Empire wanted to replicate the big-screen feel in print to commemorate the release of the film Prometheus, a prequel to the 1979 blockbuster Alien.

Celloglas instantly turned to Mirri board, but sales director Steve Middleton said: "Empire wanted something that was more attractive with more shimmer – they wanted more ‘bang’ for their money."

Reading-based Celloglas created a dye to emboss and apply the foil in one pass. The team discovered printing full colour over this foil – something that has never been done before - achieved the desired grainy effect on the masthead and around the cover girl’s head, creating a "halo effect". An injection of fluorescent yellow "brought it to life".

Empire’s art director Martin Barry said: "Because we used a holographic foil rather than it being flat, the colours bounce all over the place and the image moves as you walk past it."

It took five weeks of perfecting on a digital printer with the unusual feature of opaque white on the press before the cover went to wet proof.