By Emmanuelle Vouillamoz · Founder & Creative Director
What we see again and again with beauty brands on Amazon, and how design changes their story.
October 2026 · 5 min read · For Amazon FBA sellers, private label and DTC beauty founders
Most of the beauty founders we meet on Amazon share the same beginning. A good formula found with a manufacturer, a bottle picked from a catalogue, a name decided quickly because the launch date was getting close. Then the listing goes live and sits on page four, surrounded by products that look exactly like it.
We have spent years designing packaging for Max Factor, Rimmel, Bourjois and bareMinerals, and what we learned on the shelf at Boots is just as true on Amazon. People choose the product that looks like a brand they can trust.
When your product looks like everyone else's
For a founder, private label is a smart way to start. The difficulty comes a few months later, when ten other listings share your formula and your bottle, and the shopper has nothing left to compare but the price. Branding is how you step out of that race. It gives your product a name that means something and a story people can repeat to a friend, with colours and a typeface they recognise before they even read. That is what makes someone search for you by name the second time.
On Amazon it also has a very concrete side, because Brand Registry, the door to A+ content and to a Brand Store, starts with a trademark. So when we create a brand for an Amazon seller, we design it for the platform from the very first day. We check how the logo holds at a tiny size and how the colours behave on a white page, long before anything goes to print.
From sketch to colourways · DOWER, a concept brand created by Highlight London for this article
When your pack disappears in the search results
On Amazon your shelf is a small square on a phone screen. The main image has to show the product alone on pure white, without any added text, so the pack has to do all the talking by itself. This is where design makes the difference between a beautiful product and a beautiful product that sells.
We always start from trends, because people arrive on Amazon with their taste already shaped by TikTok and Pinterest, and a pack that feels of its moment is the one they click on. You can see this way of working in our Pinterest Predicts branding studies. Then we shrink every design to the size of a search result and place it next to the best sellers of its category. If it still catches the eye there, with its shape and its colour alone, we are ready for print.
When your listing and your website undersell your product
We often see a lovely product presented with a main image shot on a kitchen table and secondary images covered in text. Shoppers feel that gap straight away, and they keep scrolling. Your listing images should answer their questions one after the other, the way a good sales assistant would in a store. With Brand Registry, your A+ content and your Brand Store can then carry the same colours and the same voice as your pack, so the whole page feels like one brand.
We also encourage every seller to have their own website, even a simple one. It is the place where the brand truly belongs to you, where press and retailers can find you, and where you start to know your customers. When the box that arrives looks exactly like the images that sold it, people trust you, and that trust shows in your reviews.
The pack, the listing and the website telling one story
How we work with Amazon sellers
At Highlight London we take care of the whole journey, from the brand and the pack to the Amazon page and the website, with one creative direction running through all of it. That is what allows a young brand to look established from its very first launch. If you are a founder preparing a launch, or you feel your product deserves better than its current listing, write to us. We are always happy to look at a brand and tell you honestly where we would start.
Questions sellers ask us
Why do Amazon beauty sellers need real branding?
Many beauty products on Amazon share the same manufacturer, the same formula and the same stock bottle. When nothing sets them apart, shoppers simply compare prices. A real brand gives people a name to remember and a reason to come back, and it lets you charge the price your product deserves. On Amazon it is also the starting point of Brand Registry, which requires a trademark and opens the door to A+ content and a Brand Store.
What makes beauty packaging work on Amazon?
On Amazon the pack is the main image, shown alone on a pure white background without any added text. So the design has to speak for itself at the size of a thumbnail on a phone. A strong shape and a confident colour do most of that work, and a pack that feels in tune with current trends is the one people click on.
What images should an Amazon beauty listing include?
After the main image, each picture should answer the next question a shopper would ask, the way a good sales assistant would in a store. When these images, the A+ content and the Brand Store use the same colours and the same voice as the pack, the listing feels like a real brand and converts better.
Do I need a website if I already sell on Amazon?
We always recommend it, even a simple one. Your website is the place where the brand belongs to you, where press and retailers can find you and where you start to know your own customers.
Can one studio design the branding, the packaging, the Amazon listing and the website?
Yes, and it is the best way to look established from the first launch. At Highlight London we design all of it together with one creative direction, so the brand feels the same on the pack, on Amazon and on its own website.
