During the mid 1980s, Revlon’s health care, rather than the brand’s beauty concerns, was really innovative and expanding.

Revlon was reluctant to initiate beauty product development and even department store promotions and they started losing ground to Estee Lauder.

Revlon’s share price dropped and Revlon then lost market share to Noxell’s Cover Girl brand. Revlon compensated by more acquisitions with Max Factor, Lancaster, Almay and many others. In 1977 there was an acquisition of Carlos Colner, a Spanish professional beauty supply distributor, who was brought on board to help introduce Revlon to ethnic care such as: Crème of Nature, Realistic, Milk and Honey and Lovely Colour.
In 1985, at $58 per share which totaled $2.7 billion, Revlon was then sold to Pantry Pride (later named Revlon Group Inc.)

After a few years, additional makeup lines were purchased for Revlon including Max Factor in 1987 and Betrix in 1989 which was later sold to Procter & Gamble during 1991.

Revlon’s 24 hours rich Body Lotion is one of the softest, most pleasant smelling body moisturizers on the market and the 24 hr skin care range facial products are some of the best you can buy on the skincare market today.

Cutting Edge

What is really astonishing is that as a brand with so much history it is still very much in the present, but Rimmel does have a tradition of breaking all those rules. Originally founded in London, Rimmel throughout the years managed to keep its finger on the pulse of the most eclectic of capitals. It took inspiration from London’s unique street style in creating a brand of beauty that is very different from anything emerging from New York, Milan and Paris.

Beauty made in London seems to be streetwise, edgy and witty. It’s all about setting trends and not following them, it’s also about self expression and experimentation. In one word, it’s all about having fun. Rimmel’s very affordable range of colourful, high quality, contemporary products is designed to enable real women to enjoy beauty at a price that suits many pockets. Rimmel says why limit yourself to one look when you can change your look all the time. Changing your look is made to look as easy as changing a tube line and hopping on the London Tube to switch from Soho to Camden and from Portobello to Notting Hill.

The Rimmel London look

When searching for the face to project the right image of Rimmel London, there was actually only one possible choice. In September 2001 and for the first time in its history as a brand, Rimmel signed an exclusive and global contract with the UK’s own home grown supermodel, the highly cutting edge, Kate Moss.

With its choice of gorgeous lipsticks and mascaras this brand stays well ahead of the competition. Recover foundation and sun shimmer are some of the most popular cosmetic products that Rimmel sell today.

Shiseido is one of the world’s top five cosmetic companies with operations in over 60 countries. On an international level the company is also known for its huge range of makeup and skin care products, fragrances and even professional hair care products.

Actually, in its home territory, Shiseido offers food stuffs, fine chemicals, pharmaceuticals and other goods as well. The company was going through an uncertain direction in the late 1990s, but worked hard to defend its position at least in the domestic market and it did manage to build international sales.

Shiseidos’ philosophy regarding skincare is an interesting one, the philosophy at Shiseido emanates from the significance of its name: SHI SEI DO, in Japanese, which in English means “praise of the virtues of earth, which nurtures new life and bring forth new values”. This philosophy is oriented towards total well being. Their objective as a company is that their use of any of their products should always be a moment of wellbeing to the soul.

The Shiseido skincare approach is simple; it directly links to nature using ingredients that are very close to the natural composition of our skin. Every Shiseido ingredient is drawn from bio-technology research and comes from the purest of elements for a total affinity with the skin.

Shiseido products will not overcome the weaknesses of the skin, the products provide all the elements for a natural skin recovery. Actually Shiseido products stimulate natural properties in the skin without inflicting any aggressive action on the skin.

Cosmetic Pleasure is a wellbeing approach adopted often with Shiseido as all the products are made of aromachological fragrances which provide aromachological power ; the beautiful delicacy of the scent after use. Shiseido products are really created to delight all your senses. The texture of the product along with the forms of the products evoke the message of “pure “ which is in keeping the Japanese culture.

Bio-Performance represents the Shiseido brand very well. It is a range of products with a full 12 years of existence and is still hugely powerful. The range is innovative and provides a highly effective skin care treatment. Bio-Performance can combine a cosmetic pleasure with the avant-gardism. Another typical Shiseido product is Relaxing Fragrance as it represents the aromachological power of its fragrance; it originates from the Japanese’s ways of therapy through fragrances.

Estee Lauder set out to revolutionize the industry in 1964, establishing one of the very first exclusive male fragrance lines, in their launch of Aramis for Men, and now the tradition has continued to other products like; Lab Series for Men and Clinique Skin Supplies for Men.

