Cosmetics queen Estee Lauder dies at age 97

NEW YORK -- Estee Lauder, who started a kitchen business blending face creams and built it into a multimillion-dollar international cosmetics empire, has died. She was 97.

Lauder died of cardiopulmonary arrest late Saturday at her home in Manhattan, said Sally Susman, a company spokeswoman.

In 1998, Lauder was the only woman on Time magazine's list of the 20 most influential business geniuses of the century. Her company placed No. 349 in the 2003 ranking in the Fortune 500 list of the nation's largest companies, with revenue at $4.744 billion.

In explaining her success, the cosmetics queen once said: "I have never worked a day in my life without selling. If I believe in something, I sell it, and I sell it hard."

Lauder sold her products primarily through department stores -- Saks Fifth Avenue, Bloomingdale's, Marshall Field, Neiman-Marcus, Harrods in London, Galeries Lafayette in Paris -- the tonier the better.

"Beauty is an attitude," she once said. "There's no secret. Why are all brides beautiful? Because on their wedding day they care about how they look. There are no ugly women -- only women who don't care or who don't believe they're attractive."

The company's product lines have included Estee Lauder, Clinique, Aramis, Prescriptives and Origins.

A favorite selling tool has been offering a gift with a purchase -- a giveaway that began out of necessity. Lauder started off without enough of an advertising budget to attract an agency, so she used the money instead for free samples.

She also courted the rich and famous.

"I don't know her very well, but she keeps sending all these things," said Princess Grace of Monaco, who became a friend.

Said Lauder, "If you have a goal, if you want to be successful, if you really want to do it and become another Estee Lauder, you've got to work hard, you've got to stick to it and you've got to believe in what you're doing."

Estee Lauder became a household name in 1953, when the company debuted Youth Dew, a bath oil and perfume. Over the years she added new lines and new products, fragrances such as White Linen.