Hello, lovely! Let’s step back into the powdery, mirror lit world of Maybelline, a brand that began with a homemade lash mixture and grew into one of the biggest names in beauty. From early 20th century mail order glamour to 1990s supermodel campaigns and 2000s dominance, Maybelline’s story is about modern makeup, who it was for, how it was sold and how beauty became a part of everyday life. The brand itself was founded in Chicago in 1915 by Thomas Lyle Williams, inspired by his sister Mabel’s lash darkening mixture.
A Little Beginning with a Long Legacy
Some beauty brands are born in laboratories. Maybelline began in a much more intimate way, in improvisation. According to the brand’s history, Mabel Williams used a mixture of petroleum jelly and burnt cork dust on her brows and lashes – something she had read in Photoplay magazine. Following a kitchen accident where she singed her brows and eyelashes, her brother, young entrepreneur Thomas Lyle Williams, saw the potential immediately. In 1915, he founded the company in Chicago and developed an eye product that would be sold to women who were eager for a little polish, definition and movie star magic. He named his company Maybelline, a combination of his sister’s name and Vaseline.
The timing was right. In the Victorian period, obvious cosmetics were seen with suspicion in Britain and the United States, but by the 1910s and especially moving into the 1920s, attitudes were changing. Makeup was becoming socially acceptable, helped along by urban modernity, changing public roles for women and the arts – theatre, magazines, and Hollywood. By the 1920s, women could wear more conspicuous makeup and still be seen as respectable, with film stars helping to reshape beauty ideals. This is where Maybelline found its opening.
1910s and 1920s – when eye makeup was modern
Maybelline’s earliest success came from eye products, which remains the brand’s signature decades later. The company’s early Lash-Brow-Ine product was sold by mail order, and in 1917, Maybelline introduced its famous cake mascara, often described as the first modern eye cosmetic for everyday use. Women would use a small brush, add water, and carefully applied the product to brows and lashes after it had been mixed to a paste. It might not have been as convenient as the wand application we all know today, but it offered something fresh and exciting – an eye look that ordinary women could buy for themselves.
This fitted in with the visual mood of the 1920s. Flapper era beauty loved expressive eyes, thin brows, smoky definition and a sense of drama borrowed from the silver screen. 1920s beauty was directly influenced by Hollywood with mascara, eyebrow shaping and darkened eyes becoming central to the fashionable face. Maybelline was well placed to benefit because it specialised in the feature that women were learning to emphasise.
1930s and 1940s – glamour through hard times
As the United States moved through the Great Depression and then the world was deeply embroiled in the Second World War, beauty didn’t disappear – it adapted. For many women, cosmetics were not frivolous purchases but affordable little luxuries – a real morale booster that helped to maintain dignity, femininity and aspiration during these difficult years. Maybelline grew in this environment because it offered accessible glamour and connected the everyday routines of the public with the polished starlets seen in movies and advertising. This cultural shift toward beauty as an attainable daily ritual was already underway.
The brand’s advertising during these decades leaned into idealised femininity and beautiful, framed eyes. Even as lipstick and powder were important across the market, Maybelline kept building its identity around lashes and brows. That consistency matters when you look at why the brand has lasted so long. It’s focused on doing one or two things well, it’s recognisable and it’s easy for the public to understand what’s being offered.
1950s – everyday polish and postwar beauty
The postwar years brought prosperity, suburban consumer culture, glossy magazines, television and a strong emphasis on polished femininity. Beauty routines were embedded into ordinary lives now, and mass market cosmetics benefited from this adoption. A drugstore brand could now promise glamour without asking for department store prices – and that was Maybelline’s sweet spot.
By mid century, the company was a familiar name, and its long standing focus on eye products suited the 1950s look perfectly – those neat brows, defined lashes and soft liner were all things that Maybelline did well. American beauty culture during the 50s was increasingly standardised through advertising and mass retail, and Maybelline fit right into that new world of scalable, repeatable beauty. The brand was a fixture now, moving on from its clever startup story.
1960s – mascara changes everything
The 1960s were transformative for many things, and that includes eye makeup. Fashion shifted, youth culture became powerful and makeup focused on the eyes more intensely than ever before. Graphic liner, bold mascara and playful experimentation all summarise the decade’s spirit. At precisely this moment, Maybelline introduced one of its most important technical advances, Ultra Lash, widely remembered as the first mass market automatic mascara, sold in tube and wand form rather than a cake.
This made all the difference. It simplified application and matched the youthful, modern pace of 1960s beauty culture. A brand that started with a homemade formula and brush and cake had found a way to speak to the era of swing, motion and convenience. The product form changed because women’s lives and tastes were changing. Talk about meeting customer demand!
