Elizabeth Arden was a true pioneer of the beauty and perfume industry. Born in Canada in 1898 , she rose from humble beginnings as a nurse to head one of the greatest cosmetic companies in the world. Working in hospitals she observed the medical benefits of creams and salves for burns and skin problems, and astutely understood their potential as beauty products. Eventually Arden took a job in a beauty parlour to learn as much as she could about massage techniques and skin treatments. In 1909 she set up her own salon on Fifth Avenue and began experimenting to produce her own skin products. The result was the world's first beauty crea. Over time she developed a keen understanding of the use of fragrances, and as her cosmetic range expanded to over 300 products it included a range of premium perfumes. Arden created another world first, by employing modern mass marketing techniques to distribute her cosmetics and perfumes, including an international chain of beauty salons and spas. She created her beautiful creams and perfumes for all women. At the turn of the century the wearing of make-up and perfume or colognes had been frowned upon until she created new products and fragrances which soon became mainstream and respectable. She understood that it was not just the glamorous women who wanted to appear youthful and beautiful, and so she designed fragrances all women could wear. From the beginning her perfumes and colognes reached across the spectrum from plain girls to middle-aged women, from shop girls to company directors, from housewives to film stars. Along with her other cosmetics, her colognes and perfumes were eventually worn by women all over the world who valued the intrinsic feeling and quality of their fragrances