The Marie Laurencin, 1934, portrait of Helena Rubenstein (Helena Rubenstein Foundation) signposts the massive US industrialisation of the cosmetic industry, which this You Tube clip documents:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62m17iJUBeA&feature=player_embedded#!
For some reason the above should be a hyperlink but it doesn't work like that, so cut and paste into your browser -
The 'scientific' approach to beauty used the contemporary technological advances but ultimately nothing changed the 'family' recipes of Rubenstein, Czasky, Lazlo, Lubatti and the ultimate rising star of Estee Lauder - European emigres who needed to make a living. What they knew was not new but they were extremely clever in the way they recast what they knew.
See the book Lipstick Wars, by Lindy Woodhead.
