Red Cosmetica was created to fill a gaping hole in the cosmetics market that had existed for over a century.

The hole was one of those “why hasn’t anyone thought of this before” things. Red is the universal lipstick colour and virtually every woman on earth is on a continual search for her perfect red. Yet no-one had ever thought to create a range dedicated solely to red lipsticks.

So we became the world’s first brand to launch a range of luxuriously moisturising, long wearing, allergy free, cruelty free shades of red lipstick. Our mission: to make damn sure every woman, anywhere in the world, could find her perfect red in a heartbeat. Even online.

Another first was the introduction of our What’s My Shade service that enables women to ask our beauty team to recommend the perfect Red Cosmetica shades for their skin tone, complexion and lipstick preferences.

We didn’t start life as Red Cosmetica. We first launched under the brand name Red Burlesque with 21 shades, all hand picked by and named after 21 world-renowned Burlesque performers from all corners of the globe.

Fast forward a few years and we realised two things: one, that 21 was too daunting a number for many women to choose from; and two, our Burlesque imagery – despite the fact that it portrayed an empowering celebration of femininity and women feeling positive about themselves – was confronting for many. Especially our Asian and Middle East customers.

So in 2016 we pared our range back to 15 shades, rebranded as Red Cosmetica and in another world first, renamed our shades to codenames which refer to the skin tone they suit and the lipstick finish.