Revlon Logo PNG
The Revlon logo is sophisticated and modern. It tells the story of the brand’s generational legacy and gradual global growth. The emblem conveys leadership, passion, and the bright colors the brand offers its customers.
Revlon was founded in New York on March 1, 1932, during the Great Depression, with $300 and one product. Charles and Joseph Revson founded the company with chemist Charles Lachman, who added an “L” to the name. Their first nail enamel used pigments instead of dyes, creating a dense, opaque finish. The brothers sold it directly to hair salons.
In 1935, Revlon placed its first advertisement in The New Yorker. By 1937, its nail enamel was in stores and beauty salons, and in 1939, the company launched lipsticks to match nail shades. The idea shaped American makeup through the 1940s. In 1952, the Fire and Ice campaign appeared in Vogue, photographed by Richard Avedon with model Dorian Leigh, and in 1955, Revlon began international expansion.
During the 1960s, Revlon sponsored The $64,000 Question and introduced ColorSilk hair color. In 1970, it used Naomi Sims in a national beauty campaign, marking the first time a Black model had been used in the industry. Estée Lauder remained its main rival in prestige cosmetics, while Avon led in mass-market sales. In 1973, Revlon launched Charlie, a fragrance named after Charles Revson, aimed at the working woman of the women’s liberation era.
In 1985, Ron Perelman’s MacAndrews & Forbes took over Revlon for $2.7 billion. The company released ColorStay Lipstick in 1991 and went public in 1996. In 2016, it bought Elizabeth Arden for $870 million, increasing debt. After Citigroup’s 2020 transfer scandal and supply-chain pressure, Revlon filed for Chapter 11 on June 16, 2022. It exited bankruptcy in May 2023 after cutting debt by more than $2.7 billion.
Meaning and History
Brand owners paid little attention to the logo when running advertising campaigns. From 1938 to ’53 and into the ’60s, the brand lacked a unified mark across all products. The company’s fame and recognition came more from print ads and the celebrities who appeared in them. The logo style was unified only after the management change, and it remained unchanged for many years.
What is Revlon?
Headquartered in New York City with affiliates in Europe, Asia, and South America, the cosmetics company offers nail polish, perfume, and hygiene products. Revlon has about 6 thousand employees in 150 countries. The company has been bankrupt since 2022.
1935 – 1938
The brand logo is wordy. The name is written in capital letters and curved like a rainbow. The brand’s name came from a modified version of the surname of the project’s mastermind, Charles Revson. The letter “s” was changed to “l” to honor the second important participant, the chemist Charles Lachman. It was as if he stood between the brothers, splitting their last name in half, as the team included another Revson, Joseph, a pragmatic businessman.
The technique was unusual and original for the time. The result was a unique Esperanto word meaning “dream.” Relying on this lexical play, the founder claimed that the company was selling a dream. The inscription’s style matched that idea.
The letters are airy and light, woven with thin threads. They echo the varnish stream in which the brand’s name was written. The rainbow curve conveyed a strong mood and suggested a rich color palette. In its early years, the company specialized in nail polish and continually expanded its shade range.
The smooth, unslanted letters suggested a focus on a single product.
1953 – 1965
Thanks to the popularity of opaque nail polishes, the company made a multi-million-dollar profit and became the second-largest cosmetics company in the United States. In addition to a full line of manicure products, the range included lipsticks. The new logo reflected these changes.
The company name appears in bright red, reflecting the predominant pigment in its products. The lettering represents scarlet lips and nails. The hue also reflects the brand’s rise, development, and popularity.
The letters’ rightward slant reflects aspiration for the future and a desire to advance and create new cosmetic products. New palette colors appeared every fall and spring, making the offer always fresh. The sequential arrangement of the elements underscores the importance of the relationship between the tones of the lipstick and nail polish.
The bright lettering also hints at print ads featuring models discussing beauty, as well as the prevalence of red in brochures. Famous models and stars in cosmetics ads were new, and red reflected this sensation.
1965 – 1977
The company reorganized into separate divisions, each responsible for a specific customer segment. For example, Natural Wonder targeted youth, and Ultima II produced cosmetics for the premium segment.
The brand logo has also changed. The name is printed in capital letters, with slightly thickened ends. The disappearance of the link between the characters emphasized the division into sectors. The uppercase letters indicated the importance and equality of each division.
The thickening symbolized accumulated experience and a growing customer base.
1977 – 1989
Sales reached $1 billion. However, the company faced strong competition and wanted to strengthen its position and attract attention by rebranding.
The new logo features large black letters, suggesting strong financial performance. A special highlight is the transformation of L and O into a single symbol, which became the main distinguishing feature of subsequent logos.
The tandem looks as if the O curls from the L. The composition evokes curls, style, and chic. Embodying flirtatiousness, it presents the brand as playful and glamorous. Shows the letters and the connection of generations. The brand’s founder died in 1975, but his business continued.
1989 – 2003
By 1989, Pantry Pride became the owner, buying Revlon shares and returning the corporation to private ownership.
The emblem shows the transformation through thicker letters, indicating a stronger position and increased assets. The red lettering conveys the brand’s aspiration to regain its leading market position. The serifed letters indicate the company’s narrow specialization and a farewell to directions unrelated to cosmetics.
The emblem’s red color signals leadership and innovation. In 1989, Revlon became one of the first companies to stop testing products on animals.
2003 – today
In 2003, the mark underwent a minor transformation, with its letters becoming more refined and sans-serif. The logo’s color also lost its saturation, following the popular trend toward thin, slim models. The transformation brought the logo closer to the canons of beauty and fashion.
Font and Colors
The two main colors that have accompanied the brand throughout its history are red and black. They have alternated between emphasizing stability and confidence and growth and innovation. Red was the product line’s main color. It conveyed Charles Revson’s energy, assertiveness, and demandingness, as well as Charles Lachman’s resourcefulness and ingenuity. It was associated with multi-million-dollar sales and worldwide distribution. The black looked great on the brand’s multicolored products, giving them a presentable look.
The lettering font is unique. Has similar features to Resort Sans Regular.