The archive · Design & Visual · Product decision · 2022–2023
Lancôme's Le 8 Hypnôse swaps plastic for a wavy glass mascara tube
Lancôme redesigned iconic Hypnôse as Le 8 Hypnôse: a thin, wavy glass tube borrowed from perfume packaging, removing plastic without losing French luxury.
Lancôme
What it had to solve
Lancôme's Hypnôse mascara was an icon of French luxury, but it lived in the category's usual plastic packaging. The redesign set out to avoid plastic while rewriting the codes of glamour à la française.
How it works
Lancôme's Hypnôse mascara is an icon of French luxury, but it followed the beauty category's plastic norm. The redesign that became Le 8 Hypnôse set out to avoid plastic altogether while rewriting the codes of glamour à la française.
The answer came from another part of the house: perfume. Designers gave the mascara a thin yet sturdy glass tube with a wavy shape, inspired by fragrance packaging, so the container reads as a precious object rather than a disposable plastic pack.
D&AD's awards archive files Le 8 Hypnôse under Packaging Design and records no sales figures. What the entry documents is the design logic: the mascara's silhouette was treated as the brand statement, making the removal of plastic part of the glamour instead of a quiet concession.
Why it lands
- Perfume flacons already carry the brand's idea of French luxury, so the mascara borrows an emotional code rather than inventing one.
- The wavy glass silhouette is distinctive at shelf distance, turning the container itself into recognition.
- Glass makes the anti-plastic commitment visible in the object rather than in a label claim.
- A pack designed to be kept changes how an everyday mascara is valued and handled.
What it did
D&AD's awards archive files the redesign under Packaging Design. The page records no sales or recycling figures; it documents the object decision — the mascara's own container became the brand's statement that luxury and avoiding plastic could be the same design.
What you can take
When a category's standard packaging is the problem, borrow the codes of a more precious format from the same house: perfume logic made glass feel like an upgrade rather than a sacrifice.
Since then
Le 8 Hypnôse relaunched the Hypnôse franchise as a glass object, and D&AD's awards archive files the pack under Packaging Design. The page reports no sales or plastic-tonnage figures. What the archive preserves is the approach: an iconic mascara redesigned through the codes of perfume, with the plastic removed as part of the luxury argument rather than as an engineering afterthought.
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