Tins and tubes of Rosebud Perfume Co.’s lip balms and salve are sold worldwide. But the company has humble Maryland origins.
Tucked away on Woodsboro, Frederick County’s charming and unassuming Main Street is the headquarters of the lip product company. Bright stained glass frames the entranceway and spells out “ROSEBUD BUILDING.”
On a recent Tuesday morning, Linda S. Pruitt-Michielli, the company’s president, sits with two of her cousins, Vice President Mary Jo Zentz and Executive Secretary Ida Lee, in the building’s back office. The property was once a hotel, built in 1890, before her great-grandfather, Dr. George F. Smith, converted it into a drugstore.
The cousins, along with employees Dana Snyder and Betty Smith, work surrounded by antiques from the company’s long history, while communicating with major brands and filling orders for consumers across the world. Five people work daily at the Woodsboro headquarters.
Pruitt-Michielli said, “It’s really important to have teamwork, and it’s really important to have support, and for people to honor what you do.”
The family-led business declines to provide revenue figures, saying the information is proprietary. On the Anthropologie and Ulta websites, a tin or tube of Rosebud products ranges from $7 to $8.
Pruitt-Michielli’s great-grandfather formulated the original Rosebud Salve in 1892 and patented it in 1895, she said. The company, which celebrated its 130th anniversary in 2025, now sells seven other products, as well.
While the original salve predates the creation of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Pruitt-Michielli and her relatives, who ran the company before her, have brought great-grandpa Smith’s creation into the 21st century.
A little over an hour away from Woodsboro, in the Case Mason Filling warehouse in Rosedale, the products are prepared for distribution, and the atmosphere is far more industrial. A team of workers in the “Rosebud Room” packages tubes and tins of Rosebud’s iconic lip balms and salve.
Pumps fill three tins at a time with liquid Smith’s Strawberry Lip Balm. The tins next move down a conveyor belt system, where the liquid cools and hardens before the tins are capped and shrink-wrapped.
Inside Case Mason Filling Inc. in Rosedale, where tubes and tins of Rosebud lip balm products are filled. (Brian Krista/Staff)
Eli Morales runs tubes to a tank of Smith’s Strawberry Lip Balm during packaging at Case Mason Filling Inc. (Brian Krista/Staff)
A worker on the assembly line as tubes of Smith’s Strawberry Lip Balm are filled at Case Mason Filling Inc. (Brian Krista/Staff)
A tin of Smith’s Strawberry Lip Balm is measured for packaging consistency at Case Mason Filling Inc. (Brian Krista/Staff)
Line lead Dawn Mangan measures the weight of a tin of Smith’s Strawberry Lip Balm for product consistency at Case Mason Filling Inc. (Brian Krista/Staff)
Eli Morales makes adjustments to a device capping the tins of Smith’s Strawberry Lip Balm as products are filled at Case Mason Filling Inc. (Brian Krista/Staff)
Tubes of Smith’s Strawberry Lip Balm are filled at Case Mason Filling Inc. (Brian Krista/Staff)
Tubes of Smith’s Strawberry Lip Balm are aligned for filling at Case Mason Filling Inc. (Brian Krista/Staff)
Tubes of Smith’s Strawberry Lip Balm are filled at Case Mason Filling Inc. (Brian Krista/Staff)
Line lead Dawn Mangan discusses the packaging process for tubes of Smith’s Strawberry Lip Balm at Case Mason Filling Inc. (Brian Krista/Staff)
Tins of Smith’s Strawberry Lip Balm are filled at Case Mason Filling Inc. (Brian Krista/Staff)
Tins of Smith’s Strawberry Lip Balm move along a belt before packaging is completed at Case Mason Filling Inc. (Brian Krista/Staff)
A tin of Smith’s Strawberry Lip Balm is seen along the assembly line at Case Mason Filling Inc. (Brian Krista/Staff)
Maria Mosquera boxes completed tins of Smith’s Strawberry Lip Balm at Case Mason Filling Inc. (Brian Krista/Staff)
Lip balm products produced by Rosebud Perfume Co. (Brian Krista/Staff)
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Inside Case Mason Filling Inc. in Rosedale, where tubes and tins of Rosebud lip balm products are filled. (Brian Krista/Staff)
Even in the more modern setting, the dainty designs on the plastic tubes and metal tins convey the history of the product within.
