Estee Lauder Description

Experience Estée Lauder's makeup and fragrance collection, representing over 75 years of innovation in prestige beauty. Estée Lauder was founded in 1946 by Estée Lauder (born Josephine Esther Mentzer) and her husband Joseph Lauder in New York City. The couple started with just four products: Cleansing Oil, Skin Lotion, Super Rich All-purpose Creme, and Creme Pack, manufacturing them in the kitchen of a former restaurant. A year later in 1947, the company landed its first major breakthrough with an $800 order from Saks Fifth Avenue that sold out in two days.

Estée Lauder herself was a pioneer in beauty marketing, introducing the "gift with purchase" strategy and insisting on personal demonstrations of her products. She believed that "to make a sale, you had to explain the products to the customer and show her the results on her own skin," and could often be found at beauty counters personally handing out samples. Her most significant product launch came in 1953 with Youth-Dew, an innovative bath oil that doubled as a perfume. Priced at just $8.50, Youth-Dew transformed fragrance from a special occasion luxury into an everyday affordable indulgence for women, accounting for 80 percent of the company's sales by the mid-1950s and turning Estée Lauder into a multimillion-dollar business.

The current collection includes the iconic Youth-Dew fragrance alongside the Color Envy lipstick line and comprehensive makeup offerings such as foundations, mascaras, and eyeshadows. The company went public on the New York Stock Exchange in 1995 at $26 per share and now owns over 20 global brands including MAC, Clinique, Bobbi Brown, Jo Malone London, and Tom Ford Beauty. Estée remained with the company until her retirement in 1995 and passed away in 2004, but her family continues to lead the business, with her grandson William P. Lauder serving as executive chairman of what has become one of the world's leading prestige beauty companies.