Beauty products have been in use for thousands of years, with ancient Egyptians and Sumerians using them. In Europe, use of beauty products continued into the Middle Ages—where the face was whitened and the cheeks rouged— though attitudes towards beauty products varied throughout time, with the use of beauty products being openly frowned upon at many points in Western history. Regardless of the changes in social attitudes towards beauty products, ideals of appearance were occasionally achieved through the use of beauty products by many.

According to one source, early major developments in beauty products include:

Kohl used by ancient Egyptians

Castor oil also used in ancient Egypt as a protective balm

Skin creams made of beeswax, olive oil, and rose water, described by the Romans

Vaseline and lanolin in the nineteenth century.

Historically, the absence of regulation of the manufacture and use of beauty products, as well as the absence of scientific knowledge regarding the effects of various compounds on the human body for much of this time period, led to a number of negative adverse effects upon those who used beauty products, including deformities, blindness and in some cases death. Many cosmetic products available at this time were still either chemically dubious or derived from natural resources commonly found in the kitchen, such as food colouring, berries and beetroot. Examples of the prevalent usage of harmful beauty products include the use of ceruse (white lead) throughout a number of different cultures, such as during the Renaissance in the West, and blindness caused by the mascara Lash Lure during the early 20th century. During the 19th century, there was a high number of incidences of lead poisoning due to the fashion for red and white lead makeup and powder, leading to swelling and inflammation of the eyes, weakened tooth enamel and blackening skin, with heavy use known to lead to death. Usage of white lead was not confined only to the West, with the white Japanese face makeup known as oshiroi also produced using white lead. In the second part of the 19th century, scientific advances in the production of makeup lead to the creation of makeup free of hazardous substances such as lead.

Throughout the later 19th century and early 20th century, changes in the prevailing attitudes towards beauty products led to the wider expansion of the beauty products industry. In 1882, English actress and socialite Lillie Langtry became the poster-girl for Pears of London, making her the first celebrity to endorse a commercial product.[8] She allowed her name to be used on face powders and skin products. During the 1910s, the market in the US was developed by figures such as Elizabeth Arden, Helena Rubinstein, and Max Factor. These firms were joined by Revlon just before World War II and Estée Lauder just after. By the middle of the 20th century, beauty products were in widespread use by women in nearly all industrial societies around the world, with the beauty products industry becoming a multibillion-dollar enterprise by the beginning of the 21st century.[citation needed] The wider acceptance of the use of beauty products led some to see makeup as a tool utilised in the oppression and subjection of women to unfair societal standards. In 1968 at the feminist Miss America protest, protestors symbolically threw a number of feminine products into a "Freedom Trash Can", with beauty products among the items the protestors called "instruments of female torture" and accoutrements of what they perceived to be enforced femininity.

As of 2016, the world's largest beauty products company is L'Oréal, founded by Eugène Schueller in 1909 as the French Harmless Hair Colouring Company (now owned by Liliane Bettencourt 26% and Nestlé 28%; the remaining 46% is traded publicly).

Although modern makeup has been traditionally used mainly by women, men also use makeup to enhance their own facial features or cover blemishes and dark circles. The negative stigma of men wearing makeup in countries such as the United States has weakened over the years, with numbers increasing in the 21st century. Beauty products brands have increasingly targeted men in the sale of beauty products, with some products targeted specifically at men.