Travel size perfume packaging comes in three formats: a glass vial or mini flacon (2–10 ml) with a crimp or screw fine-mist pump at 0.1 ml per shot, an aluminium refillable atomizer (typically 5–8 ml) with a glass or alcohol-rated inner, and a 5–10 ml roll-on for perfume oils. Through partner factories already tooled for it, stock glass starts around 500–1,000 pieces, stock pumps about 1,000 in silver or gold, screen print from ~2,000, sprayed colour 2,000–5,000 per shape, and a custom-tone anodised collar 10,000. Factory-gate lead time is 15–25 days on stock and 30–40 days sprayed. Every order is signed against atomisation, dose, ≥1,500-actuation and vacuum-leak tests.
The three formats, with dimensions
A travel size is any perfume container that clears the 100 ml cabin rule by a wide margin and fits a pocket. In practice the market runs on 2 ml (sample), 5 ml (discovery) and 10 ml (travel spray), with 15 ml as the purse-spray step. The formats below are from the fragrance bottles specification and the cosmetic bottle size guide; dimensions are the typical partner-factory range including the cap.
| Format | Capacity | Typical Ø × height, mm | Neck / closure | Sprays at 0.1 ml | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sample vial, drawn tubular glass | 1.5–2 ml | Ø10 × 45–55 | Tubular Ø10–Ø15; plug stopper or mini screw sprayer | 15–20 | Sampling programmes, inserts |
| Mini spray, glass | 5 ml | Ø15–20 × 50–60 | Tubular Ø15–Ø20 or 15/415 screw; mini fine-mist pump | 50 | Discovery sets, gift-with-purchase |
| Travel spray, glass | 10 ml | Ø15–18 × 80–95 | 15/415 screw or tubular Ø15–Ø20; screw fine-mist pump, 0.1 ml | 100 | Travel, subscription boxes |
| Purse spray, glass | 15 ml | Ø25–30 × 70–85 | 15/415 screw or FEA 15 crimp | 150 | Coffrets, purse size |
| Aluminium refillable atomizer | 5–8 ml (typical partner-factory range) | Ø15–18 × 80–95 (typical partner-factory range) | Anodised aluminium sleeve over glass or alcohol-rated PETG inner; bottom-fill valve | 50–80 | Empty refillables sold alongside the flacon |
| Roll-on, glass | 5–10 ml | Ø16 × 60–65 (5 ml); Ø20–22 × 55–75 (10 ml) | Tubular Ø15–Ø20 or 18/400; PP roller housing, steel or glass ball, tamper-ring cap | — | Perfume oils, attars, solid-perfume alternatives |
Two format rules. First, the inner that touches the juice is glass unless there is a stated reason: ordinary PET swells, hazes and deforms above about 30% ethanol, and fine fragrance is 70–90% ethanol. Where a plastic inner is unavoidable — most refillable aluminium atomizers — it is alcohol-rated PETG with a proven gasket, as a stated compromise. Second, a roll-on is for oil, not alcohol: the PP housing and its gasket are chosen and tested against the oil, which attacks standard NBR/TPE and extracts plasticisers.
MOQ by route
A travel size is the same five-component logic as the flacon — glass, pump, collar, cap, box — at smaller scale, and the minimum is set by the component that has to be configured for you alone. The figures are indicative floors through partner factories already tooled for the run, from the perfume bottle supplier page and the MOQ index; the published industry floor for most of these lines is 5,000–10,000 per item, applied per component.
| Route | Indicative minimum | Tooling / set-up | Factory-gate lead time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stock vial or mini flacon, clear, stock silver / gold mini pump | 500–1,000 pcs glass; ~1,000 pumps | None | 15–25 days; samples 7–10 days |
| Stock glass + screen print or hot stamp | ~2,000 pcs | Screen ≈RMB 0.1 per colour (≈USD 0.014); hot-stamp die, a small one-off (≈USD 0.055 per design) | Stock cycle + 5–7 days |
| Pressure-sensitive label or sleeve on stock glass | ~100–500 pcs | Print run only | Inside the stock cycle |
| Sprayed custom colour (matte, gloss, gradient) | 2,000–5,000 per shape; 3,000–5,000 on clear perfume glass | Spray line set up for your tone; RMB 0.5–1.1 (≈USD 0.07–0.15) per piece | 30–40 days after sprayed-sample approval (samples 10–14 days) |
| Anodised aluminium atomizer sleeve, custom tone | ~10,000 per tone (stock silver, gold and black lower) | Anodising fixtures; a second batch rarely matches the first without a control sample | 25–40 days |
| Plated or magnetic cap | 5,000–10,000 | Plating line configured for your tone; exterior parts only | ~6 h per plating cycle once racked; 25–40 days incl. queue |
| Discovery-set rigid box with insert | 1,000–2,000 | Cutting die; insert measured off the approved vials | After glass approval |
| Own vial or atomizer shape, new mould | 10,000+ (some short-run lines from 5,000); made-to-order furnace 30,000–200,000 | Glass mould RMB 2,500–4,000 (≈USD 350–555) per set; 4–8 cavity RMB 16,000–32,000 (≈USD 2,200–4,450) | 45–60 days tooling + 30–60 days glass; plan 90–120 |
The practical read is the same as for the flacon: a discovery set on stock glass with your colour carried by the cap, the label and the box starts near 1,000 sets; a fully custom-coloured family lands around 3,000–5,000 sets; a custom shape belongs to the second order. Commit dates on the quoted cycle × 1.3, add 15 days across Chinese New Year, then sea freight of 25–40 days to Europe or the US East Coast and 15–20 days to the West Coast — the lead-time index has the calendar.
