Word: helena
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Even after half a century in the U.S., Helena Rubinstein could clearly recall her first impression upon landing in New York in 1914. "It was a cold day," she would say in speech still heavily accented from her Polish girlhood. "All the American women had purple noses and grey lips, and their faces were chalk white from terrible powder. I recognized that the U.S. could be my life's work...
...millions of women over to them, emphasizing their therapeutic power and billing herself as "The First Lady of Beauty Science." She was a hardheaded eccentric who became one of the world's wealthiest women. When she died last week in Manhattan at 94, elfin (4 ft. 10 in.) Helena Rubinstein left behind a $60 million business that stretches from New York to London, Paris and Rio de Janeiro, and sells her preparations in more than 100 countries...
Shrewd Merchant. It began quite by accident. One of eight daughters of a Cracow merchant, Helena gave up studying medicine and emigrated to Australia in 1890 in hopes of finding a husband. She eventually found two, becoming once divorced and once widowed. Before that, however, she found success. As appalled by the dry, flaky skin of Australia's hardy pioneer women as she later was by American complexions, Helena began selling a potion made of almonds and tree bark. The formula made her $100,000 within three years, and she set sail for Europe, where she opened a Mayfair...
...Helena Rubinstein proved to have the better business head. "I am a merchant," she liked to boast. To give her products a scientific cast, she climbed into a laboratory smock, hired a doctor for each of her salons. She pioneered department-store cosmetic sales in 1926 at San Francisco's City of Paris, then grandly turned down orders for less than $25,000 when other stores clamored for her products. She introduced medicated face creams and waterproof mascara, was the first to send saleswomen on the road to demonstrate proper makeup for ordinary women. She was also wise enough...
Rings & Rubies. Helena Rubinstein's personal wealth was estimated at $100 million, but her enjoyment of it was erratic. Her dark-dyed hair gathered back into a familiar bun, her fingers dripping rings and ruby polish, she held business conferences in her 26-room Park Avenue triplex, propped up in a garish bed whose Incite head-and footboard glowed under fluorescent light. Yet she vastly appreciated art, and acquired an extensive collection that included Renoir, Renault, Modigliani and Dali. Her jewelry was valued at $1,000,000, but she liked to mix dime-store baubles with antique pieces that...