Estée Lauder Perfume & Women's Fragrance

One of the oldest and most well known fragrance companies for both men and women, Estee Lauder was born as a result of people first experiencing post war luxury. At first the company were modest in what they offered with only carrying four products, but they soon realised that they had tapped into a lucrative market when they saw how high the demand was and by 1948, just 3 years after the end of the second world war, Estee Lauder secured their first department store account with Saks Fifth Avenue in New York.

Estee Lauder was born and raised in the borough of Queens and from an early age she had a keen interest in beauty. She founded the company with two simple things - the help of her uncle who mentored her and an unshakeable belief – that every woman can be beautiful. Today, more than 60 years later, that simple notion alone has literally changed the face of the beauty business for good. Lauder started her business from scratch, by selling skin care products to beauty salons and hotels and became highly successful with her sales by paying attention to what worked, and also what didn't. She then passed on her wisdom, knowledge and what she had learnt to her beauty advisors until her death in 2004.

In 1953 Estee Lauder introduced its first fragrance for women entitled 'Youth Dew' and it also doubled up as a bath oil that soon became the post war luxury that everyone wanted to get their hands on – in fact it was so popular that 7 years later in 1960, Estee Lauder started its first international account in Harrods, London. Today this brand giant owns 27 brands, including MAC, Darphin, Aramis, Bobbie Brown and Clinique and employs over 38,000 people worldwide. Under the umbrella of Estee Lauder there are over 80 perfumes and aftershaves – the majority are for women although there are a handful for men and a couple that are unisex.

Mrs. Lauder's leadership inspired thousands of people. She received several honours, including the United States' Presidential Medal of Freedom and France's Legion of Honour. However, Estee Lauder was never one to get so used to the fame and fortune that she forget where her roots lay – she was always happiest advising women during her in-store appearances. One of her favourite quotes was "Telephone, Telegraph, Tell-A-Woman," because she knew that once a woman tried an Estée Lauder product, she would love it and share it with her friends.

When the company began to advertise, Mrs. Lauder insisted that its images portray beauty that was both aspirational and approachable. In 1962, Estée Lauder began the practice of selecting one model to be the "face" of the brand. Over the years, women supermodels Karen Graham, Willow Bay, Paulina Porizkova, Liya Kebede—and now Elizabeth Hurley, Carolyn Murphy, Hillary Rhoda and Gwyneth Paltrow—have all proudly represented Estée Lauder.