Product Description

The story of two remarkable women - Elizabeth Arden and Helena Rubinstein. Between them they left an extraordinary legacy which touches the lives of virtually all women today: the creation of the modern cosmetics and beauty industry. The book traces the humble beginnings of both Arden and Rubinstein and examines the forces and influences that drove them. It also explores the period in which they lived, without an understanding of which their phenomenal achievement cannot be truly appreciated. The similarities between the two are intriguing: dedicated to beauty, they were both born into genteel poverty and were motivated by money and the creation of their businesses, to the exclusion of almost everything else. They were both avid social climbers and desperately thrifty. They also hated each other. This is the story of an industry, of a social movement and of a great rivalry.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #732558 in Books
• Published on: 2003-04-03
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 1 pages

Review
'Lindy Woodhead's riveting and thoroughly researched biography of Rubinstein and Arden, is a work of chutzpah in its own right ... the definitive biography of women and their relationships to their faces in the twentieth century' GUARDIAN 'Lindy Woodhead, who has a nice line in neatly turned phrases and in well-aimed sideswipes herself, has written about these two slap- dragons with humorous sensitivity and sympathy' LITERARY REVIEW 'Glamorous Battleaxes make good copy. Feuding ones are better still. Given a title like WAR PAINT ... one is all set for a tale of glamour-dripping hissy fits' The Independent on Sunday 'fantastically rich in its detailing of 20th century cultural and social history... Beautiful illustrated endpapers add the final luxury touch' The Independent on Sunday 'what a relief it is to read so detailed, well researched and competent a book... Woodhead knows her stuff and takes it seriously' Sunday Times

From the Back Cover
Raves for War Paint

"The amount of research and meticulous personal data in this book is really quite remarkable and compelling. It provides a wealth of information from which to draw wonderfully three-dimensional characters and humanizes this iconic twosome."
—Raquel Welch

"I have seldom enjoyed a book so much as War Paint. The research is staggering–I loved all the detail about society and the arts in Paris, New York, and London that so beautifully set our two heroines in context during such a long span of years . . . it was a wonderful read."
—Lulu Guinness

"A compelling cosmetic portrait of the first half of the twentieth century."
—W magazine

"So riveting that it reads like the movie that will surely be made. . . . With first-hand research and fast-paced prose, Woodhead has succeeded in turning dusty archives into high drama."
—Suzy Menkes, International Herald Tribune

"It might seem impossible to wring another drop of H2O (water is still a 90 percent base of most cosmetics), let alone humour and historical interest, out of the absurd but ever-alluring beauty business, but Lindy Woodhead has succeeded."
—Nicky Haslam, Literary Review

"These were women who were tough in business, who had a single vision–an idea of what they believed in and would do anything to get there."
—Bobbi Brown

About the Author
Lindy Woodhead has worked in fashion PR for more than thirty years. She worked in the music business before establishing her own PR agency in 1974. She has been on the board of Harvey Nichols and worked in television and advertising. She is married and lives in London.