Decoration on a small bottle
The surface is tiny, so keep it to two passes: screen print plus hot stamp is the ceiling before rejects climb. Print position on bottles under 30 ml is held to ±0.5 mm vertical and ±0.25 mm tilt. Frosting (acid-etch) stops below the thread and is usually run with the sprayed batch. On an aluminium atomizer the colour is anodised into the sleeve rather than sprayed on, which is more durable in a pocket and why the custom-tone minimum is higher. A full-wrap label or digital sleeve on a stock vial from about 100–500 pieces is the honest route for a first sampling programme. Process by process, the limits are on decoration process comparison.
The tests a travel size is signed against
A 5 ml mini has the same pump, the same seal and the same alcohol as the 50 ml, with a fraction of the headspace and a much harder life — pockets, handbags, cabin pressure. The pre-shipment protocol on fragrance orders goes beyond the AQL visual check, and it applies to the minis in full.
| Test | Method | Pass threshold |
|---|---|---|
| Atomisation | Sampled pumps sprayed to a target card, compared with the retained golden sample | Even mist, no droplets or streams |
| Priming and dose | Fill to nominal, prime, weigh; 50 strokes, weigh again; ×3 | 0.1–0.2 ml per shot; dosing error within 0.02 g |
| Pump service life | Continuous actuation; n = V total ÷ V per shot × 1.2 | ≥1,500 actuations (a 10 ml on 0.1 ml needs 120) |
| Vacuum leak | Filled, lying and inverted, in a vacuum chamber | −0.08 MPa for 15 min; weight loss ≤0.5% |
| Crimp seal, warm | 20 crimped samples held warm | 40°C for 48 h; any leak at the crimp seat fails |
| Collar torque | Torque meter; overcap cycled | Crimp 58.8–224 N by diameter; screw opening 0.2–0.7 N·m |
| Refillable atomizer fill valve | Bottom-fill from the parent pump, then inverted dwell | Fills without weeping; no leak-back at the valve (agreed per design) |
| Thermal cycling, filled | Oven 48°C 48 h; freezer −15°C 48 h | No cracking, leakage or decoration change |
| Colour migration | Decorated part in 75% ethanol at 48°C for 12 h | No transfer; no lifting of print, foil or spray |
| Acceptance sampling | ISO 2859-1 general level II | AQL critical 0 · major 1.0–1.5 · minor 2.5–4.0 |
Sample pumps are tested with the actual juice, because a sprayer that passes on water and fails on a viscous oil-rich EDP is a compatibility problem, not a pump problem. The four gates and the golden-sample rule are on QC standards; the sprayer specification on airless, pump and sprayer specifications.
Buying travel sizes with the flacon, not after it
Decide the discovery layer with the main bottle. The decoration house colour-matches the family against one Pantone reference in one run, so a 5 ml mini sprayed later is a second set-up with its own 2,000–5,000 minimum and a colour that will not quite match. Keep the collar stock and carry the colour on the cap and the box. And confirm the neck: a 10 ml on 15/415 shares its pump family with a 30 ml on 15/415, which is one supplier and one test sheet instead of two. Conversions for the spec — 5 ml is 0.17 oz and about 4.3–4.5 g of alcohol-based fragrance — are on the unit converter; the sizes themselves on the perfume bottle sizes guide; the rules that make travel sizes sell on can you bring perfume on a plane. One boundary applies to every format: the supplier ships empty packaging, and filled alcohol product is a dangerous-goods shipment that stays with your filler and forwarder. The questions to ask any supplier are on how to evaluate a China packaging supplier.
Vella is a Guangzhou-based beauty packaging solutions provider — a sourcing partner, not a factory — that helps indie and emerging beauty brands specify, source, sample, quality-control and ship complete fragrance packaging systems from vetted partner factories operating to ISO 22716 / GMP. Travel formats are routed to the pump line, glassworks and decorator already tooled for small runs and QC'd as a set with the flacon; the programme is on fragrance packaging solutions and a brief can go to contact.
Frequently asked
Planning minis or a discovery set?
We quote the whole set.
Vial size, quantity and the parent flacon if you have one. We reply within 24 hours with glass, pump and atomizer options, minimums per component and the test sheet.
Send a brief →