Beauty icon Revlon really in the red: files for bankruptcy

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This article was published 17/06/2022 (1234 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Revlon, a 90-year-old makeup brand, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Some in Manitoba’s beauty community aren’t surprised.

The cosmetics company said Thursday that upon court approval, it expects to receive $575 million in financing from existing lenders, which will allow it to keep its day-to-day operations running.

“I feel like they just fell behind,” said Bailey Van Der Veen, a Winnipeg makeup artist.

Van Der Veen has over 100,000 subscribers on YouTube. She reviews cosmetics online, and she pays attention to others’ reviews on social media.

“I feel like that’s where everyone looks nowadays,” she said. “It’s just so accessible.”

Van Der Veen said she didn’t see or hear about the New York-based brand.

“When I read that they were bankrupt, I was like, ‘I believe it,’” she said.

She noted the pandemic took a swing at the cosmetics industry: people masking don’t necessarily wear lipstick, and many abandoned their face paint while staying home.

Revlon’s sales dropped 21 per cent in 2020. They rebounded 9.2 per cent in the most recent reporting year.

In the 20th century, only Avon surpassed Revlon in sales. The company oversees many household names, including Almay and Elizabeth Arden.

Revlon now holds the 22nd spot among cosmetics makers, according to a recent ranking by fashion trade journal WWD.

“Today’s filing will allow Revlon to offer our consumers the iconic products we have delivered for decades, while providing a clearer path for our future growth,” said Debra Perelman, who became the brand’s president and CEO in 2018.

Nancy Dutiaume, the owner and lead makeup artist of MADE Beauty Company, called the news “very sad”.

“I feel like it’s just another reality of what COVID’s brought on,” Dutiaume said. “No brand is safe, no company is safe at this point.”

Dutiaume said she tries makeup based on reviews she finds online and in magazines. Instagram is good for discovering new labels, she said.

“There are so many indie brands now, and… makeup artistry has gone into a completely different realm,” Dutiaume said. “There’s so much competition, (so) you really have to stay up to what the trends are in order to stay relevant.”

She said Revlon didn’t cross her social media feeds.

“If the brands aren’t there and don’t have that exposure, they kind of are getting lost.”

In Revlon’s latest quarter, ending in March, sales rose nearly eight per cent. Still, they lagged pre-pandemic levels in excess of $2.4 billion a year.

The company barely escaped bankruptcy in late 2020 by persuading bondholders to extend maturing debt.

Ron Perelman, Revlon’s CEO’s billionaire father, backs the company through MacAndrews & Forbes, which acquired the business through a takeover in the late 1980s.

“My mom used (Revlon),” said Lina Ismael, a customer at Shoppers Drug Mart in Grant Park Thursday.

Ismael, 48, occasionally buys lipstick from the brand. She called it a “very old brand, very nice”.

Jordanna Bilinsky, another shopper, said she hadn’t bought Revlon in years.

The 31-year-old is purchasing less makeup, and when she does, she’s mindful of the cost.

“With inflation and prices going up, you definitely have to watch where you spend your money now,” Bilinsky said. “I don’t spend it as much on wants. I spend it more on necessities.”

Revlon’s assets and liabilities are listed between $1 billion and $10 billion, according to its bankruptcy filing.

The company filed in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. The proceedings affect Revlon’s Canadian operations.

It became the first beauty business to feature a Black model, Naomi Sims, in 1970. Revlon went public in 1996.

– With files from the Canadian Press

gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com