Dressed by Chanel and Yves St Laurent, painted by Salvador Dali and Picasso and mingling with Colette and Proust, Helena Rubinstein not only enjoyed unbelievable success, but was also instrumental in empowering and liberating women.

Rubinstein was born into a poor Polish family at the end of the 19th century, but by the time of her death in 1965 she had built a cosmetics empire that spanned the world. She was a total original, and this biography tells her amazing life story.