Estee Lauder

Upmarket beauty label Estée Lauder was founded in 1946 and is now one of the most recognised skincare and make-up brands.

Headquartered in New York, the cosmetics giant, which owns 25 brands, now sells in around 250 countries across the globe.

Big-name labels including Aveda, Bobbi Brown, Clinique, Mac and Origin are all luxury brands under the Estée Lauder umbrella.

Estée Lauder, the founder of the company that bears her name, started her beauty empire with just four skincare products.

She encouraged women to rethink their approach to beauty products, and see fragrance as something to use daily and purchase themselves rather than as a gift that was only used on special occasions.

Lauder revolutionised how products were sold and brought many concepts to retail that are commonplace today. With very little marketing budget, she pioneered the in-store beauty demonstration and introduced the now-famous ‘gift with purchase’ – a concept that is now standard industry practice in beauty retail.