The dazzling careers that soap opera characters have are a thing of beauty. Sure, you have the necessary positions like police officer and doctor, but a large percentage of the fictional people that grace our daytime screens are important executives flying around in corporate jets or stylish designers creating show-stopping fashion lines. Some write head-turning editorials in glossy magazines, while others run buzzing bars in the hottest locations in their towns. But arguably, the most glamorous fictional job in all of soap opera land is owning a cosmetics company, where beauty is both a blessing -- and a beast!
From Erica Kane's enchanting empire on All My Children to Victoria Newman's sassy venture on The Young and the Restless, here are the eight best makeup companies from soap operas.
Notable Employees: Erica Kane, Bianca Montgomery, Hayley Santos, Greenlee Smythe
Erica Kane wrote the book on having it all (literally), and her version of "all" included owning the very successful beauty business Enchantment. The cosmetics company was involved in a lot of pivotal AMC stories, including being the vector that brought Dimitri Marick into Erica's life. Dimitri attempted a hostile takeover of Enchantment in the early 90s, and after a bitter face-to-face debate on TV's Market Street Week, Erica and Dimitri met in private to argue -- but their red-hot animosity quickly turned to red-hot passion!
Enchantment was so enchanting, AMC featured a headline-grabbing thirteen-week storyline in 2002 that saw the fictional cosmetics company engaging in a corporate battle with real-life makeup company Revlon after Revlon tried to steal one of Erica's top employees, Greenlee Smythe.
Notable Employees: Victoria Newman, Billy Abbott, Jill Foster
Taking a page out of her dad's book, Victoria Newman forged ahead with the creation of her own company, a beauty business called Brash & Sassy. It was a subsidiary of Newman Enterprises until 2016, when manipulative moves by Victor allowed Billy to swoop in and buy Victoria's baby right out from under her! Victoria eventually regained control of Brash & Sassy in 2017 and launched a very successful line called Bare, but she was forced to sell the company back to Newman Enterprises when, due to shoddy corner-cutting by Billy, a batch of toxic face masks nearly caused the company to go bankrupt.
Notable Employees: Lucy Coe, Scott Baldwin, Laura Webber, Brenda Barrett
General Hospital's Deception has been around since the 90s, when Julia Barrett, Scott Baldwin, and Dominique Baldwin decided to launch the cosmetics company. After Dominique's passing, Scott and Julia left Deception to Lucy Coe, and the business has played into several big storylines since.
In the late 90s, Laura owned 50% of the company and Carly owned 49%, with Sonny owning 1% as a silent partner to ensure Carly didn't cause any issues for Laura! The two women battled it out for quite a long time before the company eventually closed in the early 2000s. Deception made a brief return in 2013 as a health spa, owned by Laura and Lucy, and it finally reverted back to a cosmetics company in 2019, when Lucy realized that Sasha Gilmore would make a perfect new "Face of Deception" model. More recently, Lucy took Deception public and, after throwing a party at the Savoy to thank investors, Lucy was shocked to learn that mobster Selina Wu had become a major investor!
Notable Employees: Billie Reed, Kate Roberts, Tony DiMera, Sami Brady
Countess Wilhelmina was the brainchild of Billie Reed, who started the cosmetics company as a way to turn her life around after battling cocaine addiction. When Billie was later accused of murdering her father, Kate Roberts took the opportunity to steal the business from her -- a dig that was made all the more shocking when it was later revealed that Kate was Billie's mother! Fortunately, Billie made her way back to Countess Wilhelmina after Tony DiMera bought control and hired her.
Billie is no longer on the canvas, but her cosmetics legacy lives on. Characters like Chad and Gabi include modeling for Countess Wilhelmina on their résumés, Eric worked as the company's photographer, and Sami spent time running the place alongside Kate (who took over when Billie left town many years ago).
