A concealer carton is a small job with a tight tolerance, and the usual failure is measuring the part of the product that is easiest to measure. The tube body is easy. The cap is what has to pass through the carton, and on a liquid concealer with a doe foot applicator the cap collar is often a couple of millimetres wider than the barrel.
Measure the widest cross section
| Measurement | Take it with | The mistake to avoid |
|---|---|---|
| Cap diameter | A digital caliper across the widest point of the closed cap | Measuring the barrel and finding the cap will not pass |
| Overall height | Caliper or steel rule, cap on, standing upright | Forgetting that a domed cap adds height beyond the shoulder |
| Flat dimension | Across the flats if the tube is oval or squared | Treating an oval tube as round and losing the fit on one axis |
| Label bulk | Over the printed label or shrink sleeve | Measuring a bare tube before labelling is added |
Add clearance after all four are recorded. Something in the region of 0.5 to 1 mm per side is a normal working allowance for a small cosmetic carton, enough to load by hand or by machine without the tube dropping through loose. If the carton is machine erected and filled, say so on the request, because automatic lines want slightly different tolerances than hand packing.
Board for a small carton
Concealer cartons are usually folding carton board rather than corrugated. The board is smooth, holds fine type and small logos cleanly, and creases without cracking through a foil or a matte laminate. Corrugated comes into play if you want a visible fluted texture, and F flute at about 1/32 in is the thinnest corrugated profile, close enough to carton thinness to work on small retail boxes. It is explained in more depth on what F flute corrugated is.
Two practical notes on small cartons. First, panels below roughly an inch wide leave very little room for a tuck flap to grip, so a very slim tube may want a seal end or a sleeve rather than a straight tuck. Second, small panels magnify registration: fine type, a hairline rule and a foil edge all show misalignment more at this size than they do on a shipper, which is exactly what the digital proof is for.
Shade ranges and multipacks
A concealer line is rarely one carton. If you carry twelve shades, you are printing twelve versions of the same dieline, and the only thing that changes is the shade name, the shade swatch and the batch panel. Keep everything else identical so the artwork is a single file with a swapped layer, and keep the shade name in a consistent position so retail staff can face the shelf quickly. If you sell a duo or a shade trio, size that carton from the pack layout rather than scaling the single: two tubes side by side need the cap diameter twice plus clearance, and two tubes nested head to tail can be narrower but need the fold or divider that holds them that way.
Ordering, minimum and lead time
The minimum is 100 boxes, priced from about $0.48 per unit at bulk volumes and confirmed on your written quote. The die, the plates, design support, US shipping and a digital proof before printing are included, which matters on a shade range because a second dieline for the duo carton does not carry a separate tooling charge. Production is quoted per product across three lanes, rush (expedited production plus air freight), standard (air) and cost saver (sea), from about 7 business days, plus 2 to 5 for delivery, with specialty finishes running longer. We make at two plants, West Chicago and Guangzhou.
Send the cap diameter, the overall height with the cap on, and a photo of the labelled tube with your quote request. If you are specifying a full colour cosmetics range, the sister guide on eyeliner boxes covers the same exercise for long, narrow tubes.
