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MAC Cosmetics, stylized as M·A·C, is an American cosmetics manufacturer founded in Toronto in 1984 by Frank Toskan and Frank Angelo. 

The company is headquartered in New York City after becoming a subsidiary of Estée Lauder Companies in 1998. MAC is an acronym for Make-Up Art Cosmetics.It is named one of the top three global makeup brands, with an annual turnover of over $1 billion, and 500 independent stores, with over thirty stores in France. All stores are run by professional makeup artists. MAC is an official makeup brand, used to create makeup for movie actors. The most popular products by the brand are Studio Fix Fluid and Ruby Woo Lipstick.

In the 1990s, the brand had more than one hundred stores worldwide, earning 200 million francs. The development of the brand internationally, the opening of new points of sale, and the adaptation of product lines tailored to each continent, left little time for the founders to create new products. In 1994, the Estée Lauder Companies took control of 51% of shares of MAC Cosmetics and began managing the business end while the two founders retained creative control. In 1997, co-founder Frank Angelo died of cardiac arrest during surgery at the age of 49. Estée Lauder Inc. completed the acquisition in 1998, and Frank Toskan sold his remaining shares shortly thereafter before leaving the company at the end of the same year.

The MAC AIDS Fund was established in 1994 to support men, women, and children affected by HIV/AIDS globally by addressing the link between poverty and HIV/AIDS. According to MAC Cosmetics, the fund has raised over $400 million through the sale of MAC’s Viva Glam Lipsticks and Lip glosses, donating 100% of the sale price to fight HIV/AIDS. The Viva Glam product line has been a best-seller for the MAC Cosmetics brand. MAC has collaborated with many celebrities for its Viva Glam line, on limited edition lip glosses and lipsticks to support the Mac AIDS Fund. Every year MAC selects a new spokesperson for Viva Glam. The first was drag queen RuPaul in 1994. RuPaul’s Viva Glam lipstick was the first product MAC Cosmetics advertised.

In September 2012, MAC Cosmetics launched in India firstly the “MAC Selena” collection in collaboration with the estate of Selena Quintanilla Perez. A petition on Change.org proposed the idea of this collaboration to MAC Cosmetics. Selena’s sister, Suzette Quintanilla, worked with MAC to create the perfect collection that represented Selena. The collection sold out within hours not only at MAC stores, but also at other retailers that carried the collection such as Nordstrom, Bloomingdales, and Macy’s. Fans stood in line for hours to get their hands on the collection while some walked away empty handed. Due to the high demand for this collection, MAC restocked the collection in December 2016.

Her posthumous collaboration with MAC Cosmetics became the best-selling celebrity collection in cosmetics history. 

 

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