What a fragrance packaging system costs and takes, in one paragraph.
A perfume pack is a glass flacon (30, 50 or 100 ml), a fine-mist pump on a crimp FEA 15 or screw 15/415 / 18/415 neck, a cap, a collar and a rigid box. A reed-diffuser pack is a 100-200 ml short-neck bottle, a stopper or collar and cap, reeds and a box. A candle pack is a 200-500 g straight-wall vessel, a lid, a label and a box. On stock glass none of them needs a mould; the minimum is set by decoration, and decoration is set up per shape, so the honest floor is around 1,000 sets for a stock-glass family and 3,000-5,000 sets once every component carries a sprayed custom colour. Glass decoration adds roughly RMB 0.5-1.1 (approx. USD 0.07-0.15) per bottle for spray, RMB 0.1 (USD 0.014) per colour for screen print and RMB 0.4 (USD 0.055) per design for hot stamp, depending on coverage and colour difficulty. The rest of this page gives the three product systems as tables, the crimp-versus-screw decision, the decoration minimums, the pump test protocol and the one boundary we hold on dangerous goods.
For the flacon itself in full depth, go to the perfume bottle supplier page; it is the flagship of this programme and carries the component-by-component minimums this page summarises. The numbers behind the glass are on glass bottle specifications, and the numbers behind the neck are on neck finish and closure standards.
The perfume system: flacon, pump, cap, collar, box.
The commercial spine is 30 / 50 / 100 ml for eau de parfum, with 10 ml travel sprays and 2 ml vials as the discovery layer. Each row below is a separate factory with a separate minimum; a published figure of 5,000 means 5,000 of each part, not 5,000 sets.
| Component | Material and options | MOQ floor (industry / partner practice) | Mould or set-up cost | Lead time (factory gate) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Glass flacon 30 / 50 / 100 ml | Super-flint or crystal-white soda-lime glass; standard flint where sprayed; blow-blow or press forming; FEA 15 crimp neck or 15/415, 18/415 screw neck | 500-1,000 stock clear · 3,000-5,000 sprayed · 10,000+ own mould | None on stock; glass mould RMB 2,500-4,000 per set (approx. USD 350-555), 4-8 cavity set RMB 16,000-32,000 (USD 2,200-4,450); a full custom flacon programme is commonly quoted at USD 8,000-20,000 tooling | Stock 15-25 days · sprayed 30-40 days · made-to-order glass 30-60 days plus 45-60 days tooling |
| Fine-mist pump | Crimp (aluminium collar, semi- or full-crimp) or screw (plastic collar); SUS304 spring; 0.1-0.2 ml per shot; neck 12.5-24 mm chosen to the bottle | ~1,000 stock silver / gold · 10,000 custom-colour collar | Stock tooling; a proprietary pump has many components and costly tooling, so stock is the default | Ships with the flacon; IQC-sampled before assembly |
| Cap | Sprayed ABS, anodised aluminium, wood, magnetic-close, electroplated accents | 2,000-5,000 sprayed ABS · 5,000-10,000 magnetic or plated | Spray fixtures and colour matching; plating line set up for your tone alone | Sprayed 30-40 days; plating about 6 h per cycle once racked |
| Collar / ferrule | Aluminium, anodised or sprayed, matched to the pump | Stock silver / gold lower · 10,000 custom tone | Anodising fixtures; a second anodising batch rarely matches the first without a control sample | 25-40 days for anodised aluminium |
| Rigid box | Rigid or folding board, EVA or paper insert, hot stamp, soft-touch laminate | 1,000-2,000 | Hot-stamp die and print plates; small one-off | Cut after the flacon is confirmed; the insert is measured off the approved sample |
The practical read. A fully custom-coloured family lands around 3,000-5,000 sets. Below that, the honest route is a stock flacon and a stock collar with your colour carried by the cap, the box and the print. It reads premium on shelf and starts near 1,000 sets. The collar is usually the constraint on a small custom-colour run, and the usual fix is a stock collar with a custom cap.
The reed-diffuser system: bottle, stopper or collar, reeds, box.
