Fragrance house

Princess Marcella Borghese

Princess Marcella Borghese arrived in the United States in 1956 with eight lipsticks and launched Princess Marcella Borghese Inc. as a wholly owned Revlon subsidiary. In 1957, she introduced her own skincare and cosmetics line, drawing on Italian spa therapies, Tuscan mineral waters, and healing mud. The business grew from her color-coordinated lipsticks into a broader range of makeup, skincare, and spa treatments, with an identity shaped by Italian beauty heritage, natural botanicals, mineral-rich mud, and at-home spa rituals. Its major skincare milestone came in 1985 with Fango Active Mud for Face and Body; by 2010, the original mud mask had surpassed 20 million jars sold. Revlon sold the Borghese business to Saudi investors in 1992, and by 2013 the company was owned by members of the Saudi royal family, with the Borghese family no longer involved in the global company. Marcella Borghese died on January 19, 2002, aged 90. In fragrance, Il Bacio launched in 1993 and is identified as the house’s famous fragrance.