| Category | Mass Colour Cosmetics |
| Founded | 1915 |
| Headquarters | New York, USA (L'Oréal) |
| Listing | Parent L'Oréal listed on Euronext Paris (OR) |
| Latest revenue | Parent revenue EUR 44.05bn in 2025 |
| Hero SKUs | Mascara (Great Lash) |
Brand History
Maybelline traces to 1915, when chemist Thomas L. Williams mixed petroleum jelly with coal dust to make the first modern mascara, naming it after his sister Mabel plus 'vaseline'. In the 1920s mail order and drugstores took it across America, and it became a symbol of makeup for ordinary women.
L'Oréal acquired it in 1996 and turned a US brand into the backbone of global mass colour: foundations, concealers and lipsticks at RMB 50-150. China was one of its best markets — arriving in 1997, it ran department-store counters and open-sell in parallel and led mass colour for years. From the late 2010s domestic brands rose with faster drops, better shade mapping for Chinese skin and stronger livestream operations, turning the counter model into a cost burden. From 2022 the brand closed most counters, concentrated on online and Watsons, and repositioned from 'international big name' to 'professional makeup for beginners' — a forced retreat, but the only way to hold scale.
Hero Products
Three-Year Financials
| Year | Revenue (RMB bn) | YoY | Net profit (RMB bn) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 411.8 | +7.6% | 61.8 |
| 2024 | 434.9 | +5.6% | 64.1 |
| 2025 | 440.5 | +1.3% | 61.3 |
Brand-level：Maybelline is not reported separately. It was once the largest mass colour brand in China by share; from 2022 it closed most department-store counters and shifted to online plus Watsons. It still ranks high in Tmall and Douyin makeup charts, with mascara and concealer as core categories.
Source：L'Oréal annual reports; brand materials; trade press
Company Coverage
- 2025-11Back up the Douyin charts
Low-price sets and creator distribution recover part of the share.
Source：Platform rankings - 2025-04Domestic colour keeps pressing
Perfect Diary and Florasis lead on local shades and content, pushing the mass band down.
Source：Trade media - 2024-10Offline reset again
Inefficient counters closed, resources concentrated on Watsons and e-commerce.
Source：Trade media
Editor's note: Maybelline's problem is not awareness but why buy it now. Once domestic brands match shades, price and content, an international mass brand is left with one reason: the mascara is genuinely good. That is a decent position — specialist products do not need to chase trends — provided the brand is willing to be only that.