8 inspirational women who revolutionised the beauty industry

With International Women’s Day on March 8th, we thought we’d take stock of our industry, and use this week to celebrate the women who created it, transformed it and who continue to innovate within it. Why? Because these women’s achievements are all too important (and game-changing) to be written out of history.

By Hannah Donovan

• 1 The ultimate X Factor-style success story

  Emily Weiss was a beauty blogger. Now she owns one of the most successful beauty businesses in the world – Glossier. The brand’s ‘skin first, makeup second’ ethos speaks to a generation of women who want to highlight their features, not change them. Also, she basically evolved modern marketing with her BFF strategy: people like their friends’ recommendations, so Glossier makes products worthy of telling your mates about. I mean, it works.
• 2 The entrepreneur you might not know about, but should

  With a serious lack of afro hair products on the market in the 1900s, and having lost her own hair, Madam C. J. Walker took matters into her own hands and developed the products she wanted to buy. Finally black women in America had products made expressly for them. Not only did she build her business from the ground, she did it while fighting racism and sexism to become America's first self-made female millionaire. What an inspiring woman.
• 3 The ahead-of-her-time role model

  Don’t know if you noticed, but vegan beauty is big right now. But while this movement might seem revolutionary, its predecessors –  vegetarian and ethical beauty – were essentially spearheaded by Anita Roddick, founder of The Body Shop, back in the 70s. She awakened women everywhere to animal testing in the beauty industry and showed us that beauty with a clear conscience was possible (if you bought Body Shop.) Plus, I’m sorry, those little soaps and bottles hold a very dear (and nostalgic) place in my heart. Buying ‘body butter’ on a trip to ‘town’ was a teenage rite of passage.
• 4 The fountain of beauty knowledge

  Aside from having a career history that basically features every luxury brand and A-lister out there, Charlotte Tilbury is a major champion of the power of beauty to boost confidence; not in a ‘you’re-not-good-enough’ but a ‘have-fun-with-your-look’ way. She gets that we’re not all handy with an eyeliner so launched her candid tutorials and magic tips to help with that. Don’t tell me she’s not the reason you sit in front of your mirror talking your "followers" through your makeup application. Just us then…
• 5 The champion of beauty for all

  We’ve loved her since Pon De Replay. We loved her when she called out body shamers on Twitter. We covet her style (we might have queued for the Puma collection), and lapped up her collaborations with Kendrick. And just when we thought it would be impossible to be bigger fangirls, Rihanna goes and launches Fenty – the ‘beauty brand for all’, created so that women of all colours could be ‘included in the conversation’. Also, can we just talk about the Fenty names for a second? A lipstick shade called PMS? YES. We want the once-a-month week-from-hell immortalised. Why the hell not?!
• 6 The creator of a brand you love as much as your nan does

  Okay, imagine the beauty industry circa early 1900s. You can’t? No worries – we’ll paint a picture. If you wore blusher (it was called rouge) or lipstick, it was assumed you were a “woman of the night”, you didn’t have the vote and your corset was probably digging in. Then in bowled Elizabeth Arden with her scientific makeup formulas and outlandish views that makeup can indeed be worn for the pleasure of the woman wearing it (and not just to attract sexual partners – who would have thought?!) and – boom! – industry revolutionised. Plus, she supplied the suffragettes with her signature Red Door Lipstick and it became part of their rally uniform and a symbol of female emancipation.
• 7 The incredible businesswoman who isn’t famous, but should be

  We have Ms. Martha Matilda Harper to thank for the salon franchise (i.e. salons as we know them today wouldn’t exist without her.) This was a woman with a serious vision: she grafted as a servant for 25 years, saving enough money to eventually devote herself full-time to developing her hair tonic (organic shampoo) and open her own salon. Not satisfied with her own success, she used it to help low-income women set up their own salons under the Harper name – creating an empire that empowered other women in the process. What a hero.
• 8 The household name who refused to stay at home

  Estée Lauder – the company that owns Mac and Clinique – is now so well known globally, it’s hard to believe that its beginnings were anything but a total breeze. In reality, Lauder rallied against societal pressures that said she shouldn’t work to create her business against the odds and become, at one point, the richest self-made woman in the world. She changed the way women consumed beauty, transforming it from something bestowed on them by their husbands, to something they could access and enjoy for themselves. Yes, Estée. Yes!