Cosmetics have been around for a long time. The Egyptians used kohl which was a mixture of metal, lead, copper and ash with burnt almonds. This mixture was meant to ward off evil spirits. The ancient Greeks and Romans also used to paint their faces with powders of ground minerals and stones. Cosmetics have some interesting history behind their beginnings and here is a list based upon the best and wildest campaigns in the best cosmetic brands.
10. Covergirl – A Lasting Tradition
Covergirl is known to just about everyone because of its use of celebrities on its ad campaigns. This list is jaw dropping and includes old school celebs such as Christie Brinkley and Tyra Banks. But is it really all that? Most women like and go back to Covergirl in their lives at one time or another because it does have the power to cover as it states and it is a time tested product that brings a comfort for most ladies because it is the one they usually started out using and use again for different products.
9. Maybelline started from a little boys inspiration.
Maybelline was started in Chicago and was reported to be inspired by an incident in Tom Lyle Williams life when a kitchen stove fire that singed his sisters lashes and brows changed history as he watched in awe his sister Mabel performed what she called a “secret of the harem.” With a mixture of petroleum jelly with coal dust and ash from a burnt cork and applying it to her lashes and brows. A legacy for the soap opera channel the family history is colored with a wide array of dysfunction but to this day Maybelline is a top selling cosmetic with great mascara as its main attractant for ladies at large.
8. Revlon
Revlon was started in the midst of the Great Depression and its first line of products were nail enamels. In 1950 Revlon produced a lipstick called “Where’s the fire?” A nail enamel by the same name was produced to match. In 1945 the ads were drawn in black and white but the change to color was dramatic and upped the popularity for its company’s Owner Charles Revson who started the company along with his brother Joseph and a chemist named Charles Lachman and is why the company introduced the L in Revlon. By the end of WWII Revlon was listed as one of America’s top five cosmetic brands.
7. Estee Lauder
Estee Lauder was started in 1946 by Mrs.Estee Lauder. Mrs. Lauder started the company on one premise that “every women can be beautiful.” Mrs. Lauder is known for her notable quotes such as “Beauty is an attitude.” Mrs. Lauder certainly developed one of the best cosmetics brands. In the 1980′s ad campaign model Paulina Porizkova helped to over take Revlon’s success of the seventies.
6. Elizabeth Arden
Elizabeth Arden is one of the oldest cosmetics companies out there starting in 1910 in a salon on New York’s Fifth Avenue. Miss Arden grew her company at an impressive rate as one of the best cosmetic brands and became one of the wealthiest women in the world. A notable history factoid is that Miss Arden participated in the suffrage movement playing her part by supplying lipsticks to the suffragettes. In the 1930′s the company was pulling in an estimated four million a year. Still going strong in today’s market the company is said to be worth 1.3 billion.
5. Max Factor
Max Factor is called the “The Father of Modern Makeup” at the age of eight Max was placed in an apprenticeship to a pharmacist and that is said to be where his interest bloomed in cosmetics. With a wide variety of firsts Max Factor Sr. was known for his inventions in cosmetics with one of the first being pancake makeup that replaced grease paint in Hollywood films. The pancake make up was said to replace the glare that came from grease paint in film producing. Hollywood certainly has seen Max Factor as one of the best cosmetic brands for their industry.
4. Avon
Avon is strictly American and would you believe the first Avon Lady was a man? Well it’s true and that is how it started it’s largely known and word of mouth campaign using door to door salesmen David McConnell started Avon calling in 1886 offering women cosmetics in the comfort of their own home. Mrs. P.F.E Albee was the first female Avon lady, a little widow from Winchester, New York. She began recruiting women and by 1887 McConnell had 12 women employees and the rest is history. Affordable and pragmatic Avon is considered one of the best cosmetic brands by average every day ladies by far.
3. Merle Norman
Merle Norman cosmetics was begun in 1931 and is family owned. To this day Merle Norman adheres to a “Try before you Buy” campaign and guarantees their products with an open return policy. Merle Norman is pretty average in their history with a growth that has enveloped over years of loyal customers and it made this list because personally it’s one of my favorites and one of the best cosmetic brands out there. The “try before you buy” philosophy is an awesome one and getting samples is always a wonderful prize in your bag when you buy from Merle Norman Cosmetics.
2. Mary Kay
Mary Kay has a long history behind her success as a cosmetic mogul much like Donald Trump she was lavish and offered tours through her offices to show off her lavish lifestyle including a gold toilet seat in her own personal office which she loved showing off. Her trademark for her cosmetics line was pink casing that was unique and beautiful with colors and pallets that produced an artistry effect to make up as we know it and that’s how the business boomed with word of mouth and incentives like pink Cadillacs for the largest sales. They have a great line of moisturizers though that to this day cannot be beat for moisturizing the skin and Mary Kay had the proof in the pudding looking beautiful until her passing in 2001.
1. Clinique
Now you may be wondering why Clinique made number one and I will tell you straight forward it is because out of all the ones listed it is the best all around line of cosmetics. Clinique has a mass appeal and has stayed popular not for its ad campaigns but for its products which are by far the best in quality for any skin type. Clinique is typically sold in department stores. Their skin care line is the best in a consensus opinion not using gimmicks or sales tricks but using good old fashioned quality it outsells the rest on that level for certain. It is one of the best cosmetic brands.
Ladies have their favorites and usually either stick to one line of cosmetics or combine products from all lines to make up a skin regimen but cosmetics as a business is going nowhere but upwards. New and old cosmetics are here to stay.
