Once you've picked your bottle, you need something to get the liquid out of it. That's either a dropper pipette or a dripper insert, and the choice mostly comes down to what's in the bottle. 

Dropper pipettes suit tinctures, water-based products and most oils. Dripper inserts let the liquid out a drop at a time, and the hole size is matched to the formula: 0.6mm for alcohol-based, 1.0mm for water-based, 1.5mm for oils that aren't too thick. 

What we cover below is the difference between the two. Which suits your product, what the pipette bulb is made of and why it matters, and the one thing I’ll always tell you to do before you order.

What’s the difference?

A dropper pipette is the cap with a squeezy bulb on top and a tube underneath. Your customer squeezes the bulb, draws the liquid up, and lets it out where they want it. Our dropper pipettes are DIN18, the size our dropper bottles fit, so they screw straight on. If you need to show a bottle hasn’t been opened, we offer two tamper-evident options. Our Type III “top hat” cap is the better-engineered choice: it’s easy to fit and separates cleanly when opened. A Type II cap also has a tamper-evident ring, though it’s a little less well engineered, and it’s the cheapest way to get a tamper-evident pipette.

A dripper insert is a small plastic or nylon Idle moulding plug with a tiny central hole that fits inside the neck of the bottle to control and dispense liquid in precise drops. Same as our dropper pipettes, the dripper inserts at Quality Bottles are designed in DIN18 with Type II and Type III to support your product’s needs. 

Which one for your product

Start with what your formula is made of. This helps narrow it down faster than anything else.

• Alcohol-based. Pipettes work well here. If your customer needs to know how much they're using, a graduated pipette, with the markings on the tube, helps them measure it. If you'd rather use a dripper, go for the 0.6mm.

• Water-based. Either a dropper pipette or a 1.0mm dripper insert.

• Oils. A dropper pipette works. If it's on the thicker side, add a wiper insert to clean the excess oil off the pipette stem (we’ll cover this below). A 1.5mm dripper is the other option when the oil isn't too thick. 

• Body lotions and serums. These are usually better with a serum pump than either of the above, though a pipette can work.
  
  

Those are the starting points worth testing further to decide which one is best for your product. We recommend testing them before choosing which closure fits your product, as we believe you know your formulation best and how you wish to present it.

Dripper Sizes

If you've gone for a dripper, the next question is which size. You match the size to what's in the bottle.

• 0.6mm for alcohol-based formulas, like tinctures

• 1.0mm for water-based formulas

• 1.5mm for oils, if they're not too thick
  
  

There's one more reason to think about drippers. If you're storing stock for a long time, I prefer them to pipettes. A rubber bulb slowly stiffens over over 2 to 3 years, and faster in daylight. A dripper has no bulb, so they are more resilient for long term storage. You can find these in our Dripper Insert Collection.

If you're using a pipette with a thicker oil, a wiper insert, It helps you cleans the excess oil off the pipette stem as it comes out. 

Bulb Materials: natural rubber or silicone?

The bulb is the part you squeeze, and most of the time its material is decided by how the pipette looks rather than anything else.

• Natural rubber has a slightly matte finish with a bit of shine. It's the most resistant to evaporation through the bulb, and in my view it's the best choice for food-safe use. It does slowly stiffen about 2,5 to 3 years, and faster in daylight, but it's still what most people choose.

• Silicone is shiny, and it's what's usually used for white bulbs. That's because white rubber yellows with age, and silicone stays white. If your brand is built around a clean white look, using a silicone bulb is worth adding.
  
  

There are also TPE and nitrile bulbs. You can check them on both links attached.

One caution before choosing a rubber bulb

For almost everything, rubber bulbs are fine. The exceptions are the formulations like tea tree, grapefruit and some citrus oils, which need extra care with a rubber bulb. If your blend is built on one of those, test it with the bulb you plan to use before you order stock.

Two things make it worse:

• The first is heat: a bulb left in a car can sit at 50–70°C. 

• The second is leaving liquid drawn up in the bulb between uses. If you'd rather not deal with the bulb question at all, a dripper insert has no bulb.
  
  

Always test first

Everything above is a starting point. The final answer has to come from your own product.

The variations in unique formulas are so big that you have to test. As a supplier, we don't give usage advice beyond this. What we advise for most brands is to test your own formulation with the closure you're planning to use before you order in quantity. As we believe in customer satisfaction, we’re open for a request if there are materials you think are perfect for your formulation that we don’t have yet in the collection. You can contact us at info@qualitybottles.co.uk

The easiest way to test is to buy first. Our Discovery Pack gives you 12 bottles and 12 matching closures, so you can try your own formula in them before ordering in quantity. If it's not the right product for you, send it back within 30 days. The only cost to you is the return postage, which is £6.99.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do dropper bottles come with a pipette?

No. Our dropper bottles are sold on their own, so add your pipette or dripper insert to the same order and it all arrives together. The exception is the Discovery Pack, which comes with pipettes. Our pipettes and dripper inserts are DIN18, the same neck as our glass dropper bottles, so they fit together.

Will a pipette from another supplier fit your bottles?

DIN18 tells you the thread size, but collar height and pipette length can still differ between suppliers. If you’re mixing suppliers, order a few of each and test them with your actual formula before a full run. If you’re unsure, email us what you’ve got and we’ll tell you whether it fits.

How long should the pipette be for my bottle?

Match the pipette to the bottle size: a 30ml bottle takes a 30ml pipette. Get it wrong and it’s either too long to fit or too short to reach the last few ml of your customer’s serum. If you’re unsure which pipette goes with which bottle, email us before you order.

Can I switch from a pipette to a dripper insert without changing bottles?

Yes. Our pipettes and dripper inserts share the same DIN18 neck as our glass dropper bottles, so you can keep the bottle and change the closure. A dripper insert also needs a cap on top, so add one to your order. Handy if your formula behaves differently from how you expected. Test a few before switching your whole run.

Conclusion

The bottle is what your customer sees first. The closure is what they actually use every day, so it's worth getting right before you scale up.

Once you've chosen between a pipette and a dripper, the next question is how to make sure the closure seals properly. Until that post is up, you can browse every bottle and closure together in our glass dropper bottles.