Top left: Estee Lauder at R&D Facility, Credit: Ed Pfizenmaier
Middle: Estee Lauder – Mixing Fragrances, Credit: John Peden
Right: Estee Lauder – Sakowitz Counter Texas -1950 (c) Sakowitz

She was born for the beauty world they say: Josephine Esther Mentzer from New York. Her parents always called her Esty, which later changed to Estée at school. The name stuck but one detail was never officially recorded: her date of birth. ‘You ask my age? I tell you it simply doesn’t matter,’ is her famous answer when asked about it. A “glow” has no number and she believed in that. When her uncle (a Hungarian chemist) came to live with her family, her interest in beauty was triggered. He made velvety soft skin creams in their kitchen and taught her not only how to make them but also how to apply them on a woman's face.

In 1930, Estée married Joseph Lauter who later changed his last name back to the original: Lauder. Lauter was actually a misspelling from his father's time. In 1946, Estée launched the company Estée Lauder and sold her products for the first time in salons. While women were sitting under the hairdryer, she would give her perfect sales pitch because Estée knew exactly what women wanted. She believed that you had to touch the product to sell it, and that marked the beginning of the personal ‘high-touch service’. After years of this sales idea, when she officially started advertising, she wanted to create an image that was ambitious but also approachable. That’s why she chose one model to be the face of the brand. She thought the light turquoise color for the packaging exuded luxury and matched all the bathrooms of that time.

One of her first successes with Estée Lauder was the perfume Youth-Dew, a mix of rose, jasmine, vetiver, and patchouli. Women only wore perfumes during special moments and often received them as gifts from their partners. Estée wanted to change this because she believed women should also be able to buy their own perfume, and therefore she created a Youth-Dew bath oil in 1953 that was also perfect as a skin perfume. This way of wearing a perfume conquered the beauty industry and transformed the young, newly started company into a billion-dollar business.

Estée Lauder was no longer to be imagined without in the beauty world. She was seen as a role model because she dared to dream and had the courage to go for it, and she did so with charm, humor, and a refined style. In 1995, after many successes and having seen the world, she retired. She loved that her children and grandchildren joined the family business and could thus leave it in good hands. The brand is now sold in more than 150 countries and has dozens of online stores. This year the brand turns 75 years old and that is entirely thanks to the perseverance, creativity, and passion of Mrs. Estée Lauder.