a back label for the information is common. Keep type at 6 pt or larger, or 8 pt for thin (light or script) fonts. See compliance text on small labels.
Sheets or rolls
For small batches labeled by hand, choose sheet labels, from 25 of a design. They ship 3 to 5 business days after you approve the proof. For hundreds at a time, choose roll labels, from 100 of each design. They ship 5 to 7 business days after approval. Each label in a range is its own design with its own minimum, so every scent and every size counts separately. Sheet labels or roll labels compares the two.