Wisdom of Life Profile: Helena Rubinstein, Pioneer of Modern Beauty Industry

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Helena Rubinstein had a stunning multimillion dollar collection of jewelry which included pieces that once belonged to Empress Catherine of Russia. In 1964, the year before her death, when she was over 90 years old, burglars entered her Manhattan apartment and demanded her jewelry collection. Though she was tied to a chair, and her servants were bound and gagged, she refused to reveal the location of the key for her safe and the burglars left with $200 cash feeling very unnerved by the incident. Rubinstein was also a contradiction, she wore nightgowns that cost $4.99, yet she wore very expensive jewelry.

Name: Helena Rubinstein
Birth Date: December 1870 – April 1965
Job Functions: Cosmetician, Business Executive, Author
Fields: Beauty Care
Known For: Helena Rubinstein introduced waterproof mascara, foundation make-up and all-day spa treatment.
Books: The art of feminine beauty, This Way to Beauty, Food for Beauty, My Life for Beauty (autobiography published year after her death)

Questions to Ponder While Reading About Helena Rubinstein

How are you similar or different from her?
What are key lessons you can learn from her?
What are five takeaways after reading this profile?
Would the strategies she used to build her business work today?

Biography

Helena Rubinstein was the eldest of eight daughters of Polish parents. Each evening, Augusta Rubinstein, Helena’s mother, made sure that all her daughters undergo a beauty regiment which ended with the application of a cream to their faces. Her mother told them that the cream would make them beautiful. While Rubinstein attended high school in Cracow, Poland, she kept the books for her father, an egg merchant. Father and daughter discussed plans for the egg business.

Rubinstein’s father wanted her to be a doctor, but that was not to be the case. She entered medical school, liked the research aspect but didn’t like being around sick people so left a short while later. She left Poland and immigrated to Melbourne, Australia where her Uncle Louis lived. She took 12 pots of her mother’s face cream, which was a special formula created by Hungarian chemist Jacob Lykusky.

In Australia, she noticed that the women suffered from dry, flaky skin because of the extreme climate variation. In 1890 she got her first job at a pharmacy. The owner, Mr. Henderson, was very supportive of Rubinstein. She learned how to compound simple formulas and how to run a business. She started to sell the Polish face cream in Henderson’s store and demand quickly rose. In 1898, Uncle Louis became overwhelmed with Rubinstein’s entrepreneurial venture and asked her to move out.

Rubinstein returned to Melbourne two years later, and while working in a café, she met two people who helped to shape her future. One was the owner of tea business who gave her pointers on how to establish a business, and the second person was a woman who had poor skin, offered to loan Rubinstein her $1,500 life savings. She was able to repay the loan shortly.

With the $1,500, she opened her first beauty salon, imported the face cream from Poland, which she sold to Australian women. Rubinstein didn’t stop there, she advised her clients on proper skin care. Through word-of-mouth marketing, her satisfied clients told other’s about Rubinstein’s products. Eugenia Stone, a popular editor from Sydney, Australia wrote about Rubinstein’s beauty salon. The free publicity resulted in 15,000 cash orders from all over Australia. To keep up with demand, Rubinstein had to work 18-hour days which she kept for most of her life, even when she didn’t have to.

Rubinstein also convinced the chemist, Dr. Lykusky to come to Australia. He taught her how to mix the cream which the called, Crème Valaze, and how to make cleansing cream, lotion and soap. She hired Australian chemists and opened up a small factory.

In the years that followed, Rubinstein built a global empire, spanning several countries: Australia, France, Austria, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada to name a few. She always looked for ways to broaden her knowledge so Rubinstein studied with the best known chemists and dermatologists in Europe. As she expanded her business, she brought in her sisters to assist her.

When she met her future husband, American journalist Edward Titus, he wanted to help her promote her business. Rubinstein employed him, and he created the famous scheme for her ads “featuring the elegant, rich and beautiful Helena dwelling upon her scientific knowledge and always giving a specific reason to women for buying her products.” It is worthy to note that it was Edward Titus who published D.H. Lawrence’s Lady Chatterley’s Lovers, which was rejected by traditional publishers because of its racy scenes.

With her second husband, Prince Artchil Gourielli-Tchkonia, they developed a line of products for men. Gourielli-Tchkonia also introduced Rubinstein to the world’s rich and famous.

