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This article uses the methodology of business history to highlight the role of business enterprises as influences on ideals of human beauty. The homogenization of such ideals has been one of the most noteworthy features of globalization over the last two centuries. This study suggests that firms were both responders to, and shapers of, beauty ideals. It uses case studies of three prominent firms to support this argument. During the nineteenth century Coty and other French firms imagined Paris as the global capital of beauty. During the middle of the twentieth century the strategies of Estée Lauder and other firms drove the rise in importance and prestige of American beauty brands. In the more recent past, L’Oréal has fostered a new pluralism in beauty by acquiring American and other international brands and offering global consumers a portfolio of beauty ideals, which were both global and locally customized. The article concludes by suggesting that the strategies of business enterprises need to be more fully integrated into wider narratives of the history of globalization.