NYC's Glamor Factory was basically a spa of horrors

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Helena Rubinstein's
'Glamor Factory'

Beauty on demand in her Fifth Avenue salon

Chris Wild

c. 1930s

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Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

Helena Rubinstein (1872-1965) was the world's first self-made female millionaire. She launched her business in Australia making face cream from the lanolin in sheep wool, then opened her New York salon in 1915. It would be the first of a national chain. Rubinstein's "Day of Beauty" program is shown in these pictures, which followed clients "shoot the works" in her 715 Fifth Avenue salon. The salon also featured a restaurant and a gymnasium, with artwork commissioned from Joan Miró and Salvador Dali.

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All the American women had purple noses and gray lips and their faces were chalk white from terrible powder. I recognized that the United States could be my life's work. - HELENA RUBENSTEIN
Original image replaced with Mashable logo
Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable
Original image replaced with Mashable logo
Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable
Original image replaced with Mashable logo
Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable
Original image replaced with Mashable logo
Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable
Original image replaced with Mashable logo
Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable
Original image replaced with Mashable logo
Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable
Original image replaced with Mashable logo
Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable
Original image replaced with Mashable logo
Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable
Original image replaced with Mashable logo
Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable
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The full line of Helena Rubinstein beauty products. Credit: Alfred Eisenstaedt/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
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