Maybelline
Encyclopedia
- For the Chuck Berry song, see MaybelleneMaybellene"Maybellene" is a song recorded by Chuck Berry, adapted from the traditional fiddle tune "Ida Red" that tells the story of a hot rod race and a broken romance. It was released in July 1955 as a single on Chess Records of Chicago, Illinois. It was Berry's first single release and his first hit...
.
Maybelline is an American makeup brand sold worldwide and owned by L'Oréal
L'Oréal
The L'Oréal Group is the world's largest cosmetics and beauty company. With its registered office in Paris and head office in the Paris suburb of Clichy, Hauts-de-Seine, France, it has developed activities in the field of cosmetics...
. Their motto is Maybe she's born with it. Maybe it's Maybelline.
History
The Maybelline Company was created by New York chemist T.L. Williams in 1915. Williams, in his early 20s, noticed his younger sister applying a mixture of VaselineVaseline
Vaseline is a brand of petroleum jelly based products owned by Anglo-Dutch company Unilever. Products include plain petroleum jelly and a selection of skin creams, soaps, lotions, cleansers, deodorants and personal lubricants....
and coal dust to her eyelashes to give them a darker, fuller look. He adapted it in his small laboratory and produced a product sold locally called Lash-Brow-Ine. The product was a local hit, but the awkward name held it back. His sister, who inspired the product, was named Maybel. So T.L. Williams re-named it Maybelline, a combination of Maybel and Vaseline. It is under this name that Maybelline has achieved its now legendary status in the field of cosmetics. In 1917 the company produced Maybelline Cake Mascara
Mascara
Mascara is a cosmetic commonly used to enhance the eyes. It may darken, thicken, lengthen, and/or define the eyelashes. Normally in one of three forms—liquid, cake, or cream—the modern mascara product has various formulas; however, all contain the same basic components of pigments, oils, waxes, and...
, "the first modern eye cosmetic for everyday use" and Ultra Lash in the 1960s, which was the first mass-market automatic.
In 1967, the company was sold by T.L. Williams to Plough, Inc. (now Schering-Plough) in Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....
. The entire cosmetic production facility was moved from Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
to Memphis over one week-end. In 1975, the company moved its factory to Little Rock, Arkansas, where it is still located. In 1990, Schering-Plough
Schering-Plough
Schering-Plough Corporation was a United States-based pharmaceutical company. It was founded in 1851 by Ernst Christian Friedrich Schering as Schering AG in Germany. In 1971, the Schering Corporation merged with Plough to form Schering-Plough. On November 4, 2009 Merck & Co...
sold Maybelline to a New York investment firm, Wasserstein Perella. Maybelline Operational Headquarters remained in Memphis until being sold in 1996, when headquarters moved to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. The makeup factory moved to Brooklyn, New York, in 2000.
Maybelline received a boost when the company hired Wonder Woman
Wonder Woman (TV series)
Wonder Woman is an American television series based on the DC Comics comic book superhero of the same name. Starring Lynda Carter as Wonder Woman/Diana Prince and Lyle Waggoner as Steve Trevor, the show originally aired from 1975 to 1979....
star Lynda Carter
Lynda Carter
Lynda Jean Carter is an American actress and singer, best known for being Miss World USA and as the star of the 1970s television series The New Original Wonder Woman and The New Adventures of Wonder Woman ....
as the company's beauty fashion coordinator; she also appeared in several of its television and print advertisements.
Christy Turlington
Christy Turlington
Christy Turlington Burns is an American model best known for representing Calvin Klein from 1987 to 2007. She has worked on dozens of modeling contracts with companies including Maybelline Cosmetics and Versace. Turlington starred in her fashion documentary Catwalk and Isaac Mizrahi's Unzipped...
, Josie Maran
Josie Maran
Johanna Selhorst "Josie" Maran is an American model and actress.-Early life:Maran was born in Menlo Park, California. She attended Castilleja School, an all-girls' school in Palo Alto, California. She is of Russian-Jewish descent on her paternal side. Her first cover was Glamour in 1998...
, Adriana Lima
Adriana Lima
Adriana Lima is a Brazilian model, best known as a Victoria's Secret Angel since 2000, and as a spokesmodel for Maybelline cosmetics from 2003 to 2009...
