Face of makeup changing with the times

Back in the day when fame lasted not 15 minutes but a lifetime, cosmetic company founders were stars in their own right.

Estée Lauder, Merle Norman, Elizabeth Arden and Helena Rubenstein comprised a constellation of corporate giants whose very names and their connotations incited women to buy powder puffs.

Early ads suggested that cosmetics were for women who seemed to inhabit a world of high-fashion and class. They whispered: Buy our cosmetics and transcend your life.

Now those women are gone, and those graceful associations with them. The nature of fame and class has changed, too. Consumers are more savvy now and products more abundant. As a result, companies have drastically altered the way they market cosmetics, turning to a parade of celebrities du jour.

''There used to be these strong, iconic, entrepreneurial personalities, like Charles Revson (Revlon) or Elizabeth Arden,'' said John Demsey, President of MAC Cosmetics.

``What's happened over time is they either successfully transitioned into global businesses or withered away and died. I don't think a singular contract face for a cosmetics company exists anymore.''

L'Oréal's glossy ads currently show singers Beyoncé and Jewel. Avon has Selma Hayek. Estée Lauder splashes Elizabeth Hurley on its ads and Elizabeth Arden just signed Britney Spears. Helena Rubenstein uses models; Merle Norman, Chanel and Clinique use mostly product shots.

Rochelle Udell, chief creative officer of Revlon, said companies have changed their marketing because they can no longer rely on their legacy to connect with consumers.

``Ultimately people define themselves by the stories they tell . . . and consumers can't find themselves in the founder stories, but they can when we advertise our brands now.''

In the early years of cosmetics advertising, consumers essentially accepted whatever was served up, Udell said.

''They were dictated to,'' she said.

A famous ad in the 1920s for Elizabeth Arden, whose real name was Florence Nightingale Graham, depicted a model's heart-shaped face with sharply drawn lip contours and densely applied eye shadow. A pristine puffball applicator is held delicately to her face, and a dreamy film seems to have settled over her image, as though beauty is part mirage.

Lauder, born Josephine Esther Mentzer, founded her company in 1946 and soon started selling the products she and her family had developed in a lab to exclusive boutiques. Her ads featured suave women dressed to-the-minute.

The rise of the middle class and the changing colors and ethnicities of America, Demsey said, has meant that marketing must establish a common link without such a rigid vision of femininity, he said.

''You look at the culture and it's very diverse,'' Udell said. ``It's an acknowledgement of that diversity.''