Helena Rubinstein The Adventure of Beauty

Helena Rubinstein's remarkable life--from the inception of her beauty empire to the legacy she left behind--is celebrated in this comprehensive book that retraces her inspiring story.

Helena Rubinstein was the first to establish the link between beauty and science, at a time when makeup was worn only by actresses and prostitutes. Progressive and a feminist, she made beauty accessible, using cosmetics as a means of emancipation.

A daring pioneer, she founded a world-famous cosmetics empire with intelligence, courage, intuition, and business acumen. Her visionary marketing and publicity campaigns secured her brand's success, and she left behind one hundred branches in forty countries and 30,000 employees. Until the end of her life, the world's richest woman remained faithful to her humble Polish‒Jewish roots and proud of her Yiddish accent.

This illustrated biography recounts Rubinstein's life and legacy--the path to building her empire, her extensive art collection, her fascination with fashion and jewelry, and her groundbreaking achievements in launching the modern beauty revolution.

Michèle Fitoussi, former editor of French Elle, published Helena Rubinstein: The Woman Who Invented Beauty and co-authored Stolen Lives: Twenty Years in a Desert Jail (an Oprah Book Club pick). Paul Salmona is director of the mahJ (the museum of Jewish history) in Paris. Danielle Spera is director of the Jüdisches Museum Wien. Mason Klein is curator at the Jewish Museum in New York. Marie-Sophie Carron de la Carrière-Lévy is fashion curator at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris. Iris Meder was an architecture historian and curator. Elisabeth Sandager is L'Oréal's international managing director of the brands Helena Rubinstein, Shu Uemura, and Yue Sai. Christian Maryska works at the Österreichische Nationalbibliothek. Suzanne Slesin, an art historian, is Helena Rubinstein's granddaughter-in-law.