My love for Estee Lauder and their beautiful products started in 1967 when I purchased my first solid perfume compact from the then well-known departmental store called H.M. Barbour, in Salisbury, Rhodesia, as it was then known. 

At this time, Estee Lauder only produced one or two compacts a year, designed by amazing artist Bob Conte, but over the years they expanded to include artists such as Judith Lieber and Jay Strongwater, and even more recently the well-known jewellery designer, Monica Rich Kosann. Over the years Estee Lauder produced more compacts annually, and my fascination and appreciation for these splendid works of art – perfection at its best, in my opinion – grew, and I became an avid collector. 

Over the years I naturally developed a close relationship with the company, and in 1999 the company invited me to showcase my solid perfume collection at a proposed exhibition to be held in 2000. The “Art in Fragrance Exhibition” was held at Cavendish Square in Cape Town, and again at the Sandton Mall in Johannesburg, and was a great success, and was even featured on Top Billing. At this time the Lauder Company kindly dated my collection of compacts from 1967 to 1999, as these compacts were only stamped with Estee Lauder; dating of compacts was only introduced in 2000. In 2004 I received a personal call from Lennard Lauder, the then President of the Estee Lauder, asking if he could purchase 125 solids to be exhibited in their Archives in New York, and these are still housed there today, labelled Jeanne Macdonald, South Africa. Keeping the memory of these beautiful magic pieces of art alive for future generations to come is very close to my heart. In 2005 I subsequently sold an additional 174 compacts to help my family in Zimbabwe.  

“I have been so blessed over many years to have had the pleasure and joy of having over four hundred of these special treasures.”

— Jeanne Macdonald