The decade also marked a major business turning point. In 1967, Thomas Lyle Williams sold Maybelline to Plough. Plough then went on to expand the sales force and pushed for further growth of the Maybelline brand. So the 1960s provided Maybelline with technical modernity and corporate scale – what a combination!
1970s – Great Lash and the mass market
If we could choose one product that sums up Maybelline’s staying power, it has to be Great Lash. Introduced in 1971, Great Lash became one of the brand’s most iconic products. Maybelline still describes the mascara as a classic with billions sold since 1971, which says a lot about how a single drugstore product can move from trending item to cultural staple.
The 1970s beauty mood was more varied than previous decade’s ideas of polish. Women moved between natural looks, disco glamour, soft daytime makeup and more individuality. Great Lash thrived because it was practical, recognisable and easy to use. It has unforgettable packaging, that bright pink and green tube that many (including me) remember fondly. When beauty shelves became crowded, recognisability and eye-catching packaging matters a lot.
1980s – louder beauty, louder branding
By the 1980s, beauty advertising was bolder and more energetic, and makeup itself followed suit. Bigger hair, brighter colours, and more visible glamour were all gaining in popularity. Maybelline used the slogan “Maybelline, Maybelline, Ooh La La” before shifting to another (iconic) line at the start of the 1990s.
Maybelline wasn’t just selling products at this point, it was selling a tone. It was the idea of modern, attainable beauty that felt flirtatious rather than forbidding that was one of the secrets of the brand’s success. They sat in that clever middle ground where it looked glamorous but was still buyable, wearable and close to ordinary life. It was just enough ambition without being overwhelming.
1990s – the supermodel era
The 1990s gave Maybelline one of the most recognisable taglines in beauty history, “Maybe she’s born with it. Maybe it’s Maybelline.” It debuted in 1991, and it’s been reported that it’s now become one of the most recognisable advertising straplines of the past 150 years. That staying power is remarkable, and definitely not accidental. The phrase promises enhancement without being artificial and glamour without oodles of money. It told shoppers that they could look effortlessly beautiful, with a little help from cosmetics in the drugstore.
Beauty culture during the 90s adored the look of natural perfection, minimal and polished with a healthy fresh feel. It was still aspirational though. Maybelline’s slogan played right into those wants and needs.
Then came another major business shift. L’Oréal acquired Maybelline in 1996, a move the company identified as a major step in strengthening their US mass market presence. The brand also moved their headquarters to New York after this acquisition, helping to cement the “Maybelline New York” identity that became central to its image. Under L’Oréal, Maybelline grew even more internationally and gained a sharper fashion positioning.
The New York framing was really powerful. It let Maybelline capitalise on the city’s energy, speed and trend awareness while remaining accessible to everyday shoppers. It wasn’t Paris couture or Old Hollywood nostalgia. It was fashionable, stylish and modern – very New York. The repositioning helped the brand appeal to a younger audience and feel more global at the same time.
2000s – global beauty for the high street
By the 2000s, Maybelline was firmly established as a global mass beauty giant. The brand’s repositioning in the 90s carried forward into a new retail landscape shaped by celebrity culture, fashion media, more shade offerings, fast product cycles and growing international distribution under the L’Oréal umbrella.
The 2000s beauty consumer expected more choice and more immediacy. Drugstores and mass retailers were not places for simple staples only anymore. They became experimental spaces. Maybelline rose to the challenge because it had history making it recognisable, but it also had speed. It was able to reference its heritage and be trend aware. That, I think, is one reason it’s lasted where other once familiar names faded into beauty history footnotes.
Why Maybelline mattered
Maybelline’s importance goes beyond individual products. The brand helped to normalise eye makeup for everyday wear, introduced the technology of mascara from cake to tube, adapted to changing ideals of beauty across the 20th century and mastered the art of making glamour feel available. From silent film era eyes to supermodel slogans, it stayed close to the mainstream without becoming dull – that’s way harder than it looks.
Their story also mirrors bigger cultural shifts. The rise of respectable makeup in the 1920s. The resilience of small luxuries when times are hard. The postwar boom in consumer beauty. Youth driven experimentation in the 1960s. The branding power of the 1990s. The global mass market beauty machine in the 2000s. Maybelline didn’t create all of those changes by itself, but it responded to them. And it did so brilliantly – which is exactly what makes a brand iconic.
Final thoughts
There is something delightful about the fact that one of the most recognisable beauty brands began with a sister and her homemade solution for lashes and brows. But Maybelline thrived because it did more than start well. It kept translating and applying the mood of each era into something women could actually buy, use and enjoy.
Until next time, stay delightful darling.
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