Kryolan

Kryolan is a German make-up company founded in Berlin in 1945 and still headquartered in the city. It began by supplying make-up to the Berlin theatres that reopened after the Second World War, and its core business has remained professional make-up for the stage, film, television and editorial work. Wikipedia describes it as a world-wide cosmetics company and notes that, by some estimates, Kryolan makes two-thirds of the world's professional make-up for film, TV and theatre [6].

The company is independent and family-owned. It is led by the founder's son, Wolfram Langer, together with the next generation of the family, and it marked its 80th anniversary in August 2025. Its range covers theatrical colours, special effects, the Dermacolor camouflage line for covering visible skin conditions, and high-definition formulas made for modern cameras. The brand is active.

Kryolan's story begins with Arnold Langer, whom the company describes as a chemist, a theatre lover and a visionary. According to its own history, Langer discovered his passion for make-up and the stage early in life. As a young apprentice laboratory assistant he earned his first pocket money selling soaps and creams. After the war he mixed creams and colours in a small laboratory, with the aim, as the company puts it, of bringing the theatre back to life.

Kryolan dates its birth to 14 August 1945 [2]. Its first products went to Berlin's reopened stages, and that tie to the theatre has shaped the company's identity ever since. The beauty blog Temptalia, after touring the company's San Francisco facilities, observed that Kryolan is often associated with theatrical, film and editorial work precisely because its founder was a theatre enthusiast.

Accounts differ on who should be credited with the founding. Kryolan's own history names only Arnold Langer, and Wikipedia also names only him. Two independent sources give a role to his wife, Waltraud. The trade publication American Spa wrote in 2018 that Langer and his wife Waltraud developed Kryolan Professional Makeup [9], while Temptalia described Langer as founding the privately owned company "with the support of his wife Waltraud" [7].

The founder's life and the company's beginnings are the subject of a book, Arnold Langer, For Beauty's Sake, written by Rolf Pflücke.

Growth came quickly. In 1947 the company expanded to East Berlin, and in 1950 the East Berlin branch became a separate business under the name "Coloran".

Kryolan's own timeline groups the years from 1962 to 1974 under the heading "From Berlin to the world". In that period it took over Brändel GmbH, a step the company says strengthened its foundations [2]. It also moved into its headquarters on Papierstraße in Berlin, where it is still based, and began exporting to the United States. Temptalia dated the move to Papierstraße to 1971.

International film work followed. According to Wikipedia, the company's Hollywood breakthrough came with the face masks used in the 1968 film Planet of the Apes [6].

Between 1975 and 1991 the company developed Dermacolor, which it presents as make-up made not only for beauty but for all skin conditions. It opened its first US office in Van Nuys and later moved to San Francisco, which Kryolan describes as closer to the pulse of Hollywood. Wikipedia records that the company bought a building in central San Francisco for its US subsidiary in 1987. During the same years, the company says, it built lasting partnerships in Asia, South Africa and South America, and pursued new formulas and stronger pigments driven by the needs of make-up artists.

From 1992 to 2004 Kryolan opened new sites in London and Poland and entered Latin America through local partners. Its company buildings and warehouses in Berlin and Brandenburg grew over the same period. In 2004 Kryolan make-up was used at the Olympic Games in Athens.

The decade from 2005 to 2014 brought three new product lines: HD Make-up, Dermacolor Light and Private Care. The company took its Global Face Art Symposium to Berlin, Dubai and other countries, and set up a base in Chennai as its centre in India. In Szczecin, Poland, its local team expanded production. Kryolan opened its first shop in São Paulo, enlarged its San Francisco site, and says it made up stars for the Bambi Awards and for the television competition Face Off.

The company also opened stores under its own name in the United States. In January 2011 Time Out Chicago reported the opening of a Kryolan City flagship in the city's Lincoln Park neighbourhood [8]. The nearly 2,000-square-foot space combined a shop and showroom with a workshop area, where classes for professionals and enthusiasts ranged from make-up for mature skin to make-up for drag queens.

In 2012, after an extensive rebranding, Kryolan launched its "Make-Up Is A Science" campaign. Wikipedia notes that the campaign continues to this day, and the phrase still serves as the brand's tagline.

In March 2018 American Spa reported that Arnold Langer had died at the age of 97, surrounded by his family in Berlin [9]. After announcing his death, the company paused all of its web and social media activity for ten days so that employees and family could mourn.

Between 2015 and 2024 Kryolan opened further Kryolan City stores in cities including Paris, London, São Paulo, Johannesburg, Milan, Chennai and Mumbai. It introduced the Kryolan PRO CARD, a loyalty programme for make-up professionals, and launched the Digital Complexion line, which it describes as make-up for Ultra-HD filming and beyond. Dermacolor was relaunched under the message "Your Skin. Your Choice".

