Who owns Essie?
Essie is owned by L'Oréal (France, EPA: OR), which has owned the brand since 2010.[1]
This ownership is reported in official statements but has not yet been matched to a regulatory filing.
Evidence: L'Oréal Universal Registration Document 2025, L'Oréal S.A, 1 March 2026. Last checked .
Key facts
- Current owner
- L'Oréal S.A. reported
- Owned since
- Owner HQ
- 🇫🇷 France, Clichy
- Origin
- 🇺🇸 United States
- Founded
- 1981
- Category
- Personal care & beauty › Cosmetics & fragrance › Nail care
- Parent ticker
- EPA: OR
- Trademark registrant
- L'OREAL USA S/D, INC. (USPTO)
- Last verified
- · 2 sources
About Essie
Essie is a nail polish brand founded in 1981 by Essie Weingarten, who began by selling twelve colours to a Las Vegas hotel salon and built the business on frequently changing shade names. L'Oréal acquired it in 2010, and the brand is sold both in salons and at retail.
Trademark record for Essie
The USPTO record for the Essie mark lists L'OREAL USA S/D, INC. as the owner of record (serial number 76230418). A trademark is often held by a group company rather than the listed parent, so the registrant's name can differ from the owner named above.[2]
Ownership timeline of Essie
Where Essie sits in L'Oréal
Controlling ownership as of . Brands grouped under the entity that owns them; large groups are collapsed.
Open the full L'Oréal ownership tree →
See the full L'Oréal brand portfolio (21) →
Other brands owned by L'Oréal
L'Oréal controls 21 brands on Brandtree, 21 of them in personal care & beauty.
Also in personal care & beauty
- Aesop (1987)
- CeraVe (2005)
- Creed (1760)
- Garnier (1904)
- Kérastase (1964)
- Kiehl's (1851)
- L'Oréal Paris (1909)
- La Roche-Posay (1975)
- Lancôme (1935)
- Matrix (1980)
- Maybelline (1915)
- Mixa (1924)
- NYX Professional Makeup (1999)
- Redken (1960)
- shu uemura (1983)
- SkinCeuticals (1997)
- Thayers (1847)
- Urban Decay (1996)
Other brands in nail care, and who owns them
The 11 brands in nail care on Brandtree belong to 7 owners. The largest is Kiss, with 3.
| Brand | Owner | Owner based in |
|---|---|---|
| Broadway Nails | Kiss | 🇺🇸 United States |
| CND | Revlon | 🇺🇸 United States |
| Sally Hansen | Coty | 🇺🇸 United States |
| OPI | KKR | 🇺🇸 United States |
| ORLY | ORLY | 🇺🇸 United States |
| Beauty Secrets | Sally Beauty Holdings | 🇺🇸 United States |
| imPRESS | Kiss | 🇺🇸 United States |
| KISS | Kiss | 🇺🇸 United States |
About the owner: L'Oréal
L'Oréal is a publicly listed company headquartered in Clichy, France, founded in 1909. Brandtree records 21 brands under its control, and it is listed as EPA: OR.
L'Oréal was founded in 1909 by chemist Eugène Schueller, who had developed a hair dye. It is the largest cosmetics company in the world and is organised into consumer products, luxe, dermatological beauty and professional products. The Bettencourt Meyers family and Nestlé are its two largest shareholders.
🇺🇸 Essie and other American brands
Brandtree records a controlling owner for 2,549 brands that began in the United States. 478 of them (19%) are now controlled by a company headquartered in another country, Essie among them.
Frequently asked questions
Who is the parent company of Essie?
The parent company of Essie is L'Oréal, a publicly listed company headquartered in France.
Is Essie American or French?
Essie originated in the United States in 1981, but it is owned today by L'Oréal, which is headquartered in France. So Essie is an American-origin brand under French ownership.
Since when has L'Oréal owned Essie?
L'Oréal has owned Essie since 2010.
Is Essie still owned by L'Oréal?
Yes. As of 28 September 2026, Essie is still owned by L'Oréal. The ownership record was last checked against primary sources on that date.
Sources (2) & corrections
Last verified . Every ownership fact above is backed by one of these primary documents. Numbers in brackets in the text refer to this list.
- [1] L'Oréal Universal Registration Document 2025 — L'Oréal S.A., Annual report, published 1 March 2026; retrieved 16 September 2026.
- [2] USPTO: ESSIE, serial 76230418 — United States Patent and Trademark Office, Trademark registry; retrieved 28 September 2026.
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