If you’ve noticed Rimmel products quietly vanishing from shelves, or spotted your favorite mascara listed as “discontinued” on some discount beauty site, you’re not alone. A lot of shoppers have been asking the same question: is Rimmel actually shutting down?
The short answer is no. But the longer answer explains why so many people got that impression — and it’s worth understanding what’s actually changed.
Rimmel Is Not Going Out of Business
Rimmel London is still an active, operating brand. There has been no bankruptcy filing, no global closure announcement, and no statement from its parent company, Coty Inc., about shutting it down.
Rimmel’s official website is live with current products, active campaigns, and up-to-date branding. The site even references the brand’s long history, describing itself as being “in the business of self-expression since 1829.” That’s not language a brand uses when it’s winding down.
Coty Inc., which owns Rimmel, has not listed the brand among assets it plans to sell off or close. What has happened is a set of real business changes that — when seen from a shopper’s point of view — can look a lot like a shutdown. But they aren’t.
Why So Many People Think Rimmel Has Closed
There are a few specific events that triggered this confusion, and they’re understandable ones.
The Ulta Exit
In 2018, Rimmel left Ulta Beauty — both in stores and on Ulta’s website. For U.S. shoppers, Ulta is a high-visibility destination for drugstore beauty. When Rimmel disappeared from it, many people noticed.
Industry sources at the time suggested the move was tied to underperformance. Rimmel simply wasn’t doing well in that channel, and Ulta cleared it out. That kind of retailer exit is a normal business decision, but it feels dramatic to the shoppers who used to buy there.
Shrinking Drugstore Presence
Beyond Ulta, U.S. shoppers have reported seeing Rimmel products disappear from local drugstore shelves too. Reddit threads in communities like r/drugstoreMUA have included comments from people saying Rimmel has been pulled from their area entirely, with some speculating the brand is moving to online-only sales.
This has been a real shift, not a rumor. But a thinner shelf presence in the U.S. is not the same as a global shutdown.
Products Showing Up as “Discontinued”
Sites like BuyMeBeauty carry a large catalog of discontinued Rimmel SKUs — older lipsticks, foundations, mascaras that are no longer in regular production. When shoppers search for a product they used to love and find it only on discount closeout sites, it’s easy to assume the whole brand is gone.
In reality, individual products get cut from lineups all the time. That’s a normal part of how cosmetics brands operate, especially during a rebrand.
What Coty Actually Did With the Brand
Rimmel was founded in London in 1834 and has been owned by Coty Inc. for years. Coty is a major global beauty company with a wide portfolio covering both mass-market and prestige brands.
Rather than dropping Rimmel, Coty invested in a global rebrand. This included updated packaging, a refreshed brand identity, and a new tagline: “Live the London Look.” The goal was to modernize how Rimmel is positioned and, particularly in markets like the U.S., to widen its appeal.
Here’s the catch: rebrands almost always involve cutting slow-selling products. Old shades get retired. Packaging changes. Some items get relaunched under a new name or formula. To the shopper who loved a specific product, this feels like it disappeared. To the brand, it’s a portfolio clean-up that’s part of moving forward.
None of this signals a company that’s preparing to close. It signals a company trying to stay relevant.
Where Rimmel Is Strong and Where It Has Pulled Back
Rimmel has always performed better in the UK and Europe than in the U.S. That’s not a new development — it’s been part of the brand’s identity for a long time. According to WWD, Rimmel is “significantly bigger in Europe,” and that remains true today.
In the UK, you can still find full Rimmel displays in stores like Boots and Superdrug. In Australia, the brand continues to hold mainstream retail shelf space. In the U.S., the picture is different.
Rimmel has shifted its American strategy away from specialty beauty retailers and toward mass, drugstore, and online channels — though even drugstore presence has thinned out in certain regions. A U.S. shopper who can’t find Rimmel locally is experiencing a regional reduction, not a global brand collapse.
Think of it this way: a grocery chain in one city might stop carrying a specific pasta brand, but that brand is still selling in ten other states and being exported overseas. The product didn’t die. One retailer made a decision about shelf space.
The Difference Between a Discontinued Product and a Dead Brand
This is a point worth being clear about, because it’s probably the biggest source of confusion.
When a brand like Rimmel cuts a product from its lineup, that product is discontinued. The brand is not. Cosmetics companies regularly retire shades, reformulate products, and retire lines that aren’t selling well enough. It’s how the category works.
Rimmel has gone through a significant portfolio clean-up as part of its rebrand. Older items — some of which had loyal followings — were retired. Those products then show up on closeout sites, which creates the visible impression of a brand clearing out its inventory before closing.
But Rimmel is still launching and selling current products. Beauty creators on YouTube were still reviewing and testing Rimmel products in 2025, asking whether the brand feels current compared to newer drugstore options. That kind of conversation only happens when a brand is still actively present in the market.
Where You Can Still Buy Rimmel Today
If you’re in the U.S. and your local drugstore doesn’t stock Rimmel anymore, here’s where to look:
- Rimmel’s official website — The best place to see the current lineup and find direct purchase links or a store locator.
- Online retailers — Platforms like Amazon and Walmart.com carry current Rimmel products.
- Walmart and similar mass retailers — These have been part of Rimmel’s U.S. channel strategy after pulling back from specialty beauty.
- Discount and overstock sites — If you’re looking for older shades or discontinued items, sites like BuyMeBeauty carry them at reduced prices.
If you’re in the UK or Europe, availability is much less of an issue. Boots, Superdrug, and major supermarkets continue to stock Rimmel without much disruption.
What the Future Looks Like for Rimmel
No one outside Coty knows exactly what their internal roadmap looks like. But based on what’s publicly available, a few things seem likely.
In the U.S., Rimmel will probably continue as a smaller presence — either in select mass retail channels or increasingly online — while staying more prominent in European markets where it has stronger brand recognition and sales history.
Coty has shown no signs of selling or shutting down Rimmel. The global rebrand represents real investment in the brand’s future, not a liquidation strategy. Rebrands cost money. Companies don’t spend that money on brands they’re about to close.
The mass drugstore cosmetics market has gotten more crowded, with brands like e.l.f. and a wave of influencer-backed labels competing aggressively. Rimmel is navigating that pressure, which may mean further product edits and distribution changes. That’s a competitive challenge, not a death sentence.
For more business news and brand analysis, visit The Business Marker.
Bottom Line
Rimmel is not going out of business. What’s happened is a combination of retailer exits, a global rebrand, product line cuts, and a shift in U.S. distribution strategy — all of which look alarming from a shopper’s perspective but don’t add up to a shutdown.
If your favorite product is gone, it may be discontinued as part of the portfolio clean-up. If you can’t find Rimmel locally, your best bet is to check online. And if you’re in the UK or Europe, this whole conversation probably seemed confusing to you — because Rimmel is still sitting right there on the shelf.
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