Looking Back at 4 Classic Beauty Brands and Their Cult Favorites We Still Love Today

Looking Back at 4 Classic Beauty Brands and Their Cult Favorites We Still Love Today

This month's Beauty Enthusiast takes us on a brief history lesson of some well-known beauty brands, and shares her favorite products that have stood the test of time.

Happy New Year and Kung Hei Fat Choi!

Thinking about New Year and beginnings got me thinking about the histories of well-known beauty brands that we and our moms and our grandmothers may have been using for generations. 

1851: Kiehl’s

Kiehl’s “old world apothecary beginnings” (who else loves the word ‘apothecary’?) date back to 1851, when they opened their first store at the corner of 13th Street and Third Avenue in New York City.

The first Kiehl’s brand product, the Original Musk Oil, was introduced in 1821 when John Kiehl’s apprentice, Irving Morse, took over the business and expanded it from an apothecary to a full-service pharmacy with teas and tinctures. Kiehl’s is now owned by the L’Oréal Group.

In Cebu, Kiehl’s opened its store in Ayala Center Cebu in 2014 (I had to check my own blog to recall, lol), and continues to be open today.

Bestseller: Ultra Facial Cream; Calendula Deep Cleansing Foaming Wash

Beauty Enthusiast’s Best: Unable to choose between Midnight Recovery Concentrate and Skin Tone Correcting and Beautifying BB Cream.

THROWBACK: Kiehl’s Cebu Grand Opening on the Beauty Enthusiast blog

1909: L’Oréal

What started out as one hair dye product developed by a French chemist named Eugene Schueller is now the world’s largest cosmetics group of companies with 88,000 employees worldwide.

Among the major acquisitions of this incredible growth: The Body Shop in 2006 (£ 562 million), YSL Beauty in 2008 ($ 1.8 billion), and IT Cosmetics in 2016 ($ 1.2 billion). The L’Oréal Group also owns Garnier, Maybelline, Shu Uemura, Urban Decay, Kerastase, La Roche Posay, Essie…the list goes on for quite a bit, bringing the total number of brands under the group to 36.

Bestsellers: L’Oréal True Match Super Blendable Powder; Garnier Micellar Water

Beauty Enthusiast’s Best: I have never gone wrong with any L’Oréal or Maybelline mascara. Maybelline’s Hyper Curl Mascara flies off the shelves in the Philippines and is literally in every department store, Watsons, or Rose Pharmacy I go to. You get super lifted dolly lashes that don’t smudge or flake all day, and the mascara is contact-lens-safe too, in my personal experience. The SuperStay Matte Ink liquid lipstick is also the best liquid lipstick formula out there, or at least from this enthusiast’s POV, after trying a dozen (probably more like two dozen) formulas over the years.

1911: Nivea

Shop on Nivea

One of the world’s all-time bestselling face creams was first mass produced in 1911, but the German laboratory that developed Nivea was founded two decades earlier.

In 1890, Dr. Oscar Troplowitz bought the lab from Paul C. Beiersdorf. Dr. Troplowitz worked with his scientific advisor, leading dermatologist Professor Paul Gerson Unna, to develop the oil-and-water-based cream that has retained its snow-white color and changed very little in the 100+ years since.

Nivea has expanded its product lines to Nivea Men, Nivea Baby, and body care aside from face care, including cleansing and sun protection products.

Bestsellers: Nivea Crème itself; Nivea Men Sensitive Ultra Glide Shaving Gel

Beauty Enthusiast’s Best: I am about to empty my nth tin of Nivea Crème. Its texture may be too thick for people with oily skin, but the older I get, the more my skin seems to appreciate this heavier layer of moisturizer. The small tin is great for travel since it’s super compact and won’t spill.

1946: Estée Lauder

Mrs. Lauder has famously said, “I never dreamed about success. I worked for it.” 

From starting with four products in 1946 including an all-purpose skin cream, Estée Lauder Companies Inc. is now the second largest cosmetics conglomerate in the world, with more than $ 17 billion in net sales and over 60,000 employees across the globe.

ELC owns Bobbi Brown, Clinique, Origins, La Mer, and MAC Cosmetics, which all have their own counters along with the namesake Estée Lauder brand at Rustan’s The Beauty Source in Ayala Center Cebu.

Bestseller: Advanced Night Repair Serum; Double Wear Stay-in-Place Makeup

Beauty Enthusiast’s Best: Completely agree with the serum, if you feel like the splurge. For something with a lower price tag that is still wonderful to use, I love the Pure Color Envy Sculpting Lipstick in matte or crème finishes.