No matter how tough we are, we all need pretty sometimes. When Sarajevo was under siege in the 1990s, a group of British women sent in lorry loads of makeup and shampoo and perfume.
Likewise, said Evelyn Lauder, senior corporate vice-president of cosmetics giant Estée Lauder, women under siege with breast cancer know that wanting to feel attractive isn't mere frivolity.
"I really think the Look Good Feel Better campaign has taught us a lot," she said, referring to the agency that gives makeovers to women undergoing cancer treatment.
And slapping the right stuff on your face isn't child's play. Even Liz Hurley, who was in Montreal last week with Lauder to kick off Breast Cancer Awareness Month, says she didn't have a clue about makeup when she signed up to be the Estée Lauder spokesmodel 12 years ago. "We didn't know how to type or drive without a lesson," she said, laughing. "You need a lesson."
The pair were also signing copies of Lauder's new cookbook, In Great Taste (Rodale, $39.95), the royalties of which will go to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, founded by Lauder in 1993. Divided into sections for morning, noon and night, the book features elegantly simple fare such as vanilla-scented granola, beet pizza and a spiced pomegranate mocktail (Hurley contributed a recipe for salmon tartare).
One of the founders of the phenomenally successful pink ribbon campaign, Lauder says it was slow going in the beginning. "Talking about breast cancer was taboo until the mid-1990s," she says. "And then there was a breakthrough."
The first step was removing the stigma of the disease. The "pink product" phenomenon has been instrumental in normalizing the discourse; it's also been hugely successful, dovetailing with the happy consumerism of the past decade. Now, even the local hardware store carries pink frying pans and pink duct tape in October, with funds going to the cause.
Lauder, of course, is tickled pink. "A third of our funding comes from corporate branding," she said. That includes the pink-branded cosmetics being sold by the Estée Lauder stable, which includes Clinique and Bobbi Brown. "That's eight or nine million a year."
"Someone said earlier this week, 'There's only one thing standing between us and a cure and that's money,' " said Hurley, showing off her pink Holt Renfrew cashmere tee.
Why not shop for the cause? "You're going to buy things anyway," Lauder said.
