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Dow, known for helping improve golfing and golfers with better golf balls, also beautifies the counters with artistically designed perfume caps and cream jars.

Each one a piece of art in itself, appears to be as smooth as glass but is actually a high resin plastic designed for that particular purpose and all right here in Orange, Texas.

“From concept to final delivery, we enjoy working with brand owners, designers and converters to develop creative cosmetics packaging that expresses and enhance brand identity,” a Dow representative said. “It may not seem obvious, but there is an art to science. Let’s work together using the latest technology and materials to create beautiful skincare and fragrance applications, such as perfume caps and cream jars.”

This magic is created through an ionomer resin called Surlyn created by Dow because creativity should not be inhibited by material capabilities.

Surlyn offers:

• Unique neutral transparency, even with thick walls, and glossiness
• Moldability, even in complicated shapes or overmolded objects, for an elegant look
• Soft feel and less fingerprint marking
• Excellent chemical and scratch resistance
• Distinctive container shapes and decoration techniques with patented SURLYN™ 3D production technology

Through an innovative process, the production technology consists of two manufacturing steps: the design and production of an inner container manufactured followed by the injection overmolding of an outer layer through a unique patented process.

The end results are beautifully crafted perfume caps and cream jars which are also scratch resistance, chemical resistance, squeezability and barrier performance as well as being 60-percent lighter, resulting in a lower carbon footprint during shipping.

The resin allows for freedom in package designing by enabling inner and outer containers with different antagonist shapes, including sharp edges and the possibilities of new visual effects ranging from crystal transparency, colored translucence, or frosted effects.

Surlyn also allows for decoration in the mass which is allowing for new visual deep effects such as inclusion of materials, levitation and suspension effects.

So next time you look at your perfume cap or cream jar and admire the shape which intrigued you, remember, without the designing and research at Dow, intricate designs of today would not be possible nor would as many people be able to purchase them.

“Design for recyclability. It means considering every aspect of a package’s life in relationship to our environment and in our drive to a circular economy,” a Dow representive said. “We’re not there yet, but we’re closing gaps every day. And we love to share our passion, and our progress.”

Using resins, such as SURLYN™ Ionomer Resin, takes advantage of material reduction and downgauging. 

This crystal-clear resin can be recycled within HDPE and LDPE recycling streams, as well as, mechanically recycled into cosmetic packaging and footwear.

Recycling helps close the loop. It’s a big loop in the circular economy. But recycling plastic packaging isn’t always easy. 

So, Dow is working on it. A lot. 

Using strategies such as structure simplification, eco-design and compatibilization. Recent developments include RecycleReady Technology. It is a licensed process developed by Dow which helps create multi-layer, flexible packaging that can be recycled through store drop-off programs.