Notable Employees: Greenlee Smythe, Kendall Hart, Mia Saunders, Simone Torres
Hoping to overthrow Erica Kane as Queen of the cosmetics industry, Greenlee Smythe partnered up with Erica's feisty daughter Kendall to create Fusion. The only problem was, neither knew how to make cosmetics! A series of hilarious scenes aired in which Greenlee and Kendall, together with cofounders Mia Saunders and Simone Torres, attempted to make lipstick in Kendall's kitchen. After quite a few failed attempts, the "Fab Four" eventually found success, and Fusion was born.
The company was a huge hit -- so much so that in 2004, ABC and All My Children launched a real-life Fusion Cosmetics line for fans of the soap opera, which was available at Walmart, on the Home Shopping Network, and online at ABC. The first fragrance released was Enchantment, named after Erica Kane's iconic company.
In 2006, Fusion grew to also launch a nightclub called ConFusion, and the cosmetics business eventually merged with Enchantment and brought Erica Kane on board to oversee new product development.
Notable Employees: John Abbott, Jack Abbott, Ashley Abbott, Victor Newman
A true legend in the soap genre, Jabot Cosmetics was founded by Y&R patriarch John Abbott in the 1960s and has been a Genoa City staple ever since, playing into some of the show's biggest storylines. The 80s saw John reluctantly sign over part of the company in a divorce settlement with Jill, who was having an affair with John's son Jack; the 90s saw John's plan to take the company public backfire when his rival, Victor Newman, bought enough shares to take over control of the beauty biz; and a more recent storyline had shark Ashland Locke attacking the company as a way to get back at Kyle Abbott for sleeping with Ashland's wife, Tara.
Jabot Cosmetics made it over to Y&R’s sister soap, The Bold and the Beautiful, as well. When L.A. fashion house Forrester Creations was preparing to launch its Brooke’s Bedroom line in 1999, they called on the cosmetics company to create a perfume to go along with their sultry new lingerie collection. Forrester called on Jabot again in 2007, when they hired Y&R's Ashley Abbott to consult on the creation of a new Forrester fragrance line.
Following in the footsteps of AMC, Y&R turned its fictional Jabot cosmetics line into a real-life product line that debuted at the Daytime Emmy Awards in 2011 and was made available for purchase on the Home Shopping Network, as well as online. The products were simultaneously featured on-screen in Y&R storylines, with actress Tracey E. Bregman (Lauren Fenmore) serving as the spokesman for the Jabot line -- both on- and off-screen.
Notable Employees: Blair Cramer, Dorian Lord, Kelly Cramer
When bad girl Blair Cramer returned to Llanview in the early 90s, she came with dreams to do something big with her life. With financial help from her then-boyfriend, Cord Roberts, she began building offices for Melador Cosmetics (named in tribute to the Cramer girls: Melinda, Addie, and Dorian). Her business plans were nearly thwarted, however, when she found herself falling in love with Todd Manning! Melador eventually got off the ground, and the company lasted for many years with various people at the helm, including Dorian.
Notable Employees: Madison James, Sami Brady, Ian Buchanan, Kate Roberts
In 2011, beloved soap actress Sarah Joy Brown took Salem by storm when she made her debut as fictional cosmetics magnate Madison James, who owned the super successful and edgy international beauty company Mad World Cosmetics. Madison originally came to town to make a deal with Titan and ended up butting heads with Kate, who was running Countess Wilhelmina. In order to take Kate down, Madison hired Sami and convinced her to work at Wilhelmina as a mole who would sabotage the competition. Madison's machinations didn't go as planned, and she eventually found herself working with Kate when Ian Buchanan bought Mad World and made the two women co-CEOs! The rivals eventually bonded over their passion for the beauty business (and their shared hatred of Sami) and buried the hatchet. Unfortunately, it wasn't just the hatchet that was buried: not too long after, Madison was buried, too, when the Salem tunnels collapsed and killed her.
Which soap opera cosmetics company do you think is the epitome of glamor? Which fictional beauty company would you most like to work for and why? We want to hear from you -- so drop your comments in the Comments section below, tweet about it on Twitter, share it on Facebook, or chat about it on our Message Boards.
