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EXCLUSIVE: Estée Lauder Holiday Compacts Straight from the Archives

Every year, Estée Lauder creates a collection of limited edition pressed powder compacts and solid perfume compacts just in time for the holidays. You may have even received one or given one as a gift. But there’s a strong history behind these chic and classic compacts. Dating back potentially as far as 1956, more than 1,600 unique compacts have been created and thousands have been sold worldwide. 

For 2015, Estée Lauder returned to the glamorous gold themes of several vintage designs including pearls, shooting stars, and a golden bow. There’s also a Year of the Monkey compact celebrating Chinese New Year, the latest in a long line of personalized designs, from zodiac signs to birthstones. Recently, burlesque star Dita Von Teese told us about her obsession with the highly collectable compacts. “I love to buy vintage Estee Lauder holiday compacts — you can still buy the refills,” Von Teese told Yahoo Beauty. “You can find them on eBay, at flea markets, and vintage shops. My favorite is the Shimmering Web — it’s like a spider web all covered in Swarovski crystals it’s got a little spider on it!”

For the first time ever, Estée Lauder opened its archives to Yahoo Beauty and allowed us to photograph our favorite compacts through the decades. If you fall in love with these archive pieces (we sure did — they’re like miniature works of art) you can find several of them on eBay right now. The 2015 compacts are available now for a limited time at all Estée Lauder counters at Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus, and Bergdorf Goodman. (Select counters even do engraving.) For a unique and collectable beauty gift, take a glimpse at these beautiful compacts, new and old.

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