News: Cover Girl, Max Factor, and Dolce & Gabbana sold to Coty

Big news in the business world today - Coty Inc is buying Proctor & Gamble's beauty business for $12.5 billion. Coty Inc. is buying Cover Girl, Max Factor, and Dolce & Gabbana makeup and fragrance from P&G, as well as other hair care and color, fragrance, and hair styling brands.

All in, Coty Inc. is buying 43 brands from Proctor & Gamble: 

Wella Professionals (and its sub-brands), Sebastian Professional, Clairol Professional, Sassoon Professional, Nioxin, SP (System Professional), Koleston, Soft Color, Color Charm, Wellaton, Natural Instincts, Nice & Easy, VS Salonist, VS ProSeries Color, Londa/Kadus, Miss Clairol, L’image, Bellady, Blondor, Welloxon, Shockwaves, New Wave, Design, Silvikrin, Wellaflex, Forte, Wella Styling, Wella Trend, Balsam Color, Hugo Boss, Dolce & Gabbana, Gucci, Lacoste, bruno banani, Christina Aguilera, Escada, Gabriela Sabatini, James Bond 007, Mexx, Stella McCartney, Alexander McQueen, Max Factor and Covergirl. (List from Market Watch)

Coty already owns many beauty & makeup brands, including designer fragrances like Marc Jacobs and Chloe, nail brands OPI and Sally Hansen, skincare brand Philosophy and makeup brands Rimmel, New York Color (NYC), and Bourjois. Coty also has an eponymous house brand, well known for their Airspun Loose Powder. For a full list of the brands owned by Coty, check out their website.

After this transaction, Coty will be the #1 largest global perfume maker and the #3 largest global cosmetics maker (behind L'Oreal at #1 and Estee Lauder at #2). If you are curious about the transaction details, you can read more at Reuters, the Houston Chronicle, and the Wall Street Journal.

I'm interested to see what happens to Cover Girl and Max Factor products, especially if we will start seeing similar releases and formulations between Cover Girl and Rimmel. It is interesting that Cover Girl's best products (IMO) are their mascaras and foundations, while Rimmel's best products (IMO) are lipsticks, bronzer, and eyeliner. I guess we will see what happens!

Makeup for Engagement Pictures & Special Occasion Photography

Planning makeup for important pictures, like engagement photos, prom pictures, or senior portraits, can be stressful. In this post, I'm going to show you what makeup I chose for my engagement pictures. I wanted products that would look natural and effortless in real life, but pigmented enough to show up in pictures.

I highly recommend doing a trial run for your makeup to make sure it photographs well. Make sure to check it in natural light, in artificial indoor light, and with flash. If you don't feel comfortable doing your own makeup for a special event, you can always hire a professional makeup artist or get your makeup done at a department store counter.

September Makeup Favorites

This month, I have been loving a natural look with defined brows, bold (er) blush, and lots of mascara. I've been hanging on to summer and skipping eyeliner most days and keeping it easy with a minimal matte nude eye.

I wanted to round up what I have been reaching for most this month and share! Not every category of product is included here - I wanted to show you what I have been truly loving this month, day in & day out.