Print Custom Colour Beauty and Cosmetic Labels In-House

It depends on the product. For dry items like powders, palettes, soaps, and boxed sets, matte paper gives a clean, premium finish that is popular with natural and skincare brands, and gloss paper adds vibrant retail pop. For anything that gets wet or oily, such as shampoo, body wash, lotion, and bath products, use waterproof synthetic rolls: Matte Polypropylene for a soft finish or Glossy Polypropylene for a bright one. Synthetic labels resist water, steam, and oils far better than paper.

Yes, with the right material. Waterproof synthetic labels (Matte or Glossy Polypropylene) are made for bath and body products that face shower spray, humidity, and oil-based contents; they keep ingredient text and barcodes legible where paper would smear or lift. Matte and gloss paper labels resist incidental moisture for dry retail products but are not made for constant wet contact. Our team can recommend the right face stock and adhesive for your product and container.

Common formats are 2″ x 2″ for jars and tins (creams, balms, scrubs), 2″ x 6″ for bottle wraps (shampoo, lotion, serum), and 2″ x 1″ for small items like lip balm, droppers, and samples. The CW-C4000 and CW-C6000A print up to 4.4″ wide and the CW-C8000 up to 8″ wide, covering everything from sample sizes to large boxed-set labels. Contact us if you need help selecting the right size for your containers.

The CW-C4000 suits smaller brands printing at lower volumes where up to 1200 dpi resolution is a priority, and it is the printer that runs our waterproof Matte Polypropylene rolls. It locks to Matte Black or Gloss Black ink at purchase, so choose the ink that matches your media; our team can advise on the right pairing. The CW-C6000A suits mid-volume brands printing 4″ wide labels at 11 ips with auto-cutter output, and runs Glossy Polypropylene for waterproof bottle labels. The CW-C8000 suits high-volume production at up to 12 ips, with an 8″ print width and a high-yield 1.9 L ink system. Note: the CW-C6000P peel-and-present model is no longer available; the CW-C6000A is the current equivalent.

Yes. Fields like batch or lot code, period-after-opening, expiry date, and per-product ingredient (INCI) lists change between products and runs. With label design software that supports database-linked variable data, each label receives the correct values automatically as the roll advances. NiceLabel and BarTender both support variable data printing with all three ColorWorks models, with no per-version setup fee.

Cosmetics sold in Canada must be notified to Health Canada (Cosmetic Notification) and labelled under the Cosmetic Regulations and the Consumer Packaging and Labelling Act: the product identity and function, net quantity in metric, the full ingredient list using INCI names, the name and address of the manufacturer or importer, and any required warnings or directions, in both English and French. Printing in-house lets you update artwork the moment a formula or requirement changes. Always verify current Health Canada requirements before a production run.

There is no minimum order when printing in-house. You can print a few labels for a sample run or thousands for a retail launch, from the same roll, with no setup fees between jobs. This suits brands with many SKUs, frequent reformulations, and limited or seasonal editions. The per-label cost depends on how many rolls you buy at once, not on how many labels you print per job.

The CW-C6000A and CW-C8000 install as standard Windows or Mac printers and work with any software that prints to a connected printer, including NiceLabel, BarTender, Adobe Illustrator, and Canva. The CW-C4000 additionally supports ZPL II and connects via USB, Ethernet, or serial. No proprietary driver or subscription is required; the printer prints from your existing label design workflow.