Williams noticed his older sister Mabel applying a mixture of Vaseline and coal dust to her eyelashes to give them a darker, fuller look.

In 1917, the company produced Maybelline Cake Mascara, "the first modern eye cosmetic for everyday use", and Ultra Lash, the first mass-market automatic, in the 1960s.

Josie Maran, Miranda Kerr, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Melina Kanakaredes, Zhang Ziyi, Siti Nurhaliza, Fasha Sandha, Sheetal Mallar, Julia Stegner, Jessica White and Kristin Davis have endorsed Maybelline products.

The current faces of Maybelline are Adriana Lima, Christy Turlington, Charlotte Kemp Muhl, Emily DiDonato, Erin Wasson, Beatriz Shantal, Jourdan Dunn, Josephine Skriver, Marloes Horst, Gigi Hadid, ITZY,[7] Liza Soberano, Urassaya Sperbund, Winnie Harlow, DJ Peggy Gou,[8] Kiss of Life and Ten (singer) of NCT.

[11] In 1989, L'Oréal ceased to use animal testing in finished products before launch and committed to developing alternative methods.