URBAN DECAY
Founder: Pat Holmes, Sandy Lerner, Wende Zomnir and David Soward
History
In 1995, Sandy Lerner, a co-founder of Cisco Systems, and Patricia Holmes were at Lerner's mansion outside London when Holmes mixed raspberry and black to form a new color. Then, they decided to form a cosmetics company, which they named Urban Decay. Launched in January 1996, it offered a line of ten lipsticks and 12 nail polishes. Their color palette was inspired by the urban landscape, with names such as Roach, Smog, Rust, Oil Slick, and Acid Rain. In 2000, Moet-Hennessy Louis Vuitton (a diversified luxury goods group) purchased Urban Decay. In 2002, the Falic Group (owners of the Perry Ellis fragrance lines) purchased Urban Decay. In 2009, Castanea Partners (a private equity firm) acquired Urban Decay. On November 26, 2012, L'Oréal announced it would purchase Urban Decay Cosmetics. L'Oréal acquired the company in 2012. L'Oréal paid an estimated amount of $350 million for Urban Decay. In Spring 2015, Urban Decay expanded its social media presence with a Tumblr site, The Violet Underground. It features collaborations with young artists such as Baron Von Fancy.
About Urban Decay Cosmetic
The Naked Collection was released initially with the Naked Palette, a set of 12 full-size eyeshadows in neutral, matte, and metallic earth tones and an eyeshadow brush from the company's signature synthetic brushes. The Naked Palette has an average 4.9 out of 5 star-rating, and 99 percent of users recommend it. The collection later expanded to include other eyeshadow palettes like Naked Basics, Naked 2, Naked2 Basics, Naked 3, Naked Smoky, Naked Ultimate Basics, Naked Heat, Naked Heat Petite, Naked Cherry, Naked Reloaded and Naked Honey. A subcollection of the original Naked collection, Naked Complexion, includes other skin products like foundations, concealers, blushes, highlighters, bronzers and makeup tools to accompany them.
In 2009, Urban Decay received approval by the Coalition for Consumer Information on Cosmetics, and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) awarded the company with the fifth annual Best Cruelty-Free Cosmetics Line award. However, PETA removed Urban Decay from their list of cruelty-free companies following Urban Decay's announcement on June 6, 2012 that they would begin selling products in China. As of 2014, Urban Decay does not employ animal testing in the creation of its products. PETA and The Leaping Bunny Program (CCIC) certify the brand as cruelty-free. Urban Decay offers 100% synthetic fiber makeup brushes made from taklon, an alternative to typical brushes constructed from animal hair.