letter from the editor: July '04.(Estee Lauder remembered)

Learning to Glow

Estee Lauder did my makeup once. The occasion was a dinner to celebrate the opening of Galeries Lafayette in New York City, a short-lived store abutting Trump Tower. I was in an evening dress and full hair and makeup -- or so I thought -- when I said hello to Mrs. Lauder. She looked me over, grabbed my hand, and led me to her cosmetics counter as if she were guiding me onto a dance floor. There, dipping into a virgin tester unit, she swirled brown eye shadow on my right eyelid and rubbed blush (she called it "a little glow") on one cheek. Then she was summoned away to greet another guest, and I stood there with extra makeup on one side of my face. I wasn't about to sneak into the ladies' room and try to dab it off with a wet tissue the way I sometimes do when people who are not named Estee Lauder have a go at my face in a department store. This had to stay. Getting made up by Estee Lauder was like getting highlights by Titian. So I hovered over the tester, trying to duplicate her work on the other side. Estee Lauder, who died in April, spent her life making women look and smell and feel more beautiful, even if ...