A diffuser leaks or evaporates too fast when the neck, the reducer plug and the cap are bought as three items instead of one system. The neck finish is written on the bottle drawing first; the closure is bought to it.
| Component | Material and options | MOQ floor (industry / partner practice) | Mould or set-up cost | Lead time (factory gate) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Diffuser bottle 100-200 ml | Short-neck round or square glass; high-flint or standard flint; clear, frosted, sprayed matte or inside-spray tint | Low thousands on stock glass · 2,000-5,000 sprayed · 30,000+ made-to-order | None on stock; glass mould from RMB 2,500 (approx. USD 350) per set if a shape is cut | Stock 15-25 days · sprayed 30-40 days · glass 30-60 days |
| Stopper, collar and cap, or reducer plug | Plastic reducer plug (PE / PP) with screw cap; aluminium or sprayed collar; glass or wood stopper as a premium option | 2,000-5,000 sprayed · 10,000 electroplated or custom-tone anodised | Spray fixtures; plating line set-up drives the 10,000 | With the bottle; matched to the neck drawing |
| Reeds | Rattan or fibre reeds, natural or dyed black; length chosen to bottle height | Rarely the constraint | None | Stocked |
| Box | Folding carton or rigid box, E-flute or laminated board, hot stamp, insert | 2,000-5,000 folding or rigid; digital print reaches lower for simple cartons | Hot-stamp die and print plates | After bottle approval |
The candle system: vessel, lid, label, box.
A candle vessel has to take burn temperature without stress cracking, which is a glass-forming question rather than a decoration one. We specify annealed, appropriately thick candle glass that is rated for candle use, tested for internal stress to GB 4545 and thermal shock to GB/T 4547, and not a repurposed cosmetic jar.
| Component | Material and options | MOQ floor (industry / partner practice) | Mould or set-up cost | Lead time (factory gate) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Glass vessel 200-500 g | Straight-wall, thick-base pressed or blown glass; clear, frosted, sprayed matte Pantone, soft-touch coating | Low thousands stock · 2,000-5,000 sprayed · 30,000+ made-to-order | None on stock; glass mould RMB 2,500-4,000 per set (approx. USD 350-555) if a shape is cut | Stock 15-25 days · sprayed 30-40 days · glass 30-60 days |
| Lid | Matching glass lid, metal lid (anodised or powder-coated aluminium, tinplate), wood or bamboo | 2,000-5,000 sprayed or powder-coated · 10,000 electroplated | Powder coat cures at 185°C for 15 min; anodising fixtures; plating set-up drives the 10,000 | Aluminium components 25-40 days |
| Label or direct decoration | Pressure-sensitive label from ~500 pcs; screen print RMB 0.1 per colour; hot stamp RMB 0.4 per design; frosting | Labels ~500 · screen print 2,000 | Screens and dies, a small one-off | +5-7 days for screen print or hot stamp on top of the glass cycle |
| Box | Folding carton or rigid box with insert; kraft or laminated board | 2,000-5,000; below about 1,000 the printer cannot nest the sheet economically | Print plates and hot-stamp die | After vessel approval |
Empty vessels are the default. Where a brand wants finished poured candles, that is coordinated separately through partner factories because pouring, wick-centring and cure are their own specialism; the packaging order stays a packaging order. The existing home fragrance packaging page shows how candle, diffuser and room spray share one design language.
Crimp or screw, decided in one table.
This choice fixes the neck on the glass drawing, your filler's equipment and whether the bottle can ever be refilled. It cannot be changed after the glass order.
| Question | Crimp (FEA 15) | Screw (15/415 · 18/415) |
|---|---|---|
| Look | Seamless, classic fine fragrance | Visible collar; near-identical from arm's length with a good anodised collar |
| Filling | Requires a crimping machine; confirm the filler's capability in writing before ordering glass | Any filler, including hand filling at small scale |
| Refillable | No; the pump is permanent and a failed crimp scraps the bottle | Yes; relevant for EU PPWR-era sustainability claims |
| Spray quality | Finest, most even mist | Very good from a fragrance-grade pump; poor from a generic toner pump. A pump-quality question, not a thread question |
| Thread engagement | Crimped aluminium collar, torque verified 58.8-224 N by diameter | 415 series, 2 thread turns, tall neck; opening torque 0.2-0.7 N·m |
| Our honest default | Prestige positioning with a proper co-packer | First indie launch, unless crimping capability is confirmed in writing |
One Pantone, one run, one hand.
