We know that many beauty start-up founders follow our website, and to them, we heartily recommend this book, relating one man’s extraordinary journey in beauty.

Actually, we recommend it to all beauty-hounds who are fascinated by how brands come to be, or who may be fans of the many names now under the umbrella of the Estée Lauder empire, including M.A.C., Bobbi Brown, Origins, Clinique, Bumble & bumble, Tom Ford and oh, so many more…

We are very privileged to have met Leonard Lauder on many occasions. Once, having written in YOU Magazine (where she was Beauty Editor at the time) that Estée Lauder were about to discontinue their incredible Herbal Hair Pack (we still mourn it), Leonard dropped Jo a line to say that if he ever ran for President, would she be his campaign manager? (After she’d encouraged readers to drop him a line personally, to plea for it to be saved…)

He is always gracious. Always positive. And always, always writes a thank you letter for meeting us, an etiquette we continue to be gobsmacked by considering how busy Leonard is.

We’re also honoured – and we really mean this – to have met many of the other ridiculously hard-working members of the Lauder family, from Aerin to William to Jane via our friend Evelyn, whose role in the Estée Lauder Companies’ growth is acknowledged in this fascinating book. Jo even one interviewed Estée Lauder herself – Leonard’s mother – over tea at The Palm Court in New York’s Plaza Hotel, where a whisper went around the room as this member of beauty royalty entered: ‘Estée Lauder, Estée Lauder, it’s Estée Lauder…’

This follows the tale of the dawn of the Estée Lauder brand – founded by Leonard’s mum, when he was in elementary school – via its innovations and expansion, right to its place right at the top of the beauty tree, today, including tales of rivalry and product espionage, creativity and caring. (The Lauders are serious philanthropists.) It may be Estée who had the initial spark of an idea – but Leonard took her vision global.

The book came to us as a Christmas present, signed by Leonard – and to be honest, on opening the package, we initially thought: ‘We’d rather be reading Nigella!’ But we were wrong. Completely riveting, and as we say, a great read for anyone on a beauty business (or any business) journey.

Or someone who just loves lipstick…

£19.99 ­– buy here

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