Max Factor, the original Hollywood movie studio make-up brand, will disappear from store shelves in the US early next year.

Procter & Gamble, the Cincinnati-based owner of the century-old brand, said that Max Factor no longer had a sufficiently significant market share in America. P&G will focus its resources on the more popular CoverGirl line.

Max Factor has only 1 per cent of the US make-up market and, unlike similarly priced rivals, is not stocked by big drug store chains, such as Walgreens and Rite Aid. The make-up is far more popular overseas, including the UK.

At present in the US, Max Factor outsells CoverGirl, with $1.2 billion in sales each year, against $1 billion for its newer rival. However, CoverGirl has increased its US market share every year for the past seven years while Max Factor has stagnated. Even bringing in big names such as Carmen Electra, the Baywatch babe, and Gisele Bundchen, the model, in recent advertising campaigns has failed to revive Max Factor’s fortunes in the US.

Make-up fans immediately filled blogs with posts mourning the brand’s American demise, particularly the disappearance of its 2000 Calorie mascara. According to stylelist.com: “This news strikes me as an incredibly sad, as it’s the end of an era in beauty.”

The brand was created in 1909 by Max Factor, a make-up artist at the Royal Ballet in Russia who emigrated the US. Factor moved to California, where he set up a shop that specialised in make-up for films.His make-up later graced Rita Hayworth and Marilyn Monroe.Factor created the world’s first lip gloss by 1930 and the first waterproof make-up in 1971. P&G bought Max Factor from Revlon in 1991 for $1.1 billion. The Factor family sold the business in 1973 for about $500 million.

Times Recommends

• Lies and cover-up at MG Rover exposed by report
• High oil prices push manufacturing costs up
• Primark founder steps down as chief executive