Dawn Mangin manages the Case Mason “Rosebud Room” as its line lead. She said workers fill containers of Rosebud Salve and Strawberry Lip Balm most frequently, of all the products that Rosebud sells.
Bill Gross, a Case Mason salesperson who manages the company’s relationship with Rosebud, said he’s aware of the culture that surrounds the lip products. He gives the credit to Pruitt-Michielli. “She’s really the one that’s built this business up,” he said.
Rosebud products are sold in the United States by major retailers including Ulta Beauty, Sally Beauty Supply, Anthropologie and American Eagle Outfitters. Other stores have carried the brand in the past, too.
Rosebud products sell in the United States, Canada, Norway, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Italy, China, Australia, the Republic of Korea, Japan and the Philippines, Pruitt-Michielli said. Tariffs have bumped up shipping costs and affected Canadian sales, she wrote in an email. But she added that customers pay for shipping, even for large retailers and international customers.
“We have thousands and thousands of customers,” from large retailers and distributors to gift shops, spas, pharmacies and individual purchasers, she wrote in an email. “Some of our customers have purchased for nearly 35 years.”
Many makeup and style trends have come and gone, but Rosebud endures.
Family photos spanning several generations, old pharmaceutical equipment, advertisements and promotional materials from years of business, and a framed Martha Stewart magazine feature are some of the items in the Woodsboro office that indicate the long legacy and evolution of the company.
“We’re developing new products, and we’re … working with streamlining, some things that we need to do to improve,” Pruitt-Michielli said. As for future leadership, Zentz said, “It’s important for us, if we can, to naturally keep it all in the family.”
Have a news tip? Contact Gabriella Fine at gfine@baltsun.com or at 443-900-1296.
The historic Rosebud Perfume Co. building on Main Street in Woodsboro. (Brian Krista/Staff)
Linda Pruitt-Michielli discusses the history of Rosebud Perfume Co., started by her great-grandfather, Dr. George F. Smith. (Brian Krista/Staff)
Linda Pruitt-Michielli leafs through a book of handwritten prescriptions at Rosebud Perfume Co. in Woodsboro. (Brian Krista/Staff)
Linda Pruitt-Michielli leafs through a book of handwritten prescriptions at Rosebud Perfume Co., started by her great-grandfather, Dr. George F. Smith. (Brian Krista/Staff)
Samples of various salves and lip balms at Rosebud Perfume Co. in Woodsboro. (Brian Krista/Staff)
Linda Pruitt-Michielli discusses the history of Rosebud Perfume Co., started by her great-grandfather, Dr. George F. Smith. (Brian Krista/Staff)
A portrait of Dr. George F. Smith, founder of Rosebud Perfume Co.in Woodsboro. (Brian Krista/Staff)
Various antique pharmaceutical products displayed at Rosebud Perfume Co. in Woodsboro. (Brian Krista/Staff)
Cousins Linda Pruitt-Michielli, left, and Mary Jo Zentz, holding a photo of their grandparents and siblings, share family stories beneath a portrait of their great-grandfather, Dr. George F. Smith, founder of Rosebud Perfume Co. (Brian Krista/Staff)
From left, Linda Pruitt-Michielli. Mary Jo Zentz, Ida Lee, Betty Smith and Dana Snyder of Rosebud Perfume Co. in Woodsboro. (Brian Krista/Staff)
From left, Mary Jo Zentz, Linda Pruitt-Michielli, Ida Lee, Betty Smith and Dana Snyder of Rosebud Perfume Co. in Woodsboro. (Brian Krista/Staff)
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The historic Rosebud Perfume Co. building on Main Street in Woodsboro. (Brian Krista/Staff)