Manhattan

Manhattan is a German makeup brand founded in 1964 at a perfume factory in Eislingen, in the Württemberg region of southern Germany [1]. Named after the New York borough, it built its business in the affordable drugstore segment, where it has long sat alongside German peers such as Catrice and Essence. Since 2010 the brand has been owned by the American beauty company Coty Inc., which acquired it as part of its parent firm, Dr. Scheller Cosmetics AG [2].

The brand's stated aim from the outset was to bring globally popular looks to German shoppers at low prices [1]. That positioning — trend-led products at mass-market cost — still defines it, and its range today is concentrated entirely in color cosmetics rather than skincare or fragrance.

Manhattan launched its first products in 1964 and was originally spelled "Manhatten". The brand site attributes the founding to Dr. Hans-Ulrich Scheller and places its early production at the company's perfume factory in Eislingen. According to the company, the founding idea was simply to bring products "that are in demand and fashionable worldwide" to the German market at affordable prices.

There is a distinction worth noting in the brand's origin story. While manhattan.de dates the Manhattan brand to 1964 under Dr. Hans-Ulrich Scheller, the German Wikipedia entry for the parent firm records that Dr. Scheller Cosmetics AG itself was founded earlier, in 1944, by Karl-Heinz Scheller [7]. The two dates refer to different things — the parent company's 1944 founding versus the Manhattan brand's 1964 product launch — rather than a contested single fact.

Manhattan's ownership has passed through several hands. Its parent, Dr. Scheller Cosmetics AG, sold a majority stake to the Russian cosmetics maker Kalina in 2005 [11]. Five years later, in November 2010, Coty Inc. announced that it would acquire Dr. Scheller Cosmetics — including the Manhattan and Manhattan Clearface brands — from Kalina, with the deal closing in 2011 [9]. Coty stated that the acquisition raised its color-cosmetics market share in Germany from 7 percent to 17 percent, which trade coverage described as making Coty the second-largest player in the German color market [10].

Dr. Scheller Cosmetics AG was dissolved on 30 June 2011, and production moved to Weckerle Cosmetics Eislingen GmbH; Manhattan continued under Coty's ownership [7]. The brand now sits within Coty's consumer portfolio alongside names such as Rimmel, Bourjois, Max Factor and Sally Hansen. Its legal entity is Coty Beauty Germany GmbH, based in Darmstadt.

Manhattan frames itself around diversity and self-expression. The company says that for the brand "beauty lives in diversity — diversity of looks and people but also diversity in our environment and nature," and it describes celebrating "personality over perfection" and treating makeup as creativity and fun. Its German-market tagline is "EXPRESS YOURSELF!". Coty's corporate brand page presents a different English-language tagline, "FEARLESS. FORWARD. YOU.", which appears to be a separate market positioning [8].

The brand's commercial identity remains that of an accessible drugstore label. It sells through German chains such as dm and Rossmann, runs its own e-commerce at manhattan.de, and is also distributed internationally, including in the Nordic market.

Manhattan's catalogue spans complexion, eye, lip and nail makeup, and the brand states it offers roughly 400 product references. Among the products it features as signatures are the Volume Up Mega Lift Mascara, the Wonder'bond Bonding Serum Mascara, the Lasting Perfection Compact Make-up and the Lasting Perfection Mega Matte Liquid Lip Color, with the Eyemazing Dip Eyeliner highlighted among its bestsellers.

The brand's main own-branded initiative is Clean & Free, which it presents as its clean-beauty platform. Under it, the company states that its products are 100 percent vegan, free of mineral oils, made with at least 70 percent naturally derived ingredients, and suitable for sensitive skin [3]. It also says formulas are free of added fragrance, with an exception noted for one mascara.

Manhattan describes a packaging goal of having all of its packaging made from recycled material, or recyclable, reusable or compostable, by 2025, and notes that its mascara already uses 74 percent post-consumer recycled plastic [3]. On animal testing, the brand states that all Manhattan products are recognized as cruelty-free under the Cruelty Free International Leaping Bunny programme, which it calls the globally recognized standard for cruelty-free cosmetics [4].

Most documented press attention to Manhattan has centered on its corporate history rather than product reviews. The 2010 Coty acquisition was covered by trade outlets including PR Newswire, Consumer Goods Technology and Cosmetics Business, several of which described Manhattan as a leading German makeup brand [9]. In 2014 the brand marked its 50th anniversary with an "Express Yourself: 50 Jahre Beauty" campaign [12]. No major international beauty-editorial coverage or industry awards were identified in the sourced material.

Manhattan is an actively trading brand owned by Coty Inc. rather than an independent company. Its site carries a 2026 copyright, features recent product launches, and the brand maintains active social channels on Instagram and TikTok [1]. It has operated under Coty ownership since the 2010–2011 acquisition.