Electroplating forces the highest minimum — around 10,000 pieces — and the floor does not move, because the plating line is configured for your tone alone. Spray coating runs 2,000–5,000 per component shape; anodising on aluminium is batch-based and needs a control sample; hot stamping and screen printing carry almost no minimum (~1,000–2,000 from the decorating line) because the plate or screen is a small one-off. Vacuum metallising has no tooling charge but a set-up-driven minimum. On a first launch, put the brand in print and hot stamp on a stock shell, keep custom colour to one component, and save plating for a hero SKU at volume.
Why decoration, not the shell, sets the minimum
A stock (public-mould) lipstick shell has no tooling and starts around 500–1,000 pieces undecorated. Everything above that number comes from decoration, and every decoration process has a set-up that must happen for your order alone — a screen, a plate, a colour match on a spray line, a plating bath configured for your tone. The size of that set-up is the size of your minimum. The rule that follows is simple: printing is cheap, colour is expensive, metal is expensive and immovable. The cross-category version is on the MOQ index; the lip-specific numbers are below.
Process × minimum on lipstick components
| Process | Suits | Set-up that drives the minimum | Working minimum | Watch-outs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Screen print | ABS shells, PP and PETG tubes | A screen per colour | ~1,000–2,000 from the decorating line | Cylinder = one colour; 24-hour formula soak on mechanisms; ≤2 passes combined with hot stamp |
| Hot stamping | Plastic shells, caps, cartons | A plate, cut once; ~1,000 pieces per hour | Small; plate is a modest one-off | No ghosting on 10–25% of the image; foil loss ≤0.5 mm² under 3M 600 |
| Spray coating (matte, soft-touch, metallic) | ABS; PP after flame treatment; PETG | Colour-matching set-up per shape; 7-step pre-treatment; 20 min dry | 2,000–5,000 per component shape | 16 named coating defects; pencil hardness ≥2H; soft-touch scuffs in transit |
| Anodising | Aluminium shells and caps only | Fixtures, dye and sealing; batch colour matching | Batch-based; custom tone ~10,000 on collars | HV300 standard film; a second batch rarely matches without a control sample |
| Electroplating (water plating) | ABS shells, caps, compact frames | 12-step plating line configured for your tone alone | ~10,000; the floor holds everywhere | No nickel on skin-contact surfaces; plated parts never touch bulk; 3M 810 cross-hatch |
| Vacuum metallising | Lipstick cases, gloss caps | ~6 h chamber cycle plus base and top coat; no tooling charge | Set-up drives the minimum | Needs base and top lacquer; gold, silver, copper, gunmetal looks |
| Laser marking / water transfer | Cases, caps | Almost none | Almost none | Laser is monochrome; water transfer not for deep recesses |
Electroplating: the 10,000 that does not move
Electroplating deposits real metal — chrome, nickel, gold, rhodium among 30-plus options — onto an ABS part through a 12-step line: polish, pre-clean, rinse, electrolytic degrease, rinse, acid pickle and activation, neutralise, strike plate, top plate, deionised rinse, dewater, dry. ABS is used because it tolerates the 60°C bath and bonds strongly. There is no mould, but the whole line is configured for your tone, so the minimum sits around 10,000 pieces and no supplier moves it; below that, most factories stock plated caps in a few standard finishes only. Two rules are absolute: nickel must not be used where it touches skin, and plated parts never contact the formula — they are exterior components only. Adhesion is checked with 3M 810 tape over a 2 mm cross-hatch, grade 1 or better.
Spray, anodising and metallising: the middle ground
Spray coating puts a matte, soft-touch or metallic lacquer on ABS or PETG (PP needs flame treatment first). The line runs a seven-step pre-treatment and a 20-minute dry, and is set up, run and cleaned down for your tone, hence 2,000–5,000 per component shape — and "per shape" is the catch: a cap and a base in the same colour are two set-ups unless they share one geometry. Inspection names sixteen coating defects — pinholes, orange peel, cissing, sagging and so on — and checks pencil hardness at ≥2H; soft-touch finishes scuff in transit and need transit testing.
Anodising is for aluminium shells and caps only. It grows the natural oxide into a ~HV300 anodic film (hard-anodised HV500), dyes it through 0.01–0.03 µm pores and seals it. The result is durable and metallic in a way spray cannot copy, but it is batch-based: colour depends on film thickness, dye and sealing, so a second batch rarely matches the first without a physical control sample, and a custom tone on small parts like collars sits around 10,000.
Vacuum metallising evaporates 99.99% aluminium at 1,200–1,400°C in a 1.3 × 10⁻² Pa chamber onto a base-lacquered part, then top-coats it. About six hours per cycle, no tooling charge, and a convincing gold, silver, copper or gunmetal on lipstick cases and gloss caps. The minimum is set by the chamber set-up rather than a fixed floor, so it is often the route to a metallic look below plating volume. Full parameters for all thirteen processes are on the decoration process reference.
Print and hot stamp: the low-MOQ routes
A screen print costs a screen per colour and a hot stamp a plate cut once, so both are small one-offs and the decorating line's practical minimum is around 1,000–2,000. Hot stamping runs at about 1,000 pieces per hour on a 12–25 µm foil and must show no ghosting or serrated edges. Combined, they are limited to two passes per part — more colours mean more rejects. On a mechanism, the print also has to survive a 24-hour soak in the actual formula with no transfer to hands or bulk. This is why the honest default for a first lipstick is a stock shell in a stock colour with the brand in print and hot stamp: it launches at the lowest number and the decoration is the most repeatable on reorder.
QC thresholds every finish is checked against
| Check | Method | Pass threshold |
|---|---|---|
| Print and hot-stamp adhesion | 3M 600 tape, 10 passes, pulled at 45° | No lift; hot-stamp single-point loss ≤0.5 mm² |
| Spray, metallising and plating adhesion | 3M 810 tape over a 2 mm cross-hatch | Grade 1 or better; no lift |
| Coating hardness | Pencil hardness on sprayed surfaces | ≥2H |
| Colour fastness on the mechanism | 24 h soak in the actual formula | No transfer to formula or hands; no lifting |
| Thermal cycling | 48°C and −15°C, 24–48 h each, filled | No cracking, warping, leakage or colour change after 2 h recovery |
| Colour | Against the signed golden sample, D65 light | ΔE within the tolerance agreed per material; shell, cap and carton side by side |
The complete battery is on the QC standards page. For the mechanism inside the shell, read lipstick mechanism: click vs twist; for a launch plan that uses only stock parts, how to launch lip products without a private mould; for the gloss side of the range, lip gloss tube and wand MOQ. Format detail is on lip packaging and the category system on the makeup packaging solution; the questions that reveal whether a "plated" cap is really plated or metallised are on how to evaluate a China packaging supplier.
Vella is a Guangzhou-based beauty packaging solutions provider — a sourcing partner working with vetted partner factories operating to ISO 22716 / GMP. We tell you which finish your volume supports before you fall in love with a plated sample, route each process to the partner line already set up for it, and tape-test every decorated part against the thresholds above. Range detail: lip packaging.
Common questions
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