PUPA Milano

PUPA Milano is an Italian colour-cosmetics brand founded by Angelo Gatti and known for its makeup, which the company traces back to the early 1970s [10]. It is owned by Micys Company S.p.A., a family business now run by the second generation under chief executive Valerio Gatti, and is based in Casatenovo, in the Lecco province of northern Italy.

The brand marked its 50th anniversary around 2024–2025 and reported sales of 98.5 million euros for 2024, with makeup accounting for roughly 85 percent of the business [10]. Its products are distributed across about 70 countries, and several recent items — most notably the Vamp! Marker Duo lip product — have circulated widely on TikTok.

PUPA was the idea of Angelo Gatti, who created it in Milan in the early 1970s. According to the company, its first landmark product arrived in 1975: BOUQUET, a boxed kit that gathered everything needed for a complete makeup look in one case. The brand describes this as "an ingenious and revolutionary idea" from Gatti and credits it as an early example of the all-in-one makeup kit [3].

Sources differ on the precise starting date. Trade publication WWD framed the company's 50th anniversary around 2024–2025, placing the brand's birth in 1974 [10]. PUPA's own corporate page instead states that the company — Micys Company S.p.A. — was "established in 1976" [2]. The two figures describe different things: 1974 refers to the PUPA brand itself, while 1976 is given for the legal incorporation of the parent company.

The company dates its makeup line to 1979, when it launched a mascara fitted with a built-in mirror for touch-ups away from home. In 1991 it introduced a floral fragrance called Fiorilu. The Vamp! mascara followed in 2012, which PUPA calls "the iconic Pupa product, our bestseller to this day" [3]; the Vamp! name later expanded into lip products such as the Shock Plump gloss and the Marker Duo.

More recent additions reflect a wider product range. An eco-friendly skincare collection debuted in 2022, and in 2023 the company created its PUPA HAIR and PUPA MAN lines. Alongside makeup, skincare and haircare, the brand's catalogue also spans sun care, beauty kits and accessories.

PUPA Milano is part of Micys Company S.p.A., which both the brand and WWD describe as family-owned and independent, led by second-generation chief executive Valerio Gatti [10]. The company is headquartered at Via A. De Gasperi 22 in Casatenovo, Italy.

The brand presents beauty as a form of self-expression. "Beauty is the free expression of our individuality and authenticity," it states, adding that it aims to offer quality products at accessible prices for all women. PUPA sums up its outlook with the line "We are PUPA. And You?", the idea being that every woman is a PUPA woman. The company lists authenticity, emotion, passion, creativity and its Made-in-Italy roots among its defining values, and points to the colour red as a symbol of "passion, vitality and energy." Its chief executive has said the brand's identity centres on "creativity and imagination," pursued through product innovation and, in his words, "catchy communication."

Makeup remains the core of the range and, according to WWD, made up about 85 percent of sales in 2024 [10]. The Vamp! franchise anchors the line-up, spanning the original mascara as well as glosses and lip markers. The company also produces skincare, haircare, sun care and gift sets.

In 2022 PUPA introduced what it calls its natural line, formulated with "a minimum of 86% naturally-derived ingredients" and packaged in materials it describes as "100% recyclable," including recycled plastic and glass and FSC-certified paper. The company states these products are "clinically and dermatologically tested on sensitive skin" and are "nickel tested" [8].

In 2025, WWD profiled PUPA Milano around its 50th anniversary, reporting its 2024 sales figure, its continued family ownership and its plans for international expansion into markets including Brazil, Canada, Argentina and Tunisia [10]. The same feature described the Vamp! Marker Duo as having gone viral on TikTok.

PUPA states that its finished products "are not tested on animals, as prescribed by cosmetic regulations since 2004," and says it follows European guidelines favouring in vitro testing and tests on human volunteers under dermatological control [7]. Its natural line avoids animal derivatives, which the company frames as "being kind," though it does not describe the full range as vegan.

The company also runs a social programme focused on women. It supports the Emergency-run Anabah maternity centre in Afghanistan, which it says provides free maternal care, and it has partnered with the UN refugee agency UNHCR since 2017 on services for displaced women and girls [6]. At its own premises it operates an on-site nursery for employees' young children.

PUPA Milano is active. It reported sales of 98.5 million euros in 2024, distributes through around 12,000 retail points across roughly 70 countries, and continued to expand internationally in 2025 [10]. The brand remains family-owned through Micys Company S.p.A.