Elizabeth Arden was born Florence Nightingale Graham in Canada in 1878 and like her legendary British namesake studied nursing. In learning about medicines such as creams and salves however, she became more and more interested in their therapeutic properties and saw their potential as beauty aids and lotions. She experimented endlessly with a range of different ingredients to develop the perfect beauty cream but couldn't come up with a successful breakthrough. These failures and the disapproval of her family who thought she should abandon her trials and marry only hardened her resolve. On turning 30 she decided to go to New York and was immediately entranced and inspired by the culture and energy of the city. She began an association with a chemist and leveraging his formal training began an intense but systematic series of experiments.
To reach her goal, she began complementing the science by working in a beauty salon to learn the artistry of cosmetics. Eventually devising products that met her exacting standards her business grew steadily driven by her amazing sense of innovation and breaking the conventions of the times. She made it acceptable for American women to wear make-up in their daily lives, made beauty products that revitalised the complexion instead of covering it up, created foundations that precisely matched skin tones and pioneered the "Total Look" which coordinated eye, lip, cheek and nail colours. She also educated women about the importance of cleansing, toning and nourishing and by the 1920's she had the largest range of beauty products on the market creating a loyalty among her customers that was unsurpassed and has stood the test of time.
