For sunscreen the contact materials are PP, HDPE, a 5-layer PE/EVOH or ABL tube, or glass — never AS or unlined acrylic, which SPF esters cloud and craze. A squeeze tube (Ø28–Ø45, 30–150 g) is the cheapest format at 5,000–10,000 per SKU and 15–20 days; an airless pump (10–100 ml) protects the filters and dispenses to near zero residue at ~10,000 pieces and 20–30 days; a lotion pump bottle (200–400 ml) suits family and body SPF from about 500 stock pieces; a stick runs on stock ovals in the low thousands. Every option is confirmed with the actual SPF bulk at 48°C for 30 days.
The four formats, by size and use
Face SPF sits at 30–50 ml, body at 100–150 ml, family sizes at 200–400 ml. Each format has a natural range, a natural contact material and a natural dispenser; forcing one outside its range is where the failures start. Product detail is on sunscreen packaging.
| Format | Size range | Contact materials | Dispenser / closure | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Squeeze tube — face | Ø28–Ø35, 30–100 g | 5-layer PE/EVOH co-ex or ABL; single-layer PE only for mineral bulks | Flip-top (200-cycle hinge) or screw cap | Face and travel SPF, tinted SPF at volume |
| Squeeze tube — body | Ø38–Ø45, 80–150 g; Ø50+ for 150–250 g | 5-layer EVOH co-ex or ABL | Flip-top, screw | Body sunscreen, sport, after-sun |
| Airless pump bottle | 10–100 ml (30–50 ml face SPF) | PP inner; PP or acrylic outer shell — acrylic never touches the bulk | Piston airless pump 0.5–1.0 cc for emulsions; dose repeatable to ~0.05 ml | Face SPF, tinted SPF, high-active and oxygen-sensitive formulas |
| Lotion pump bottle | 200–400 ml | HDPE frosted, PP opaque, PETG | Lotion pump 2.0 or 3.5 cc; high-viscosity pump for mineral SPF | Family and body sunscreen |
| Stick | Stock oval or round PP twist-up, low thousands (typical partner-factory range) | PP | Twist-up elevator; cap retention under 1 kg bag compression | Solid SPF, sport, lips and nose |
| Tolerances | — | Fit-critical ≤0.5 mm; overall ≤1.0 mm; tube wall ±0.05 mm | Airless outer-cap thread clearance 0.1–0.8 mm | — |
SPF compatibility: the rules that pick the material
Sunscreen is a hard formula for packaging. The rows below come from the compatibility matrix and are the reason a supplier who has not asked about your filter system has quoted a shape, not a package.
| Formula condition | What goes wrong | Rule |
|---|---|---|
| Oil-rich SPF, ester-based UV filters, fragrance | Attack AS (SAN), craze and cloud PMMA, swell standard NBR/TPE gaskets, extract plasticisers | PP or HDPE contact parts; glass where premium; silicone or fluoroelastomer gaskets; acrylic as outer shell only over a PP inner |
| Oxygen-sensitive actives alongside SPF (vitamin C, retinol, peptides) | Browning, loss of potency, odour | 5-layer EVOH tube (OTR 0.2–1.2 vs 150–300 for mono PE), ABL or airless pump; nitrogen flush where possible |
| Easily oxidised sunscreen emulsions | Barrier failure shows as colour and odour change at 48°C | ABL tube; a co-ex tube must prove its barrier in the 48°C / 30-day test |
| Silicone-heavy and oil-serum SPF | Low surface tension creeps past threads and wicks through pump seals | Glass or PP with tight thread engagement; pump gasket proven against the oil |
| Alcohol above ~30% (spray and after-sun) | PET swells, hazes and deforms; standard gaskets soften | Glass or alcohol-rated PETG; PTFE-coated or solvent-grade gaskets |
| Mineral / thick SPF (2,000–50,000 mPa·s) | Standard 0.5 ml pumps do not prime or dose | High-viscosity pump, wide-bore orifice; dose verified with the actual bulk |
The chemistry behind these rows — which filters attack which resins and how the 48°C test is run — is worked through in do chemical SPF filters attack PET or PP packaging?
