Their limited-edition Lip Mark(er) borrows the visual language of STABILO's highlighters for a matte lip tint. The angled applicator has two intended uses: its flat side applies colour, while its edge defines the lip contour. STABILO describes the colour as buildable. Those are the brands' product claims; we have not independently tested the formula.

The collection was reported as launching on 5 November in markets including the UK, with five shades. That makes it a useful November story for more than its timing. The design shows how two very different businesses can find a common action and turn it into something legible.

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The shape is doing the advertising

Many collaborations ask the customer to understand a relationship between two names. This one begins with a physical memory. You may have used a similar object to mark revision notes, colour-code a diary or organise a desk. That familiarity makes the new use noticeable.

The shared idea is applying colour with a precise tip. It gives the partnership a reason to exist beyond the novelty of seeing cosmetics next to stationery. Even without the campaign caption, the form suggests what the two brands might have found interesting about one another.

There is a useful design lesson here. A recognisable asset can be a proportion, a closure, an application gesture or a surface finish. A logo is only one possibility. When a brand has built familiarity around the object itself, it has something substantial to bring into a collaboration. Our guide to packaging and brand recognition explores how the object can carry that identity.

The test is simple: cover the names and ask whether the idea remains understandable. In this case, the highlighter silhouette still does a great deal of work. That is what makes the product especially suited to a close-up photograph or a short demonstration.

Nostalgia with a present use

The memory may attract attention, but a customer still needs a lip colour they want to wear. A collaboration has to work at both distances: intriguing from across a feed and useful when it is in a hand. The angled tip gives KIKO and STABILO a way to connect those two experiences.

That does not prove the application is better than an ordinary lip product. It gives the brands a specific feature to demonstrate. Showing how the broad side and narrow edge behave is more informative than asking the audience to admire the packaging alone. The same practical concern runs through our guide to beauty packaging, which considers the dispenser as part of the product experience.

It also creates a natural gifting proposition. Someone who likes both beauty and stationery is a much more vivid recipient than the generic person who apparently wants every item in every Christmas gift guide. The object does the work of making the recommendation personal.

What a smaller brand could take from it

Start a collaboration discussion by putting the two products on a table. Look at what people do with them, which details they recognise and where one company's expertise could improve the other's offer. If the only connection is that both brands have attractive Instagram accounts, there may be more work to do.

Then prototype the object before developing a sprawling campaign. Can someone understand it without a paragraph of explanation? Does the borrowed detail change the experience? Will the product remain appealing after the first joke has landed?

KIKO and STABILO have an unusually direct answer to the first question. The next test belongs to the people who use it. Good packaging earns the first look; the product still has to earn its place in the make-up bag.