Fifth Avenue Glamour Girl — Books, Beauty, & Buys

By: Renee Rosen
Published Year: 2023
Publisher: Berkley
Pages: 432

I received a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review. This in no way shape or form influenced my opinion of this story.

Summary (Provided by Goodreads): It’s 1938, and a young woman selling face cream out of a New York City beauty parlor is determined to prove she can have it all. Her name is Estée Lauder, and she’s about to take the world by storm, in this dazzling new novel from the USA Today bestselling author of The Social Graces and Park Avenue Summer.

In New York City, you can disappear into the crowd. At least that’s what Gloria Downing desperately hopes as she tries to reinvent herself after a devastating family scandal. She’s ready for a total life makeover and a friend she can lean on—and into her path walks a young, idealistic woman named Estée. Their chance encounter will change Gloria’s life forever.

Estée dreams of success and becoming a household name like Elizabeth Arden, Helena Rubinstein, and Revlon. Before Gloria knows it, she is swept up in her new friend’s mission and while Estée rolls up her sleeves, Gloria begins to discover her own talents. After landing a job at Saks Fifth Avenue, New York’s finest luxury department store, Gloria finds her voice, which proves instrumental in opening doors for Estée’s insatiable ambitions.

But in a world unaccustomed to women with power, they’ll each have to pay the price that comes with daring to live life on their own terms and refusing to back down.

First Impressions

Such a beautiful cover! The cover and title made a solid first impression. Then when I found out it was a story about Estee Lauder I didn’t even hesitate. Rosen has written other modern historical fiction novels I’ve enjoyed, so that didn’t hurt.

What I thought

Fascinating!

This story mostly follows Gloria, a fictional woman who ends up in New York City alone after her father is arrested for a Ponzi scheme that has bankrupted hundreds of people during the Great Depression. She heads to a hair salon after her fall from grace to disguise herself and runs into Estee who is selling her products at the beauty salon. The two become fast friends and the story follows mostly Gloria but also Estee as she pursues her beauty line.

What I love about Rosen’s novels is that I learn things about these historical figures that just stick in my head for years. Estee Lauder was one of the first premier skincare brands I used consistently. In college and up until I started to focus on using more cruelty free brands, I used their night serum, day cream, and one of their toners. I loved all of their products. I especially loved that every time I went, my Nordstrom girl would give free samples and they always had free gifts with purchase. Through this book, I learned that is trademark Estee and what helped her brand take off.

I will say, this story is Gloria heavy and Estee light. You still learn a lot about Estee and she’s central to the book, but there is a lot of the story that isn’t related. I think parts of it could’ve been shortened as the story did get a little long for me. Gloria spends a lot of time feeling self-righteous and sorry for herself because of the guilt of what her father did. Sometimes it got a bit pretentious for me and I didn’t understand why people wanted to be friends with her.

I do wish there was a little more interaction between Gloria and Estee. Sometimes their relationship came off more tumultuous than a true friendship that we were supposed to believe they had. I loved hearing about Estee’s love life as well. Gloria’s love life made me a little sad at times, but I liked the way it ended.

This book definitely piqued my interest to learn more about Lauder and maybe start buying some of her products again. It also made me dislike Elizabeth Arden a lot!