I love laugh lines. It means you've had a good life.
Luxury is anything that feels special. I mean, it can be a moment, it can be a walk on the beach, it could be a kiss from your child,or it could be a beautiful picture frame, a special fragrance. I think luxury doesn't necessarily have to mean expensive.
When you ask women what's the one thing they wish they had more of, they always say time.
Beauty is my heritage, but home decor is very much my passion.
I love market research because you really have an idea of what your consumers are looking for.
When children are little, they really need you in one way. When they're bigger, they need you as a friend. And balancing motherhood and career makes you both a better mother and a better businesswoman.
When I took the job as Estée Lauder's creative director, the first thing I did was go into the archives! I love taking our heritage and making it modern.
I think to make your home as comfortable as possible is so important. There’s something really interesting about that as a trend, that whole idea of lifestyle and being happy in your surroundings.
Beauty is my heritage and my core. But my passion is design for the spaces where we live and work.
I've always loved the beauty world. Ever since I was a child, I looked at magazines and wore fragrances and tried out samples and sets. I worked at Clinique in the creative department for a summer during high school. And when I graduated from university, I worked at Prescriptives. My uncle [Leonard Lauder, chairman emeritus of the Estée Lauder Companies] smartly had wanted me to go into a small brand - to figure out what part of the company I loved. I discovered I was passionate about the creative process, the product development, creating a concept around a fragrance or lipstick.
I think talented people are priceless. And I think people that are knowledgeable and experienced - and I think there's a balance of new talent and experience, which makes, I think, Estee Lauder really special.
The effect of scent is really interesting. It can create a mood and change a feeling immediately. I wanted to create a modern wardrobe of fragrances ... fragrances that can be very personal to the woman who's wearing them.
I've always been inspired by beautiful interiors.
I come from an environment where the men actually say, "Is it OK if I take off my jacket?" in a meeting. Everyone wears suits; it is a very dressed-up world. Even if I wear jeans, I still wear a blazer and jewelry. I think there is something nice about coming to work and dressing nicely.
My mom has always been kind of my backbone. She keeps me strong. She is a mother, a friend. She is really everything to me.
One summer I worked at Estée Lauder, and I really enjoyed the whole creative process.
AERIN is saturated with the qualities that have surrounded me my entire life, many of which came from my grandmother, Estee: passion, style, hard work, family, and, of course, all things beautiful.
When I was creative director [at Estée Lauder], I was always being asked about my beauty must-haves. From there I had this fun idea to create a line of what was in my makeup bag. But I also love accessories, and people associate me with home, family, and beauty. As a girl, my favorite toy was my dollhouse; if I could still play with it now, I would! I used to love a well-arranged room: the furniture, the fabric, the lighting.
So the idea of being able to shop cross-category to buy the beach bag, the summer lip gloss, and the pillows for your pool house makes it into very focused, easy life.
Mom used to frame everything we made, and now I'm following her example. It makes children so proud to see their work on display instead of hidden away. I figure if I take my children's work seriously, maybe they will too. And it reinforces the idea that art is not something alien and esoteric. Anyone can make art.
I think it's so much fun to create a space. As the world has gotten more and more hectic - with these horrible catastrophes [happening] - people are going out less, ordering in, [having guests over]. People love to be in their homes.
People always ask what I would have done if I weren't doing what I'm doing. And I say I'd [still] be in fashion or in beauty. It's such a dream come true now because I have the ability to go into home [goods] and accessories as well.
I love to decorate a room - from the furniture to the objects to the books.
I have a lot of passion. I have a lot of pride. I think I do get that from my family. But you can be driven and be nice.
I love Pilates, I really do, and I do it three times a week because it works well for me.
