Who owns NARS?
NARS is owned by Shiseido (Japan, TSE: 4911), which has owned the brand since 2000.[1]
This ownership is reported in official statements but has not yet been matched to a regulatory filing.
Evidence: Shiseido Company, Limited Integrated Report 2025, 31 March 2026. Last checked .
Key facts
- Current owner
- Shiseido Company, Limited reported
- Owned since
- Owner HQ
- 🇯🇵 Japan, Tokyo
- Origin
- 🇺🇸 United States, New York
- Founded
- 1994
- Category
- Personal care & beauty › Cosmetics & fragrance › Makeup
- Parent ticker
- TSE: 4911
- Last verified
- · 1 sources
About NARS
NARS was founded in New York in 1994 by makeup artist François Nars, launching with twelve lipsticks in matt black rubberised packaging designed to feel like professional kit. Shiseido acquired the company in 2000. Its Orgasm blush, named deliberately to provoke, became one of the best-selling single cosmetics products of the following decades.
Ownership timeline of NARS
Where NARS sits in Shiseido
Controlling ownership as of . Brands grouped under the entity that owns them; large groups are collapsed.
Open the full Shiseido ownership tree →
See the full Shiseido brand portfolio (6) →
Other brands owned by Shiseido
Shiseido controls 6 brands on Brandtree, 6 of them in personal care & beauty.
Also in personal care & beauty
- Anessa (1992)
- Clé de Peau Beauté (1982)
- Drunk Elephant (2012)
- Senka (2011)
- Shiseido (1897)
Other brands in makeup, and who owns them
The 43 brands in makeup on Brandtree belong to 22 owners. The largest is L'Oréal, with 5.
| Brand | Owner | Owner based in |
|---|---|---|
| Lancôme | L'Oréal | 🇫🇷 France |
| ADDICTION | KOSÉ | 🇯🇵 Japan |
| CoverGirl | Coty | 🇺🇸 United States |
| Bobbi Brown | Estée Lauder | 🇺🇸 United States |
| Eudora | Grupo Boticário | 🇧🇷 Brazil |
| Flower Knows | Proya | 🇨🇳 China |
| Little Ondine | Yatsen | 🇨🇳 China |
| AGE20'S | Aekyung | 🇰🇷 South Korea |
About the owner: Shiseido
Shiseido is a publicly listed company headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, founded in 1872. Brandtree records 6 brands under its control, and it is listed as TSE: 4911.
Shiseido was founded in Tokyo in 1872 as the first Western-style pharmacy in Japan and moved into cosmetics in 1897 with a skin lotion. It is the oldest cosmetics company in the world still operating and the largest in Japan, with a portfolio spanning mass, prestige and dermatological skin care.
🇺🇸 NARS 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, NARS among them.
Frequently asked questions
Who is the parent company of NARS?
The parent company of NARS is Shiseido, a publicly listed company headquartered in Japan.
Is NARS American or Japanese?
NARS originated in the United States in 1994, but it is owned today by Shiseido, which is headquartered in Japan. So NARS is an American-origin brand under Japanese ownership.
Since when has Shiseido owned NARS?
Shiseido has owned NARS since 2000.
Is NARS still owned by Shiseido?
Yes. As of 16 September 2026, NARS is still owned by Shiseido. The ownership record was last checked against primary sources on that date.
Sources (1) & 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] Shiseido Company, Limited Integrated Report 2025 — Shiseido Company, Limited, Annual report, published 31 March 2026; retrieved 16 September 2026.
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