Helena Rubinstein Tidbits

Important timeline: Opened first beauty salon in Melbourne in 1902, opened Helena Rubinstein Salon de Beaute in London in 1908, opened cosmetic factory near Paris in 1911, opened Maison de Beaute Valaze in New York City in 1915, US Department stores start selling Rubinstein cosmetics in 1918, opened Prestigious salon on New York’s Fifth Avenue in 1937, introduced Day of Beauty in 1937, Over 2 million Mascaramatic sold in first year, in 1950.
When Helena Rubinstein died in 1965, her estate was estimated at $100 million and her company Helena Rubinstein, Incorporated annual sales exceeded $60 million.
Her treatments relied on her understanding of diet, skin anatomy and body metabolism, which she learned from French chemist Marcellin Berthlot of the University of Paris.
By 1939, Helena Rubinstein, Incorporated distributed 160 different products to 3,000 retailers.
Her sales volume from $13 million after World War II to $23 million in 1956.
Helena Rubinstein, Incorporated, grew into a cosmetics empire with factories, laboratories, flower plantations, and salons in 14 countries, which in the mid-sixties employed 32,000 people globally.
Philanthropy
- Donated the pavilion bearing her name to the Tel Aviv Art Museum.
- Donated money to the new State of Israel after War II
- Founded the Helena Rubenstein Pavilion of Contemporary Art in Tel Aviv where she housed her exquisite collection of miniature rooms.
- In 1953 she established the Helena Rubenstein Foundation to coordinate her philanthropic endeavours, which included gifts to museum, colleges, and institutions for the needy, especially women and children and established annual scholarships for young Israeli artists.

Steps to Success

Rubinstein found and filled a need based on her strengths and what she knew. When she was growing up, each evening, her mother made sure that all her daughters underwent a beauty regiment which ended with the application of a cream to their faces. Her mother told them that the cream would make them beautiful. She noticed that Australian had poor skin because of the extreme climate in the country, and decided to do something about it.
Kept the books for her father’s business when she was in high school and they discussed plans for her father’s egg business.
When she launched her beauty salon in the UK, she charged her clients about $50 for 12 treatments because she recognized that they would be willing to pay that price.
First cosmetician to send saleswomen on the road to demonstrate the right makeup for the average woman.
Embraced publicity and hired Edward Titus, her first husband for promotions.
Worked 18-hour days to keep up with the demand when a popular editor wrote about her beauty salon.
Learned how to make her products and knew the ingredients they contained.
Worked on acquiring a wealthy clientele.
Worked constantly to improve the quality of her products and updated her factories.
In the US, to keep the business going, she offered department stores 40 percent in cash for every item sold, 5 percent of the retail price for every advertisement of a Rubinstein product in a local paper, 10 percent commission for the salesperson, and another incentive for the “Product of the Month.” She put out a magazine for her salesgirls and had them visit the stores regularly.
Knew how to negotiate: allowed a department store in San Francisco to sell her products on the condition that orders were worth at least $10,000 and Rubinstein could personally train the saleswomen.
Rubinstein was an innovator: introduced tinted face powder and foundation.
Developed the idea of the health farm for beauty, and her line of men’s cosmetics was one of the first in the world.
Trained her salesgirls to teach women the basics of skin care.
Introduced “Day of Beauty,” in which clients at her salons underwent eight hours of reconditioning.
First marketed “Mascaramatic”, the mechanical mascara applicator, and sold over two million in the first year.
Designed self-care evening classes for young working women. Rubinstein also understood that cosmetics were not only sold for skin-care. She offered status by selling women world-wide the illusion of wealth and glamour that she cleverly built into her products, using the force of advertising, and promoting herself as a woman of supreme glamour.
In early 1937, she opened her most prestigious salon: a seven-story building at 715 Fifth Avenue in New York City. The rooftop library with rare books on beauty, the miniature doll museum, and the unique “Day of Beauty” program for $35 to $150, contributed to its success.
Her 50-year feud with rival Elizabeth Arden kept her on her toes.

Lessons from Helena Rubinstein

Focus on your strengths so do what you know.
Update your knowledge and continue to innovate.
Understand all aspects of your business.
Improve the way you do things.
Marketing and publicity are very important.
Train your employees.
Give back to the community in which you operate.

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Further Reading

Women`s History: About Helena Rubinstein

Rubinstein, Helena (1870–1965) by J. R. Poynter

Sources Cited/Referenced

Business Leader Profiles for Students
The Cambridge Biographical Encyclopedia
Encyclopedia Judaica
Encyclopedia of World Biography

Book links are affiliate links.