ESTÉE LAUDER

1906–2004

Cosmetics pioneer Estée Lauder established her own beauty company in 1946, offering high-quality skin care products designed to make people look and feel beautiful. Through her creativity, innovative marketing strategies, and personalized service, she built one of the best-known global beauty brands.

Estée Lauder was born Josephine Esther Mentzer in New York in 1906, to Jewish immigrant parents. Her father, who was Czech, nicknamed her Esty; she later spelled it Estée because she thought the accent added sophistication.

Lauder learned about business at her father’s hardware shop, but it was beauty that always fascinated her; she especially enjoyed watching her mother apply various creams as part of her skin care routine. Lauder’s uncle, John Schotz, was a chemist, and he taught his niece to make batches of his own recipe skin cream. Lauder soon began marketing the product—she named it the Super-Rich All-Purpose Crème and sold it to hairdressing salons.

Beauty business

In 1930, Lauder married her first love, Joseph Lauter. He later changed his name to Lauder to correct a misspelling that had occurred when his father had moved to the US from Austria. Lauder’s beauty creams soon became the family business; together the couple made a range of skin care products in the kitchen of a former restaurant.

With an innate instinct for what women wanted, Lauder paid attention to every detail of her products, from the color of the packaging to the name. She also believed that, to make a sale, her customers needed to see the results of her products on their own faces, and so she would visit New York hairdressing salons and perform makeovers on potential customers. Lauder had charm, humor, and style, and she was a brilliant self-publicist and marketer. She would tell her delighted customers to “telephone, telegraph, tell-a-woman” about the benefits of her products.

Breakthrough

Lauder and her husband formed Estée Lauder, Inc., in 1946 and offered four skin care products in its range: the original Super-Rich All-Purpose Crème, The Cleansing Oil, The Crème Pack, and The Skin Lotion. A turning point for the company came in 1948, when the New York department store Saks Fifth Avenue ordered $800 worth of Estée Lauder products. Lauder invited the store’s biggest customers to see her new line, offering a free product with a purchase. Saks Fifth Avenue sold out of her products within two days. In 1953, Lauder launched Youth-Dew, an aromatic bath oil that doubled as a perfume, which quickly became a hit with consumers.

When Lauder launched her business internationally in 1960, she added a personal touch once again. She traveled to Harrods in London and then to Galeries Lafayette in Paris, where, denied a meeting with the buyer, she spilled Youth-Dew on the store floor, prompting customers to ask about its intoxicating aroma. The ruse secured Lauder her own makeup counter.

Expanding her products to include the men’s fragrance and grooming line Aramis in 1964, Lauder then diversified again to form the beauty brand Clinique in 1968. She stepped back from running the business in 1973 and her eldest son, Leonard, took over. Lauder died in 2004. Today, her company is one of the world’s leading producers of skin care, makeup, fragrances, and hair care products.

Lauder’s business strategy was to sell her products by demonstrating their high quality. She personally gave her customers makeovers, first in New York hair salons and later in Saks Fifth Avenue.

▲ Estée Lauder launches new fragrance “Knowing” with model Paulina Porizkova at the Lord & Taylor store, New York, in 1988.