In 1820, a respected French perfumer who had been trained by the famous Lubin, perfumer to Empress Josephine, the wife of Napoleon I, accepted an invitation to manage a perfumery in London’s prestigious Bond Street. By 1834, the move to London had proved so successful that, together with his son and apprentice Eugene Rimmel, then aged just 14, he opened a perfumery of his own. The House of Rimmel was created.
The business expanded and so did the talents of Eugene Rimmel. By the young age of 24, he was an expert perfumer, cosmetics genius, experimenting with colour and scents, he travelled around the worls in search of new ingredients. A pioneer of personal hygiene, he developed some new products including mouth rinses, fragranced pomades and an ingenious scented steam vaporiser. His Regents Street flagship perfumery was hugely popular with high society where they would purchase beautiful packaged perfumes, soaps and bath essences, many of them bearing royal warrants.
Eugene Rimmel sensed the potential of advertising to bring his products to a wider public, and published beautifully illustrated mail order catalogues and placed advertisements in theatre programmes. After his death in 188, his two sons took over his beauty empire and expanded their father’s success internationally by developing a range with a special focus on eye-enhancing products, in particular Rimmel’s revolutionary mascaras. So popular did they become that “Rimmel” is to this day the word for mascara in several languages!
After the Second World War, Rimmel was bought by Robert and Rose Caplin, the owners of a London advertising agency. As a new mood of optimism swept through Britain, and Hollywood heroines became beauty icons for women all over the world, the Caplins anticipated the resulting cosmetics boom and expanded Rimmel’s colour range. They created modern packaging and launched the first ever self-selection dispenser.
The brand is the UK best selling brand and is now sold in 40 different countries. After having changed hands several times Rimmel is now part of Coty Inc.
IN SEPTEMBER 2001, FOR THE FIRST TIME IN THEIR HISTORY, RIMMEL SIGNED AN EXCLUSIVE, GLOBAL CONTRACT WITH BRITAIN’S OWN HOMEGROWN SUPERMODEL, KATE MOSS.
Born and bred in London, Kate is in many ways the quintessential London girl. Her highly individual style and trendy glamour are rooted in the London street scene, and sums Rimmel’s no-set-rules beauty philosophy.
Kate, who has been using Rimmel since she was a teenager said that “Heather Shimmer” lipstick was her favourite!.
The instinctive understanding between Kate Moss and Rimmel has evolved into one of beauty’s most potent partnerships, with the supermodel’s own hip, fashion-forward image complementing Rimmel’s cutting-edge cosmetics vision to create the streetwise London look.
Their products are very reasonably priced, their eyeshadow for example only costs £3.99. Their advertising makes a big impact with campaigns telling us to ‘Get the London look’, enlisting Georgia May Jagger, and uber cool Kate !
SO WHAT STANDS OUT ?
First there is the classic Rimmel Stay Matte pressed powder. Available in 6 shades it creates a good velvety finish and at £ 3.99 it is outstanding value.
Then there is the Moisture Renew Lipstick and it is enriched vitamin A,C,E and is dermatologically tested. It has a lightweight texture and has SPF 20 UV protection. It is available in 20 shades. I love the shade “To nude or not to nude”. It cost £ 6.49
A very good mascara with a special shape brush creates a fringe of big and curvy lashes. The applicator grabs hard-to-reach inner lashes and builds good volume and curve. This mascara costs £ 6.99 at Superdrug.
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