BEAUTY, A DESTINY

AT THE OUTSET, THERE WAS A NICKNAME

Josephine Esther Mentzer was born in New York to Max Mentzer, a Czechoslovakian businessman and Rose Schotz, a Hungarian immigrant. They nicknamed her "Esty". As soon as the young girl started school, the nickname became Estée. And the nickname stuck, yet one detail has never been officially disclosed: Estée's birth date.

"Are you asking me how old I am? I tell you, this is simply not important".

HER FIRST BEAUTY MEMORIES

Estée's first beauty icon was her mother. Her first beauty memories are imbued with her and the ritual that she followed to prepare herself.

UNDER THE SPOTLIGHT

Estée flirted with comedy: she used to think that "Actresses are the incarnation of beauty". The young mother even appeared on stage at Cherry Lane Theater in New York. However, Estée returned to her first passion, as she found more satisfaction in her jars and creams than on stages. "I wanted to see my name at the top of the billboard, but I was ready to sacrifice this dream to have my name on a cream jar".

IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF HER UNCLE

Estée admired the design of her father's shop windows, yet she decided to follow in the steps of her uncle John Schotz, a chemist. Alongside him, Estée honed her sensitivity to beauty, which made her a pioneer.

THE POWER TO CREATE
BEAUTY

Her uncle taught her to wash her face with oils, instead of soaps that are too aggressive for the epidermis. He gave her the secrets to make his all-in-one cream.

"It was a very velvety cream, one that leaves, as if by magic, a delicious fragrance on the skin, brings a silky sensation to your face and removes the momentary imperfections during the night", she remembers. A revelation.