Benefit Cosmetics logo and brand story

Benefit Cosmestics Logo

The Benefit Cosmetics logo has found its way into beauty branding history over the years. Founded by a pair of ambitious twins, the Benefit Cosmetics brand is well-known for its wide range of diverse and inspiring products, created for all kinds of customers.

Otherwise known simply as “Benefit”, Benefit Cosmetics is headquartered in California (San Francisco), and currently operates as a subsidiary of LVMH.

The company sells at over 2,000 counters across 30 countries and offers products ranging all the way from lip plumping products to blushers and bronzers.

The unique, yet timeless logo of Benefit Cosmetics perfectly matches the memorable story about how the business came to life.

Here’s everything you need to know about Benefit Cosmetics…

Benefit Cosmetics history: When did Benefit Cosmetics start?

The history of Benefit Cosmetics is certainly an interesting one. This company was launched by twin sisters, Jane, and Jean Ford. The two sisters were born in Indiana and attended university, before eventually coming up with the idea to start their own company.

Interestingly, the decision of what kind of company the sisters wanted to run was left to a coin toss – casserole café or beauty boutique. Fortunately for the cosmetics industry, fate decided on the latter.

Initially, the “Benefit” beauty brand was introduced as “The Face Place” in 1976, and it was located in the San Francisco Mission District.

The store in San Francisco store specialized in selling “quick-fix” products for various beauty issues. It was an exotic dancer looking for a solution to an unusual problem which actually prompted the creation of Benefit Cosmetics as we know it today.

The dancer entered the store looking for a way to make her nipples stand out to viewers in the back of a room. The Ford sisters asked the dancer to return the next day, and that night created the very first version of “Benetint”, which is now more commonly used for lip and cheek coloring.

Benetint rapidly became the company’s best-selling product, and it’s still the most popular item on the brand’s shelves today, with more than 10 million bottles sold.

The success of the tint allowed the Ford sisters to invest in a wider range of products, including their iconic Lip Plump. Eventually, the store was renamed Benefit Cosmetics in 1990.

Benefit Cosmestics Logo

Who created Benefit Cosmetics?

The Ford sisters originally created “The Face Place” as a beauty fix solution for all kinds of people in search of different kinds of products. After the Benetint product took the world by storm, the Ford twins moved to a new US department store in New York City.

However, the Benefit “San Francisco” name is still in use today.

Benefit Cosmetics chose its new name in 1990, and went international for the first time in 1997, with their initial expansion into the Harrods store in London.

Who owns Benefit Cosmetics?

LVMH, A French holding multinational corporation specializing in luxury goods purchased Benefit Cosmetics in 1999. The company is also responsible for a range of other leading brands, including Christian Dior, Fendi, and Givenchy.

Is Benefit Cosmetics a luxury brand?

Most people regard Benefit Cosmetics as a luxury brand because it belongs to the LVMH company, which is best-known for its wide range of luxury companies. Benefit sits alongside sister brands like Stella McCartney, Marc Jacobs, and Bulgari.

What does Benefit Cosmetics sell?

Benefit is best-known for its Benetint product, which is still the best-selling item the company has on offer. The product definitely has an interesting story behind it, and one many traditional beauty companies might not be willing to share.

Over the years, Benefit Cosmetics has increased its product portfolio to sell a wide range of items, including bath products, brow shaping products and more.

Benefit Cosmestics Logo

The Benefit Cosmetics logo: Benefit logos through the years

The Benefit San Francisco logo has remained mostly unchanged throughout the years.

Unfortunately, there aren’t any insights available online (at the time of writing), to highlight what the “Face Place” logo might have looked like before the company took on its new image.

The Benefit Cosmetics logo today is a simple wordmark with a strapline underneath. The use of the “San Francisco” element within the logo is intended to remind customers of the history of the business, and where it originally began.

Despite a somewhat unusual background, the Benefit Cosmetics Company chose a relatively elegant wordmark to depict their brand.

The Benefit logo is something you would definitely expect to see from a luxury brand, with a similar appeal to designs like those of Christian Dior and Estée Lauder.

Usually depicted in black and white, the “Benefit” wordmark is written in a serif font, with all lowercase letters for the name itself, and all capital letters for “San Francisco”.

The most eye-catching part of the Benefit logo is the “F”, which takes on a life of its own with a unique calligraphy-style design. This may be a nod to the “Ford” sisters who launched the company to begin with.

It could also be a way to highlight the word “fit” and remind customers Benefit is committed to finding the products most suited to them.

The Benefit San Francisco logo

The Benefit logo is a simple and effective image, perfect for conveying Benefit as a high-quality, and high-class cosmetics company.

The brand has experimented with a range of color schemes for its logos over the years, and often uses different shades of pink when depicting its logo in various marketing and packaging strategies.

Benefit’s logo is just one part of what makes the company eye-catching. Though the logo itself is beautifully refined and elegant, the company maintains a friendly twist with brightly colored packaging, unique names for their products, and images of pin-up style women.

These various elements work together to create a brand which continues to stand out from the crowd, without being too far removed from the other luxury brands in the LVMH family.

You can find some additional Benefit cosmetics resources here:

Benefit Cosmestics Logo

What color is the Benefit logo?

The Benefit logo colors can change depending on where you see the brand depicted. While some people say the Benefit logo color is simply a black font on a white background, there are also various examples of this logo in various shades of pink.

There aren’t any HEX or RGB color guidelines shared by the official brand to demonstrate exactly what kind of colors we see on the Benefit logo. However, most of the time, you can expect to see soft shades of pink in the company’s branding and marketing.

What font does the Benefit logo use?

The Benefit logo font is an elegant serif font, written in all lowercase letters. The “San Francisco” strapline is written in all capital sans-serif. The combination of fonts allows the company to maintain a professional image while also showcasing a fun and approachable side.

The primary Benefit font looks similar to Ratio Modern, with a unique “F” placed in the center to draw attention to the letter of the “Ford” sister’s name.

Celebrating the Benefit logo today

The Benefit Cosmetics logo is one of the most popular logos in the beauty industry today, and one many people recognize all over the world. While the story behind the Benefit brand may be very unconventional, the logo itself fits perfectly into the world of luxury cosmetics.

With their eye catching and timeless logo, the Ford sisters continue to capture the attention of customers all around the globe with the Benefit range. Don’t forget, you can learn all about other leading cosmetics logos here on the Brand Fabrik Logofile.

Fabrik: A branding agency for our times.

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Stephen Peate
Creative director
Stephen Peate
Creative director
As Fabrik’s creative director, Stephen oversees complex branding programmes. He advises our clients on their tone of voice, creates logos and visual identities and crafts names for companies, products and services. Writing for Brand Fabrik Stephen reflects his love for logo design and visual identity.

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