Rimmel

Rimmel, marketed as Rimmel London, is a British cosmetics company founded in London in 1834 [2]. Though widely read as a British institution — its long-running motto is "Get the London Look" — the house was started by a French perfumer, Hyacinthe Mars Rimmel, who moved his family from Paris to open a perfumery and cosmetics boutique on Albermarle Street in the West End. His son Eugène Rimmel took over the business in 1842 at the age of fourteen and became the family's central figure, credited with creating one of the first commercial mascaras.

The company has been owned by the American group Coty Inc. since 1996 [10]. It remains an actively marketed brand within Coty's portfolio, sold in more than fifty countries and positioned as an affordable, trend-led drugstore label.

Sources differ on how many founders to credit. Wikipedia's Rimmel entry names Eugène Rimmel alone [6], while the beauty historian Lisa Eldridge identifies the founder as Eugène's father, Hyacinthe Mars Rimmel, a perfumer trained under Pierre-François Lubin, who had served Empress Joséphine [8]. Rimmel's own about page splits the difference, dating the founding to 1834 "by Eugène Rimmel and his father." What the sources agree on is the year, the city, and the boutique's original home on Albermarle Street.

The business was first known as the House of Rimmel. Eugène assumed control in 1842 and expanded the enterprise well beyond perfume, opening premises in Paris and New York and establishing a flower garden and essential-oil distillery in Nice.

Under Eugène Rimmel the company became known for a run of commercial firsts in nineteenth-century beauty: mail-order catalogues for perfume and cosmetics, scented fans for theatre-goers, perfumed Valentine's cards, and a fragrance fountain that dispensed scented jets at the 1851 Great Exhibition. The fountain drew the notice of Queen Victoria, who appointed him her Royal perfumer; over his career he collected ten Royal Warrants from European heads of state [8].

His signal product was Superfin, introduced in 1860 and described as the first commercial non-toxic mascara, made by blending coal dust with petroleum jelly [8]. It proved influential enough that the surname entered everyday language: "rimmel" is still the word for mascara in several languages, among them French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and Turkish [7]. Eugène also published The Book of Perfumes in 1865.

Accounts of his death diverge. Wikipedia and Lisa Eldridge both record it as 1887, citing a New York Times obituary headlined "The Prince of Perfumers" and dated 15 March 1887 [7]; Rimmel's own about page instead gives 1890 [2]. The earlier date carries the documentary evidence of the dated obituary.

The Rimmel family retained ownership until 1949, when it sold the company to a London firm. In the modern era the brand has leaned on high-profile ambassadors, most durably Kate Moss, who began a fifteen-year partnership in 2001 and fronted the "Get the London Look" campaigns. Later faces have included Georgia May Jagger, Rita Ora, Cara Delevingne, Adwoa Aboah, Tom Daley — named as the brand's first male ambassador in 2022 — and Maya Jama, announced as a global ambassador in 2023.

Rimmel has been part of Coty Inc. since 1996, when Coty acquired Unilever's European cosmetic brands [10]. The purchase strengthened Coty's position in colour cosmetics, particularly in Europe. Within Coty, Rimmel sits alongside brands such as Bourjois, Max Factor, Sally Hansen and Manhattan, and licensed fragrance houses including Burberry, Calvin Klein and Hugo Boss.

The company frames itself around London and experimentation, summarising its values in slogans such as "Dare To Experiment," "True To You" and "Live It London," the last a reference to operating in the city since 1834. It has also run a campaign called "I Will Not Be Deleted," which the company describes as a stand against beauty cyberbullying. Editorially, the label is treated as a dependable drugstore staple: the fashion publication Who What Wear described it as "that ride-or-die best friend that you can count on in any situation" and noted a price positioning of "all-for-under-a-tenner" [9].

Rimmel's current range spans face, eye, lip and nail makeup plus self-tan. Beyond the historic Superfin mascara, its recognised products include the Lasting Finish lipstick line developed with Kate Moss and, more recently, the Kind & Free collection. According to the company, Kind & Free is fully vegan, free from fragrance and mineral oils, and its mascara is made with 74% recycled plastic [5].

On animal testing, the company states that all Rimmel products are approved as cruelty-free under the Leaping Bunny Programme, certified by Cruelty Free International [3]. It has set a target for all its packaging to use recycled material or be recyclable, reusable or compostable, describing 2025 as the goal year.

In 2011 the Advertising Standards Authority banned Rimmel advertisements featuring Kate Moss and Georgia May Jagger, finding them misleading over the use of false lashes [6].

Rimmel is an acquired brand, owned by Coty since 1996, and continues to trade as one of the group's consumer labels rather than as an independent company [10]. It remains commercially active: its website carries current product launches and a virtual try-on feature, and its most recent named ambassador appointment was Maya Jama in 2023. The brand reports distribution across more than fifty countries.