Exhibit 99.1

                                                             NEWS

                                                             Contact:
THE ESTEE LAUDER COMPANIES INC.                              --------
                                                             Investor Relations:
                                                             Dennis D'Andrea
767 Fifth Avenue                                             (212) 572-4384
New York, NY  10153
                                                             Media Relations:
                                                             Sally Susman
                                                             (212) 572-4430

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:


                        ESTEE LAUDER COMPANIES ANNOUNCES
                      INCREASE IN SHARE REPURCHASE PROGRAM


New York, NY, May 18, 2005 - The Estee Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE: EL)
announced that its Board of Directors authorized the repurchase of up to another
20.0 million shares of Class A Common Stock or about 9.0% of the total
outstanding common stock. This increases the total authorization to 48.0 million
shares, of which 25.5 million have been repurchased to date. The Company has a
total of approximately 221.9 million common shares outstanding.

Repurchases will be made from time to time in the open market or in private
transactions, and there will be no specific time frame. The repurchased shares
will be held as treasury shares and may be used for general corporate purposes
including employee stock option programs. Cash on hand or short-term borrowings
will be used to fund the purchases.

The forward-looking statements in this press release involve risks and
uncertainties. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from
those forward-looking statements include unexpected changes in the Company's
needs for cash, changes in interest rates and changes in law.

The Estee Lauder Companies Inc. is one of the world's leading manufacturers and
marketers of quality skin care, makeup, fragrance and hair care products. The
Company's products are sold in over 130 countries and territories under
well-recognized brand names, including Estee Lauder, Clinique, Aramis,
Prescriptives, Origins, MoAoC, Bobbi Brown, Tommy Hilfiger, La Mer, Donna Karan,
Aveda, Stila, Jo Malone, Bumble and bumble, Darphin, Michael Kors, Rodan +
Fields, American Beauty, Flirt!, Good Skin(TM) and Donald Trump, The Fragrance.

An electronic version of this release can be found at the Company's Website,
www.elcompanies.com.

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