Top 5 Beauty Brands in the U.K.

Benefit Cosmetics

Benefit Cosmetics LLC is a cosmetics manufacturer based in San Francisco, California, with over 2,000 counters in more than 30 countries. It is a division of LVMH. On September 14, 1999, LVMH acquired Benefit Cosmetics. Bathina, Benefit’s first bath, and boudoir line debuted in 2001. Benefit opened its first “Brow Bar” (brow shaping boutique) in 2003 at Macy’s Union Square in San Francisco.

Jean’s daughters Maggie and Annie joined the company in 2008, focusing on the company’s Home Shopping Network business as well as store openings worldwide. On April 21, 2012, Benefit Cosmetics set a Guinness World Record for the most brow waxes performed by a team in 8 hours, completing 382 brow waxes.

Rimmel London

Rimmel (formerly Rimmel London) is a British multinational cosmetics company that is now owned by parent company Coty, Inc. Eugène Rimmel established the House of Rimmel as a perfumery in Regent Street, London, England, in 1834. Eugène Rimmel came to create many make-up products, including his best-known, mascara, within a year of opening. It gave rise to the term ‘Rimmel’ being used to mean ‘mascara’ in many Mediterranean languages.

With creative success with these products, Rimmel London began creating products such as pomades and mouth rinses. Today, the brand is one of the world’s most popular make-up producers. “Live the London Look,” says Rimmel’s company motto. Kate Moss, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Lily Cole, Ayumi Hamasaki, and ITV’s Holly Willoughby were the faces of Rimmel.

It was announced in October 2009 that Jerry Hall, Georgia May Jagger, and Canadian supermodel Coco Rocha would be joining the list of spokeswomen. Rimmel announced that they had signed Zooey Deschanel, Solange Knowles, and Alejandra Ramos Munoz to help the brand launch into the global marketplace just days after Rocha’s first campaign was released. Rimmel announced a makeup collection collaboration with British singer Rita Ora in September 2013. Rimmel named British model Cara Delevingne as one of their brand’s faces in April 2016.

L’Oréal Paris

L’Oréal S.A. is a French cosmetics and personal care company based in Clichy, Hauts-de-Seine, with a registered office in Paris. It is the world’s largest cosmetics company, with activities focusing on hair color, skincare, sun protection, make-up, perfume, and hair care. . L’Oréal has twenty-one global research and development centers, including three in France: Aulnay, Chevilly, and Saint-Ouen. Six regional poles have been established in the United States: Clark, New Jersey; Japan: Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture; Shanghai, China in 2005; Mumbai, India; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; and Johannesburg, South Africa.

• L’Oréal currently owns 36 brands and is expanding. The company had 497 patents as of October 4, 2021.
• L’Oréal bought Synthélabo in 1973 to pursue its pharmaceutical ambitions. In 1999, Synthélabo merged with Sanofi to form Sanofi.
• Synthélabo. In 2004, Sanofi-Synthélabo merged with Aventis to form Sanofi-Aventis.
• L’Oréal paid £562 million for the cosmetics company The Body Shop on March 17, 2006.
• L’Oréal paid $1.8 billion for YSL Beauté in May 2008.
• L’Oréal completed the $840 million acquisition of major Chinese beauty brand Magic Holdings in January 2014.
• L’Oréal agreed to buy IT Cosmetics for $1.2 billion in July 2016.
• ModiFace, a beauty augmented reality company, was acquired by L’Oréal in March 2018.
• L’Oréal announced a new beauty and fragrance partnership with Valentino in May 2018.
• L’Oréal announced the acquisition of the vegan skincare brand Youth.

The Body Shop

The Body Shop International Limited, doing business as The Body Shop, is a British cosmetics, skincare, and fragrance company.

Anita Roddick founded the company in 1976, and it now has a range of 1,000 products sold in about 3,000 stores in over 65 countries, divided between company-owned and franchised outlets.

Originally based in Brighton, the company is now based in London Bridge and Littlehampton, West Sussex, and is owned by the Natura & Co group of Brazilian cosmetics companies. Between 2006 and 2017, the company was owned by L’Oréal, a French cosmetics company. L’Oréal sold the company to Natura for £880 million in September 2017. The Body Shop has a wide range of products for the body, face, hair, and home. The Body Shop claims that its products are “inspired by nature,” and that they contain ingredients sourced through the Community Trade programs, such as marula oil and sesame seed oil.

Among the products are:

• Butters for the body (including Moringa, Satsuma, Strawberry, Olive, Shea, Mango, and Coconut).
• Body care items like body scrub, body butter, and bath lilies Cosmetics (including mascara, lipstick, lip gloss, eye shadow, and cotton rounds).
• Complete skincare lines (including Tea tree, Vitamin C, Vitamin E, Aloe vera, and Seaweed).
• Skincare for men (Including maca root and white musk).
• Hair maintenance (including their famous Banana shampoo and Banana conditioner).
• Women’s and Men’s Fragrances.
• Shower gels and solid soaps are examples of bath products.

Maybelline New York

Maybelline New York (formerly The Maybelline Company and Mabelline and Co., trading as Maybelline) is a New York City-based American multinational cosmetics, skincare, fragrance, and personal care company. It was established in 1914 in Chicago and has been a subsidiary of the French cosmetics company L’Oréal since 1996. In 1915, pharmacist Thomas Lyle Williams established the Maybelline Company in Chicago. Williams noticed his older sister Mabel applying Vaseline and coal dust to her eyelashes to make them appear darker and fuller. He modified it with a chemistry set and created Lash-Brow-Ine, a locally sold product. Maybelline, Maybelline Ooh La La was the company’s advertising slogan from 1981 until 1991, when it was changed to Maybe she was born with it, maybe it’s Maybelline. According to CBS Outdoor, the slogan is one of the most memorable slogans of the last 150 years.