The Estée Lauder Companies
The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. is an American multinational cosmetics company, a manufacturer and marketer of makeup, skincare, perfume, and hair care products, based in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It is the second largest cosmetics company in the world after L'Oréal. The company owns a diverse portfolio of brands, including La Mer, Jo Malone London, Clinique and Tom Ford Beauty, among many more, distributed internationally through both digital commerce and retail channels.
Founders Estée and Joseph H. Lauder in 1971
The large Estée Lauder cosmetics counter at MYER Sydney City
Small-medium-sized pre-2013 style counter at New Zealand retailer Farmers
QUIT activists protesting Estée Lauder Companies, 2004.
Cosmetics are composed of mixtures of chemical compounds derived from either natural sources or synthetically created ones. Cosmetics have various purposes. Those designed for personal care and skin care can be used to cleanse or protect the body and skin. Cosmetics designed to enhance or alter one's appearance (makeup) can be used to conceal blemishes, enhance one's natural features, add color to a person's face, or change the appearance of the face entirely to resemble a different person, creature or object. Cosmetics can also be designed to add fragrance to the body.
Assorted cosmetics and tools
An actor applying bold makeup for a stage performance
Actor Marcus Stewart wearing bold face makeup in the play Oresteia by Aeschylus (2019)
A bust of the Egyptian queen Nefertiti showing the use of eye liner made of kohl