GOSH Copenhagen

Why it is renowned

GOSH is the Danish makeup brand people abroad are most likely to have used: it is sold in more than 80 countries, while development, design and production stay at its own facilities in Lynge.¹ Its range is known for gentle formulas: every product is vegan, more than 80 percent are fragrance-free, and much of it carries the AllergyCertified label.¹ It is listed among Denmark's cosmetics companies as a family-owned house whose products sell well beyond the Nordic countries.²

The story

Einar Tjellesen founded the wholesaler Brdr. Tjellesen on 2 January 1945, first selling medicine and later toiletries.³ His son Bo wanted a brand of his own, and in 1974 registered the name GOSH, a word his father had come across in a crossword.³ The perfume Night in Paris followed in 1979 and the first makeup in 1982; in 1984 the Shocking Pink lipstick sold 45,000 units in a single summer, and Bo became chief executive the same year.³ The third generation, Marinus, Bolette and Julius Tjellesen, now runs the house, and the products are still developed, tested and made at its factory in Lynge.³¹

What to know it by

• Shocking Pink lipstick1984The lipstick that sold 45,000 units in one summer
• Night in Paris1979The first product under the GOSH name, a perfume
• Boombastic Crazy MascaraVolume mascara in colours from black to burgundy
• Lip GlazeGlossy lip colour in six shades