By 1967 Estee Lauder was recognized as one of her country’s ‘10 Outstanding Women in Business’. The next year Clinique Laboratories was founded as another arm of the burgeoning array of companies that the Estee Lauder brand was becoming. Following the rest of 1960’s, 70’s, 80’s and through the 90’s to 2,000, Estee Lauder continues to bring new products and brands to the world of skin care, cosmetics and fragrances.
With the huge successes such as; Estee, the world’s first “Super Perfume”, Aramis for Men, The Private Collection, Aliage, Aromatics, White Linen and Cinnabar have become some of the world’s most treasured of consumer products which are sought after by those with exquisite taste.

Now, Estee Lauder is the largest privately owned cosmetics company worldwide and its’ sales are in excess of a billion dollars. It now encompasses a very significant number of recognizable brands, including; Estée Lauder, Prescriptives, Aramis, Clinique, Origins, MAC, Bobbi Brown, Tommy Hilfiger, Donna Karan, Jane, Aveda, La Mer, Jo Malone and Stila.

Products now include huge varieties of fragrances, skin care, cosmetics, colognes, perfumes, body oils and lotions for men and women. The skin care and cosmetics industry throughout the world would not be the same without the relentless business brain who was able to provide for every fashionable taste from generation after generation of customers all over the world.

Estee Lauder Skin Care, Cleansers, Moisturisers and cosmetics are the finest on the designer market and their fragrances stand the test of time for popularity.

The women in the 1960s always strived for lighter perfumes, and were in the lookout for less heavy fragrances. There was a quite a mixed array of scents during the 1960s, from the heady Madama Rochas, to the light floral Calèche de Hermès in 1961. Ironically as women wanted lighter fragrance to indulge in, the fragrances from the 1970s became the bolder and more provocative fragrances. For instance, the 1970s saw the launch of the smoky and spicy Opium perfume in 1978 by Yvès Saint Laurent.

Opium was interestingly one of the perfumes which caused much tension in China, the government ruled that the perfume was banned throughout the whole country and everyone is banned from selling Opium perfume. (China did this largely due to the historical wars that occurred in China due to a poisonous known as opium which took many lives away).

During 1973, Estee Lauder made her own private perfume called Private Collection public. This immediately became a hit fragrance, because many people just wanted to smell like Estee during those times.

In 1978, Cacharel launched Anaïs Anaïs, today this light white floral bouquet is still famous. Jean Cacharel, inspired by his white floral gardens wanted to create something light, sweet and feminine for the ladies. Also, to create this mood, he packaged his fragrance in a plastic bottle with prints of blooming flowers in pretty pink and green. Avon’s Timeless went on to launch in 1974 which followed the trend of rich musk and spices, becoming very popular with Avon fans in the 70s. Chloè was launched in 1978 and although at first was criticized as a fragrance for being too cloying and heavy it later went on to became a number one best seller in the States.

In the 1950’s
After the war, Revlon launched a nail enamel and lipstick promotion twice a year which was tied to seasonal clothing fashion. Revlon turned to television sponsorship to boost their sales. In December of 1955, Revlon offered their stock for the first time to the public. At the end of 1956, Revlon went on to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

In the 1960’s
Revlon began laying the ground work for its very successful international presence in the 1960’s, which was to bring the “American Look” into the rest of the world via advertising featuring their U.S. super models.

In the 1970’s
By 1973 there was the introduction of the fragrance Charlie, designed for a young, working female market and by the mid 1970’s, Charlie was the number one fragrance in the world. Revlon’s sales figures by passed the one billion mark in 1977.

In the1980’s
Industrial growth and innovation led the way well for Revlon. 1985 saw Revlon sold to a subsidiary of MacAndrews & Forbes and became a private company again. During 1987, Almay joined the Revlon group.

In the 1990’s
During the 1990’s, Revlon went on to revitalize its cosmetics and skin care business and strengthened their industry leadership role. Revlon went on to produce the first transfer resistant lip colour which led to a full ColorStay Collection of completely transfer-resistant products. The company went on to close the gap on its closest of competitor brands and finally reached a dramatic goal – given the Number One Brand in Mass Colour Cosmetics. Revlon became a public company again in 1996 when it was listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

The older we get the more our skin will get dehydrated and drier with the slower production of natural skin oils. Because of this, a fragrance will tend to fade quickly as it only tens to linger for longer on more youthful, moisture rich skin.

So always go for a perfume that has base notes with gums and resins like vetiver, sandalwood, cedar and benzoin which help anchor the fragrance to your skin for longer.

Sandalwood also induces a similar sense of well being that is triggered in babies when they breast feed off their mothers, these senses are also associated with feelings of youthfulness.

Sweet and fruity fragrances generally are considered to create a feel good and uplifting factor, especially attributing to those that contain watermelon, apple and red berries. Be sure that they are paired with the more sophisticated fragrance notes to prevent the aromas from becoming too cloying.

Best Buys: DKNY Be Delicious has a vibrant, buzzy mix of sweet notes on a smooth, clean base for a freshly, innocent scent. For oil-rich scents, try Guerlain Samsara known for its vibrant concentration of jasmine and sandalwood.