Kryolan has no parent company. The business operates as Kryolan GmbH, registered in Berlin with its address at Papierstraße 10, and its legal notice lists Wolfram Langer and Dominik Langer as managing directors [4]. The company's own history says it is run by Arnold Langer's son Wolfram and his grandsons Sebastian and Dominik. American Spa described the same line of succession in 2018, when it reported that Wolfram Langer and his sons would carry on the founder's work.

The only acquisition the company records in its history is its takeover of Brändel GmbH, which it places between 1962 and 1974 without giving an exact year.

Kryolan's presence in individual countries is not always run directly from Berlin. The legal notice of its Swiss website, for example, names Coidro AG, based in Kerns, Switzerland, as responsible for that site's content, while identifying Kryolan GmbH in Berlin as the company behind the brand. The Swiss site also lists make-up courses and services held in Kerns. According to Temptalia, the company has also taken on private-label projects, making products that appear under other names.

Kryolan's tagline is "make-up is a science". The company presents itself as a maker rather than a reseller: it says it does not simply sell make-up but makes it, from start to finish. It describes its approach as listening to artists, developing with science and caring with heart. Among the values it names are quality, people, independence, family and "the magic of transformation".

Temptalia quoted the company's philosophy as "to offer professional makeup artists of the world a system of products and services to better accomplish their tasks". American Spa, writing after the founder's death, cited Langer's guiding principle, "first comes the human being, afterwards the company", and said it still shaped the company's outlook.

That focus on professionals runs through the business. Kryolan offers classes in make-up techniques, and Temptalia reported that the San Francisco site also rented chairs to make-up artists and students. The PRO CARD programme gives make-up artists, stage make-up specialists and beauticians a discount on purchases in Kryolan City shops and online.

The company sells through its own city stores, its online shops and other retailers. Its reach has grown over time: Temptalia put its distribution at more than seventy countries, while American Spa referred to a presence in 90 countries in 2018.

On sustainability, Kryolan says that between 2015 and 2024 it invested in solar energy, greener buildings and more considered packaging design. No third-party sustainability or cosmetics certifications are documented. The company has also published a statement on the use of AI-generated make-up images, which it presents as a matter touching its identity and community.

Kryolan's range is broad, covering eyes, lips, nails, face and body, brushes, airbrush equipment, make-up fixing products, removers and special effects. Several product families carry their own names, including Aquacolor, Supracolor, Pintura, Nebula, FX Design Color, High Definition, Digital Complexion and Dermacolor.

Aquacolor is one of the best-known lines. Temptalia described it as a grease-free, washable make-up for face and body that is often used in theatre. The Supracolor range includes a clown white that remains part of the current assortment.

Dermacolor is the company's camouflage system. Temptalia reported that it is designed to cover discolourations and skin irregularities such as tattoos, birthmarks and burn scars, and Time Out Chicago singled out its Camouflage Cream for tattoo cover-up. Current Dermacolor products include a fixing powder, a fixing spray, a camouflage stick and mini-palettes.

Special effects are a large part of the catalogue. Temptalia listed latex parts, fake vomit and blood capsules, and noted a party-oriented line called Fun Faze, packaged with step-by-step guides for face masks and looks for carnivals or Halloween. Time Out Chicago counted 12 kinds of artificial blood in the special effects range, and described the brand as known for heavy pigmentation.

For film and television, Kryolan developed HD Make-up in the 2005 to 2014 period and later added Digital Complexion, including a fluid foundation and a concealer. Its more recent launches include the Velvet Vision eyeshadow palettes; a new third palette in the series, VELVET 3, was being promoted in 2026.

Temptalia's tour also offered a look at how the products are made. At the San Francisco site, the blog reported, machines ground pigments to a very fine particle size, and staff in a clean room hand-packaged many items. The company keeps its own recipe for each colour and product, sometimes in as many as four versions depending on the country of sale. Temptalia also pointed out the "period after opening" symbols on many jars, such as "24m", which tell users how many months a product keeps once opened.

Where the products are made has shifted over time. Temptalia reported that 90% of production was then in Germany [7]. Kryolan now calls Szczecin in Poland its production centre [2].

The company's online shop has a dedicated category for vegan products, though no brand-wide vegan claim is made.

In 2012 the German trade association Die Familienunternehmer ("The Family Entrepreneurs") honoured Arnold Langer in Berlin as Family Entrepreneur of the Year [6].

The brand has also appeared in popular culture. Kryolan was featured in the third season of the American reality competition RuPaul's Drag Race, where the prize package included a "lifetime supply" of Kryolan make-up. Time Out Chicago noted in 2011 that both RuPaul and Miss USA used Kryolan make-up for their looks on high-definition television.

Kryolan is active and remains a family company. On 14 August 2025 it celebrated its 80th anniversary, describing itself as "still a family company" [2]. Its current list of Kryolan cities includes Berlin, London, Szczecin, Paris, São Paulo, Chennai, San Francisco, Johannesburg and Milan, spanning Europe, South America, Asia, North America and Africa. In 2026 the company continued to launch products and to run courses and events through its local websites.