About us

Rainbow Cosmetics is a family run business established in 1990 by husband and wife team, John and Heather Sharman, to wholesale top brand fragrances and cosmetics.

Prior to setting up Rainbow Cosmetics John and Heather worked for Heather’s grandfather’s business, Neilds (household toiletries and food wholesalers), where they witnessed a strong demand for discounted fragrance. Seizing the opportunity, they set up their own fragrance kiosk which turned over in excess £1m in the first year.

From there the wholesale business quickly grew in size and reputation to become one of today’s largest independent distributors of top brand perfumes and cosmetics in the UK with a rapidly growing international presence. Rainbow was instrumental in bringing affordable perfumes to the consumer through the Co-op, Somerfield, Savers and Bodycare.

In 2010 Stephen Sharman joined Rainbow as Managing Director, allowing his father John to step into the role of Chairman. Stephen's introduction to the business injected fresh ideas and retail experience; he was previously Sales Operation Manager at Lidl. He also brought a renewed focus on the Rainbow brands and export opportunities. In the same year Stephen joined the business Rainbow Cosmetics was shortlisted for the HSBC Business Thinking Regional Award and was listed 34th in the UK International Track 100 in 2011.

In 2017 Rainbow brands division which is driven by insight and innovation won the Queen’s Awards for Enterprise. The Queen’s Awards are the UK’s most prestigious awards to celebrate and encourage business excellence in the UK.

Our Brands

The Rainbow own brand portfolio now consists of four beauty brands: Sunkissed a multi-award-winning bronzing cosmetics and tan brand; The Kind Edit Co The English Gift Company currently offers seven luxury bath and body gift collections; Q-KI Cosmetics offers fast fashion colour cosmetic gift sets and Tilly is the new toiletry range for pre-teens.

The Sunkissed brand was launched in 2006 with bronzing cosmetics gift sets, later launching a capsule range of everyday cosmetics and tan. In 2018 Sunkissed relaunched their multi-award-winning range to be 95% natural, vegan, and cruelty-free. Sunkissed is now exported to 31 countries worldwide(see more.)

Style & Grace, The English Gift Company, was launched in 2012 with one collection. The Brand carries now 7 collections to suit all year-round gifting occasions and is now exported to 23 countries worldwide. Being market conscious and understanding consumers requirements for natural products, Rainbow Cosmetics rebranded Style & Grace to “The Kind Edit Co.” With this rebranded, 6 of the bath and body brands were reformulated to 95% natural formulas and moved to eco packaging. (see more.)

Q-KI, was launched in 2017 and offers gifting and cosmetics in kit formats, to enable young makeupreneurs and social influencers to develop, capture and lead the social beauty revolution. One of Q-KI best selling product is the 24 days of Beauty Advent Calendar. The brand is now exported to 19 countries worldwide (see more.)

Tilly is a pre-teen toiletry brand that is designed for play, following focus group feedback from mums and their children, the quirky, eye-catching Fizzers and gift sets are presented colourful and safely packaged, Tilly is now exported to 16 countries worldwide (see more.)

Our Awards

Business Awards

Product Awards