One hundred years ago, visionary pioneers Elizabeth Arden and Helena Rubinstein immigrated to America with the same idea — to build an empire by giving women what they wanted: youth and beauty.

On Monday, March 23 at 10 p.m., ETV presents the nationwide broadcast of The Powder & The Glory, the story of two innovative entrepreneurs who, with next to nothing, created what is today the $150 billion international health and beauty industry. Although they lived and worked just blocks apart, they refused to meet. And for 50 years, they were fierce rivals.

Narrated by actress Jane Alexander, the 90-minute documentary, based on Lindy Woodhead’s book War Paint: Madame Helena Rubinstein & Miss Elizabeth Arden — Their Lives, Their Times, Their Rivalry, shows how their competing companies defined the business of beauty, making cosmetics first respectable and, finally, indispensable.

Told through rare archival footage, modern-day interviews, models and animation, The Powder & The Glory traces the remarkable careers of Arden and Rubenstein, from their rise in the 1910s through The Great Depression, World War II, to their deaths in the 1960s.

Along the way, the two developed advertising and merchandising techniques that revolutionized marketing forever, selling not just lipstick but lifestyle. Theirs is a story of perseverance, genuine creativity and continual reinvention. They changed the way women perceived themselves, built enduring brands and became two of the world’s wealthiest women by turning pots of face cream into pots of gold.