This vivid account pops with fascinating detail and reads like fiction. Wonderfully, it isn’t. Elle

She understood women. She understood beauty. And she started a revolution.

Helena Rubinstein was born into a poor Polish family at the end of the nineteenth century; by the time of her death in 1965 she had built a cosmetics empire that spanned the world.

Her scientific approach to beauty was an instant sensation. Women couldn’t get enough of her innovative advice on skincare, and her beauty products were constantly sold out.

This is her amazing life story.

Michele Fitoussi is a journalist and author.