Sprayed lacquer on glass, an anodised or sprayed collar, a sprayed ABS or wood cap and printed laminated board are four materials that only match if they are developed against one Pantone reference and approved together. We run the family's decoration in one coordinated pass and you approve physical samples of every component side by side, in one hand, before production. Two rules from our matched-collection guide apply here with force: a spray minimum attaches to the shape, not the colour, so a flacon, a diffuser bottle and a candle vessel in one colour are three spray set-ups; and moulded-in colour and sprayed colour do not match each other even when both match the chip.
| Glass decoration | Set-up that drives the minimum | Realistic minimum | Indicative add-on cost (depending on coverage and colour) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spray coating (matte, gloss, gradient, inside-spray tint) | Spray line set up, run and cleaned down for your tone; 7-step pre-treatment, 20 min dry | 2,000-5,000 per shape; 3,000-5,000 on clear perfume glass | RMB 0.5-1.1 per bottle (approx. USD 0.07-0.15) |
| Frosting (acid-etch) | Etch pass on finished clear glass; frost stops below the thread; no bright spots on the A face | Moderate; typically with the sprayed run | Per bottle, by size |
| Screen print | A screen per colour; cylinder counts as one colour, a shaped flacon as two or more | 2,000 | RMB 0.1 per colour (approx. USD 0.014); high-temperature ink is duller, low-temperature ink brighter but weaker |
| Hot stamp | A die, cut once and reusable; ≤2 passes combined with screen print | Small one-off | RMB 0.4 per design (approx. USD 0.055) |
| Electroplating or vacuum metallising (caps, collars, accents) | Plating line configured for your tone; ~6 h per metallising cycle | 10,000; not moved by any supplier | Medium to high; exterior components only, never in contact with the formula |
| Soft-touch coating | Additional coat over the spray; anti-fingerprint layer recommended for candles | With the sprayed run | Per bottle, by size |
Adhesion is verified the same way on every process: 3M 600 tape over print and hot stamp, 3M 810 over cross-hatched spray and plating, ten passes, pulled at 45°, no lift. The full menu and the process limits are on decoration process comparison.
The pump QC protocol.
Around six in ten fragrance packaging failures are pump failures: weak atomisation, leak-back, dead pumps out of the box. Glass rarely fails; sprayers do. So our pre-shipment inspection on a fragrance order goes beyond the standard AQL visual check and sits under the four gates on our QC standards page.
| Check | Method | Pass threshold |
|---|---|---|
| Atomisation | Sampled pumps sprayed to a target card; pattern compared with the retained golden sample | Even mist, no droplets or streams |
| Priming and dose | Fill to nominal, prime, weigh; 50 strokes, weigh again; repeat three times | Primes within the specified stroke count; 0.1-0.2 ml per shot; dosing error within 0.02 g |
| Service life | Continuous actuation; n = V total ÷ V per shot × 1.2 safety factor | ≥1,500 actuations |
| Leak | Sealed units, inverted dwell; vacuum chamber for volatile bulks | -0.08 MPa for 15 min, loss ≤0.5% |
| Collar torque | Torque meter on the crimped or screwed collar | 58.8-224 N by diameter; overcap cycled open and closed with no cracking or loosening |
| Fit as a set | Pump on bottle, cap on collar, flacon in box insert | Components QC'd together, not in isolation; colour at agreed ΔE under D65 light |
| Retained sample | Sealed golden sample kept for the life of the programme | Reorders checked against the same physical reference |
A sprayer that passes on water and fails on your juice is a viscosity or compatibility question, which is why sample pumps are tested with your actual bulk. Alcohol above 30% attacks PET, so the flacon is glass and any plastic in the pump path is checked against the formula; see the formula-to-packaging compatibility matrix. Full sprayer specifications are on airless, pump and sprayer specifications.
Empty packaging only. Filled alcohol product is dangerous goods, and it is yours.
We supply empty packaging. Once filled, an alcohol-based fragrance ships as dangerous goods; the classification, the documentation and the carrier are your filler's and your freight forwarder's domain. That boundary does not change for a room spray or a diffuser oil. What we do control is the empty pack in transit: double-wall B/C or A/B cartons, suspended trays and air-column bags rated at 200 kg or more and tested to ISTA 3A, one cell per bottle, a polythene liner in each carton, and a target breakage on arrival of 0.3% or below, agreed up front rather than argued afterwards. Empty packaging is volume rather than weight, so sea is typically 5-8 times cheaper per cubic metre than air, at 25-40 days to Europe or the US East Coast. The packing specification is on export packing and transit standards.
