towards cosmetics

 Throughout the later 19th century and early 20th century, changes in the prevailing attitudes towards cosmetics led to the wider expansion of the cosmetics industry. In 1882, English actress and socialite Lillie Langtry became the poster-girl for Pears of London, making her the first celebrity to endorse a commercial product.^[8] She allowed her name to be used on face powders and skin products.^[9] During the 1910s, the market in the US was developed by figures such as Elizabeth Arden, Helena Rubinstein, and Max Factor. These firms were joined by Revlon just before World War II and Estée Lauder just after. By the middle of the 20th century, cosmetics were in widespread use by women in nearly all industrial societies around the world, with the cosmetics industry becoming a multibillion-dollar enterprise by the beginning of the 21st century.^{[citation needed]} The wider acceptance of the use of cosmetics led some to see makeup as a tool utilised in the oppression and subjection of women to unfair societal standards. In 1968 at the feminist Miss America protest, protestors symbolically threw a number of feminine products into a "Freedom Trash Can",^[10] with cosmetics among the items the protestors called "instruments of female torture"^[11] and accoutrements of what they perceived to be enforced femininity.

As of 2016, the world's largest cosmetics company is L'Oréal, founded by Eugène Schueller in 1909 as the French Harmless Hair Colouring Company (now owned by Liliane Bettencourt 26% and Nestlé 28%; the remaining 46% is traded publicly).

Although modern makeup has been traditionally used mainly by women, men also use makeup to enhance their own facial features or cover blemishes and dark circles. The negative stigma of men wearing makeup in countries such as the United States has weakened over the years, with numbers increasing in the 21st century.^[12] Cosmetics brands have increasingly targeted men in the sale of cosmetics, with some products targeted specifically at men.^[13][14]