Estée Lauder began in a restaurant kitchen and built brands like MAC and Clinique

India Today

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Under the dim glow of a humble converted restaurant kitchen in Manhattan, New York, a young Estee Lauder stirred creams over a stove late into the night. It was the early 1940s. She and her husband Joseph Lauder had just founded their cosmetics business -- and this kitchen was their entire factory.Long before her name became synonymous with luxury beauty, the duo hand-mixed each batch, poured passion into every jar, and then labelled and boxed each jar themselves. By dawn, Estee was off to department-store counters, ferrying these overnight creations in a handbag.advertisementIn 1944, American luxury department store Saks Fifth Avenue placed their first order -- $800 worth of products that sold out in just two days, a triumph that hinged entirely on those small-batch kitchen creations.
In 1945, Estee and Joseph would go on to officially found Estee Lauder Inc., with that converted kitchen as their first factory.WHERE SCIENCE MET SALESBorn Josephine Esther Mentzer to Jewish immigrants in Queens on July 1, 1908, she grew up amid disorderly shelves of nuts and bolts in her family's hardware store, learning business acumen early on.There she learned to arrange displays neatly and wrap hammers as gifts at Christmas. These were lessons in presentation that would later define her brand aesthetic.
Estee and Joseph Lauder at a fine arts festival at Mar-A-Lago (1970) (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)
advertisementAs a teen, her cosmetics classroom was the stable-turned-lab behind their home. There, her uncle, Dr John Schotz, a Hungarian chemist, crafted creams with her assistance.He taught Estee the chemistry behind creams, launching her lifelong fascination with skincare.FROM SCHOOL MAKEOVERS TO SALON SELL-INSAt Newton High School, Estee wasn't merely a student -- she was a budding entrepreneur. Friends received 'complete makeovers' to prove the magic of her uncle's formula. Estee observed carefully, colourful jars in hand.Estee started blending small batches. Soon she was selling Super Rich AllPurpose Cream, Six-in-One Cold Cream and more to salons, beach clubs and hotels.One day at the House of Ash Blondes salon, the owner noticed her flawless skin. Estee returned with four jars the next day -- and landed her first outside placement.MARRIAGE, MAKEUP, HEARTBREAK, REUNIONShe married Joseph Lauter (later Lauder) in 1930, and in 1933 they welcomed son Leonard. Even after motherhood, she spent daylight hours selling, nights refining her creams on the stove.Their partnership blended life and enterprise: Estee refined formulas by the kitchen stove while Joseph managed logistics.
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A divorce in 1939 sent her to Miami Beach where she carried on selling.But when her son took ill around that time, she ended up finding love once more with Joseph. They reunited and remarried in 1942 -- recommitting not only to each other, but to their shared venture.FROM GIFT-WITH-PURCHASE TO THE SAKS BREAKTHROUGHBy the 1940s, Estee was staging live demos in salons, college lounges, even department- store elevators, guided by a motto she lived: 'Telephone, telegraph, tell-a-woman.'The Lauder duo understood that a beauty product needed to be experienced. Ad agencies dismissed them, so they used their US$50,000 ad budget for free samples and 'gifts with purchase.'The year 1944 marked a turning point. Estee secured an order from Saks Fifth Avenue -- and sold out in just two days.Buoyed by this success, she and Joseph officially incorporated Estee Lauder Inc. in 1946. Even then, production stayed in that converted restaurant kitchen -- night after night of simmering creams fuelling her vision.
Estee and Joseph Lauder at a Red Cross Ball at The Breakers in Palm Beach (1971) (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)
advertisementYOUTH DEW AND PERSONAL BRANDINGIn 1953, Estee introduced Youth Dew, a bath oil that doubled as an affordable perfume. Priced at $8.50, it offered accessible glamour. It was revolutionary.Women poured it into their baths -- and ordered 50,000 bottles in that first year. Within a decade, Youth Dew made up 80% of company sales, driving Forbes-worthy profits.EsteE's flair wasn't just in chemistry -- it was in sensing that women wanted indulgence that didn't break the bank.She also understood image. She styled herself as the archetype of grace, wore couture, and turned product demos into theatre -- spraying YouthDew at launch events or even spilling it in Paris department stores to stir curiosity.She pioneered the 'free sample' and 'gift-with-purchase' marketing techniques which are now standard in beauty retail. These moves weren't just gimmicks, but built on her brand ethos.
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advertisementA WOMAN, A FAMILY, A GLOBAL EMPIREIn 1958, Este's son Leonard Lauder formally joined the family business. He was just 25 then, but sharp-eyed and business-savvy -- much like his mother. Under his leadership, what began as a kitchen-born dream grew into a global powerhouse that would help shape the future of global beauty.The company went public in 1995, a move Leonard masterminded. Valued around US$2 billion, it turned the family name into a Wall Street success.By then, Estee Lauder was already a growing constellation. In 1964, they'd launched Aramis, one of the first prestige men's grooming lines. In 1968, came Clinique, a skincare line developed by dermatologists and marketed as allergy-tested, fragrance-free, and rooted in science -- a radical move at the time.In the 1990s, the company acquired and grew brands like MAC Cosmetics, La Mer, Bobbi Brown, Aveda, and Jo Malone London. In 2006, it helped launch Tom Ford Beauty, and by 2022, it owned the Tom Ford brand outright.
Estee Lauder during the inauguration of one of her stores (October 1989 in Hungary) (Photo: AFP)
advertisementEstee's reach had already crossed oceans long before going public with the company. By the early 1970s, her creams and perfumes were sold in more than 70 countries, from Harrods in London to Galeries Lafayette in Paris.What had started with five employees and US$850,000 in earnings in 1958, ballooned into a 1,000-person company generating over US$100 million by 1973.THE MATRIARCH'S LEGACY AND FINAL CURTAINEstee herself remained a fierce creative force through it all. She continued to mentor and test, refine and dream. She showed up at counters whenever a new store opened, personally handing out samples well into her later years. And she wasn't the only woman shaping the brand's legacy.Leonard's wife, Evelyn Lauder, made her own global mark. It was Evelyn who co-created the iconic pink ribbon -- now recognised around the world as the symbol of breast cancer awareness -- and helped raise millions for cancer research.Joseph passed away in 1983 -- she honoured him by establishing a management institute. On April 24, 2004, when Estee Lauder died of cardiopulmonary arrest at around the age of 97 in New York, the tributes poured in.
Estee Lauder (L) meeting the Princess of Great Britain before attending the London Festival Ballet's performance of Romeo and Juliet. (July 25, 1989, in New York City) (Photo: AFP)
She had been awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom and France's Legion of Honour. But perhaps her real honour was how she transformed the beauty industry.Her sons Leonard and Ronald -- and later her grandchildren -- kept the family vision alive within the powerhouse she built. What began as artisanal creams simmered in a kitchen became a billion-dollar legacy.Estee's genius lay not just in formulas, but in her belief that luxury could be personal, accessible, and intimate.She showed the world that high-end brands could start in humble places, bloom from formula to fragrance, and thrive on passion more than polish.- Ends