MOQ, tooling and lead time by format
Minimums are indicative ranges via partner factories operating to ISO 22716 / GMP; the published single-factory floor is 5,000–10,000 pieces per item. Cross-category figures are on the MOQ index and the lead-time index.
| Route | Indicative MOQ | Tooling | Lead time, factory gate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stock tube, printed | 5,000–10,000 per SKU; 3,000 sometimes negotiable | Plates RMB 200–300 ≈ USD 30–45 per design | 15–20 days from sample-tube approval |
| Stock airless, standard colour | ~10,000 pcs (multi-component assembly) | None | 20–30 days; compatibility test runs in parallel |
| Stock airless + sprayed or metallised outer | 10,000; spray 2,000–5,000 per set-up on top | Fixtures and colour matching | 30–40 days |
| Stock HDPE/PP lotion bottle, undecorated | From ~500 pcs | None | 7–25 days; pump 20–30 days in parallel |
| Stock lotion bottle + print / sprayed | ~2,000 print; 2,000–5,000 sprayed per geometry | Screen; colour matching | +5–7 days print; 30–40 days sprayed |
| Stock stick, decorated | Low thousands (typical partner-factory range); ~2,000 print | Screen or foil plate | 21–27 days quoted stock + print |
| Private mould (bottle, cap or stick) | 3,000–10,000 pcs plus tooling | RMB 25,000–70,000 ≈ USD 3,500–9,700 per component tool; paid 30/40/30 | 45–60 days mould only; 90–120 days full programme including the 48°C / 30-day test |
| Buffer | — | — | × 1.3; +15 days across Chinese New Year; sea 18–35 days |
On cost, an airless pump runs 2–4× a standard lotion pump but cuts residue to near zero; the tube is the lowest unit cost of the three and takes offset print inside the run. The head-to-head is in airless vs tube for sunscreen, and the low-volume routes in sunscreen packaging at low MOQ from China.
QC thresholds for sunscreen packaging
Sunscreen packs fail months after launch — in a hot car, a beach bag, or on a pump that primed perfectly with water. The test plan is built around those failures; the four gates and the golden-sample rule are on our QC standards page.
| Test | Method | Typical pass threshold |
|---|---|---|
| Formula compatibility | Actual SPF bulk in the actual component at 48°C, RH 75%, with ambient and cold controls | 30 days: no discolouration, odour, swelling, cracking or decoration attack |
| Vacuum leak | Filled, lying and inverted in a vacuum chamber | −0.08 MPa for 15 min, loss ≤0.5% (oily bulks); −0.06 MPa standard |
| Airless piston | Static: water-filled, stand 4 h; dynamic: dispense to empty | No water passes; piston rises cleanly, contents fully expelled; inner–outer pull ≥50 N |
| Priming and output | Weighed over 50 strokes × 3 | ≤8 strokes water / ≤10 lotion; single stroke ±15%; ≥1,500 actuations |
| Tube seal and crush | Peel; plate load | End seal ≥20 N/cm; 15 kgf for Ø over 25 mm, no rupture; flip-top hinge 200 cycles |
| Thermal cycling | Oven / freezer, filled | 48°C and −15°C, 24–48 h each, no crack, leak or colour change |
| Yellowing / UV | UV 24 h, sun 1 week, or 300 W lamp at 50°C for 48 h | No visible colour shift |
| Drop | Filled, onto concrete | 1.5 m at 45° for bottles with closure; 76 cm–1.5 m by format |
| Decoration adhesion | 3M 600 over print; 3M 810 over cross-hatched spray | No lift; 75% alcohol soak 30 min, no coating loss |
| Colour / acceptance | D65 light against golden sample; ISO 2859-1 level II | ΔE within agreed tolerance; AQL 0 / 1.0–1.5 / 2.5–4.0 |
| Heavy metals | Third-party lab | Pb+Cd+Hg+Cr(VI) ≤100 ppm |
Vella is a Guangzhou-based beauty packaging solutions provider — a sourcing partner, not a factory — that specifies, sources, samples, quality-controls and ships sunscreen tubes, airless bottles, lotion bottles and sticks from vetted partner factories operating to ISO 22716 / GMP, against the thresholds above and a signed golden sample. The method is on how we work; the questions to ask any supplier are in how to evaluate a China packaging supplier.
Frequently asked
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Launching a sunscreen?
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