Two Women Who Made Cosmetics "Respectable"



Coming out of the Victorian age at the beginning of the 20th century,
it was only acceptable for stage performers to wear make-up. In an age
when men dominated the industrial revolution, two unlikely women, both
born in poverty, changed forever the way women think about cosmetics, beauty and themselves.



Helena Rubinstein (December 25, 1870 - April 1, 1965) Born in Krakow, Poland. "She went to Australia in 1902, where she opened a beauty salon in which she offered free consultation along with a special cream brought from Poland.



Experiencing an immediate success there, she returned to Europe, opening a salon in London in 1908 and another in Paris in 1912.



In 1914 she immigrated to the U.S. to open salons in New York and other cities. She began wholesale distribution of her products in 1917.



After World War II she built factories on five continents. In 1953 she
established the Helena Rubinstein Foundation to coordinate her gifts to
museums, colleges, and institutions for the needy."



Her philanthropic foundation lives on supporting the values she cherished. - Source: Encyclopedia Britannica



Elizabeth Arden (December 31, 1878 - October 18, 1966), aka Florence
Nightingale Graham, was a Canadian-born U.S. beautician, and cosmetics
entrepreneur.



She was born in Woodbridge,
Ontario, Canada and after her early schooling she moved to New York in
1908 opening a beauty salon with a partner, Elizabeth Hubbard. When the
partnership dissolved, she coined the business name "Elizabeth Arden"
from her former partner and from Tennyson's poem "Enoch Arden."



She revolutionized cosmetics, bringing a scientific approach to
formulations and most importantly bringing respectability to the field.



In 1915 she married, thus becoming an American citizen. The same year
she began international operations. Although most of her commercial
success was in cosmetics, she also pioneered restorative musical
exercises based on yoga.



She started a fashion business in 1943 with notable designers like Oscar de la Renta on staff.



She died in New York City in 1966 and was interred in the Sleepy Hollow
Cemetery, Sleepy Hollow, New York. Her estate was worth $30 to $40
million dollars (US) and she had over a hundred salons worldwide.



Her cosmetics company continues to trade today, and was bought from
Unilever in 2003 by FFI, a New York company. They changed their name to
Elizabeth Arden, and are listed on the NASDAQ (RDEN). The current
'face' of Elizabeth Arden is Catherine Zeta Jones. They also hold the
license to the Britney Spears Fragrance, Curious - Source: Wikipedia



For more information see "War Paint: Madame Helena Rubinstein and Miss
Elizabeth Arden, Their Lives, Their Times, Their Rivalry" by Lindy
Woodhead