Lead time for a fragrance family, by route.
| Route | Samples | Production (factory gate) | Buffered commitment (×1.3) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stock flacon, undecorated, stock pump and collar, printed box | 7-10 days; stock samples usually free with courier at your cost | 15-25 days | 20-33 days; +15 days if the order touches Chinese New Year |
| Stock glass, sprayed custom colour across flacon, cap and box | Colour development and sprayed samples 10-14 days; decorated sample fees credited against the first order | 30-40 days after approval | 39-52 days |
| Custom flacon from a new mould | 45-60 days tooling, then first shots and a 500-piece trial run at ≥95% yield | 30-60 days made-to-order glass | Plan on a 90-120-day full programme |
| Reed diffuser or candle family on stock glass, sprayed | 10-14 days | 30-40 days | 39-52 days |
Spray coating, plating and glass furnaces are the first processes curtailed during environmental restrictions, most frequent from November to March, which is why decoration-heavy fragrance programmes carry the highest exposure and why the buffer exists. For a Q1 launch in the US or Europe, the golden sample should be signed and the deposit paid by the first week of December. The full calendar is on lead time and the China production calendar.
How the six-module program applies to fragrance and home fragrance packaging.
Every Vella project runs through the same six modules, described on how we work. Here is what each one does for fragrance and home fragrance packaging, and the document you receive at the end of it.
| Module | What we do for this category | Deliverable |
|---|---|---|
| 1 · Spec | Capacity, glass grade, neck (FEA 15 or 415), pump dose, collar type, cap material, box style and insert; Pantone reference; A/B/C surface classes for clear glass | Packaging Spec Sheet |
| 2 · Source | Route each component to the glassworks, pump line, cap and collar decorator and box maker already tooled for the run size; two to three options with minimums and lead times side by side | Quote + Supplier Options |
| 3 · Sample | Sprayed and printed samples of every component approved together in one hand; sample pumps tested with your actual juice | Golden Sample + Compatibility Report |
| 4 · Mould | Only where a custom flacon is justified: glass mould quoted per set, 30/40/30 payment, ownership with the brand and transfer right written in | Mould Ownership Agreement |
| 5 · QC | Four gates plus the pump protocol: atomisation, dose, life, leak, torque, fit as a set; colour at agreed ΔE under D65 | Inspection Report |
| 6 · Ship | Box cut after glass confirmation; suspended-tray glass packing to ISTA 3A; empty packaging only; one consolidated shipment from all factories | Production Calendar + Packing Standard |
A sourcing partner, not a glassworks.
Vella is a Guangzhou-based beauty packaging solutions provider that helps indie and emerging cosmetic brands specify, source, sample, tool, quality-control and ship complete packaging systems — bottles, jars, tubes, pumps, closures and cartons — from vetted Chinese partner factories operating to ISO 22716 / GMP, with published engineering standards and low minimums.
Fragrance is where that model earns its keep, because a perfume pack is five components from three or four factories and nobody at any one of them is paid to make the cap match the bottle. We are, and the flagship perfume bottle supplier page shows what that looks like piece by piece. For a first launch with fewer than three SKUs, the indie brand launch plan covers budget, timeline and samples; for what the minimums look like across every route, see low MOQ cosmetic packaging. All solution pages are listed on the packaging solutions hub, and a brief can go straight to contact.
Frequently asked
All solutions · Skincare · Makeup · Haircare & bodycare · Sustainable & refill · Indie brand launch · How to evaluate a Chinese packaging supplier
The questions brands ask us most.
- Can You Bring Perfume on a Plane? TSA, EU and UK Liquid Rules for Perfume and Cologne (2026) and Which Bottle Sizes Pass
- Crimp (FEA 15) vs Screw Pump for a 50 ml Perfume Bottle: Which Should an Indie Fragrance Brand Choose?
- Custom Perfume Bottle MOQ, Mould Cost and Lead Time from China (2026)
- How Long Does Perfume Last? Shelf Life, Storage, and How the Bottle Affects It
- Matching Flacon, Pump, Cap, Collar and Box: How Perfume Packaging Stays One Colour
- Perfume Bottle Sizes Explained: 1 oz, 1.7 oz, 3.4 oz (30/50/100 ml), Sprays per Bottle and Which Size to Launch
- Perfume Bottles Wholesale vs Custom: Stock Flacon with Decoration or Private Mould?
- Perfume & Fragrance Glass Bottles from China: A Sourcing Guide
- Square Perfume Bottles: Stock Shapes, Custom Moulds, Decoration MOQ and Cap Options (Surlyn, Wood, Zamac)
- Travel Size Perfume Bottles and Atomizers: 5–10 ml Refillable Sprays, MOQ and Sourcing from China
Not sure what to specify? Use the Packaging Spec Builder — formula, volume, quantity and launch date in, a 12-line spec sheet with MOQ verdict and order-by date out.
Tell us the flacon, the diffuser or the candle; we quote the whole set.
Size, quantity, crimp or screw if you know it, and your colour direction. We come back within 24 hours with matching families and indicative FOB pricing for every component, bottle to box.