Premium Beauty News - A great adventure indeed your company is experiencing on this segment of cosmetic packaging! And quite a recent adventure actually?
Simon Pascual - Yes, a great adventure, started in 2010 a bit by chance, even if our activities were already very much focused on the contract packing of cosmetic products. It all began with the acquisition of a Citus filling machine for lipsticks and the construction of a clean room. It was a growing market and demand was there. But we didn’t stop there and we also decided to invest in a line for hot filled products which enabled us to meet requests for the conditioning of foundations, concealers, etc.
Premium Beauty News - But very quickly, you realized there was more to it.
Simon Pascual - Yes, exactly. We were quickly overwhelmed by orders for lipsticks. The Citus machine was only running at 1200 pieces/hour. An opportunity enabled us to acquire an even more powerful model with a capacity of 3,600 pieces/hour. We did not hesitate to invest the extra 380,000 euros required.
Premium Beauty News - But you did not just do filling operations you also innovated!
Simon Pascual - There too, there was an opportunity no to be missed. A chance encounter enabled us to develop a new transparent lipstick a few weeks before the start of the MakeUp in Paris show. The expected effect exceeded all our expectations especially since the innovation also concerned packaging itself in which was integrated a system enabling to illuminate the grape from inside. Thus, under the pressure of demand and the interest generated by this product, we are currently improving the concept.
Premium Beauty News - From lipstick to nail polish, it only takes one step...
Simon Pascual - Yes, it’s true there are some similarities. Both markets have high growth rates and we are still dealing with the world of make-up. So we decided to dare take the plunge this year by investing in an ATEX clean room and acquiring two filling machines that will make it possible to produce about 20 million bottles per year.
