Stock up on 2000 calorie mascara: Max Factor is moving overseas

On Thursday, Procter & Gamble announced that, as of 2010, Max Factor cosmetics will no longer be sold in the United States. The line, which is sold in 70 other countries, has become overshadowed by P&G's Cover Girl brand, currently America's most popular makeup line.

In some ways, this move isn't just the end of a brand; it's the end of a particularly American success story. The company's eponymous creator was born Maximilian Faktorowitz, the son of a rabbi in Russia's pale of settlement.

Apprenticed to a dentist at the age of 8, he later went into business selling wigs, makeup creams and rouges. When the Russian Imperial Ballet began using his products, he was appointed the official cosmetologist for the royal family and the ballet.