, Miranda Kerr
Miranda Kerr
Miranda May Kerr is an Australian model. She is best known as one of the Victoria's Secret Angels since mid-2007. She is the first Australian to participate in the Victoria's Secret campaign and also represents Australian fashion chain David Jones...
, Sarah Michelle Gellar
Sarah Michelle Gellar
Sarah Michelle Prinze , known professionally by her birth name of Sarah Michelle Gellar , is an American actress, singer and executive producer...
, Melina Kanakaredes
Melina Kanakaredes
Melina Eleni Kanakaredes Constantinides is an American actress. She is widely known for two starring roles on U.S. prime-time television drama series; playing Detective Stella Bonasera in CSI: NY and portraying Dr...
, Zhang Ziyi
Zhang Ziyi
Zhang Ziyi is a Chinese film actress. Zhang is coined by the media as one of the Four Young Dan actresses in the Film Industry in China, along with Zhao Wei, Xu Jinglei, and Zhou Xun...
, Siti Nurhaliza
Siti Nurhaliza
Dato', or occasionally Datin Seri, Siti Nurhaliza binti Tarudin DIMP, JSM, SAP, PMP, AAP is a Malaysian singer, songwriter, record producer, television presenter and businesswoman. To date, she has garnered more than 200 local awards as well as international awards...
, Fasha Sandha
Fasha Sandha
Nur Fasha Sandha binti Hassan or commercially known as Fasha Sandha is a Malaysian actress who has appeared in movies, television shows, and commercials. She was born in Johor Bahru, Johor, but moved to Penang and later to Perlis due to her father's work...
, Sheetal Mallar
Sheetal Mallar
Sheetal Mallar is an Indian model from Mumbai. She won the Femina Look of the Year in 1994 beating Madhu Sapre and Elite Look of the Year, also in 1994.-Early life:...
, and Kristin Davis
Kristin Davis
Kristin Landen Davis is an American actress.She first rose to prominence and achieved fame for playing the role of Charlotte York Goldenblatt on HBO's Sex and the City. She has achieved success appearing in roles in film and television.-Early life and education:Davis was born in Boulder, Colorado...
have endorsed Maybelline products. The current faces of Maybelline are Turlington, Julia Stegner
Julia Stegner
Julia Stegner is a German model.- Biography :Stegner, the daughter of Günter Stegner, the Director Central and Eastern Europe for LSI Corporation, and Erika Stegner, an accountant, was raised in an animal-loving household with many dogs alongside her older sister Jeanette, who currently works in...
, Jessica White
Jessica White
Jessica White is an American model and occasional actress and DJ.-Career:At the age of 16, White was scouted in her hometown of Buffalo, New York, and had gone to Personal Best modeling school at age sixteen...
, Erin Wasson
Erin Wasson
Erin Wasson is an American model and occasional stylist and designer. She is of Irish ancestry.-Career:...
, Kemp Muhl
Kemp Muhl
Charlotte Kemp Muhl is an American model, actress, singer, and musician from suburban Atlanta, Georgia. Modeling since the age of 13, Muhl, at sixteen years old, became the youngest model to appear on the cover of Britain’s Harper’s and Queen magazine.-Career:Muhl has been featured in campaigns...
, Emily DiDonato
Emily DiDonato
Emily DiDonato is an American model. She was raised in a small town in Orange County in upstate New York and is of Irish and Italian ancestry...
, Lisalla Montenegro
Lisalla Montenegro
Lisalla Montenegro is a Brazilian model that was born and raised in Goiás.In 2010, Montenegro signed with makeup brand Maybelline New York.-External links:*...
, and Shu Pei.
In 1991, the company adopted its current advertising slogan, "Maybe She's Born With It. Maybe It's Maybelline" tagline. The company was acquired by L'Oréal
L'Oréal
The L'Oréal Group is the world's largest cosmetics and beauty company. With its registered office in Paris and head office in the Paris suburb of Clichy, Hauts-de-Seine, France, it has developed activities in the field of cosmetics...
in 1996. Acquiring Maybelline gave L'Oreal access to mass markets in cosmetics.
Currently, Maybelline is the Official Makeup Sponsor of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week.