Make-up advent

25)

By the mid-sixties women were artfully brushing on their make-up, in fact everything bar foundation to achieve a sculptured look.

Merry Christmas!

Make-up advent

22)

During wartime in the 1940's there was shortages to deal with. Curtailed supply of alcohol meant more perfume but less cologne. Reduced supplies of fats and oils and unavailability of glycerinne meant substitutes were needed.  Packaging was most difficult at this time and was important in the sales of products.  Plastic was in short supply and metal containers and closures had to be replaced by something else.  Cosmetics remained hugely morale boosting during this time.

Make up Advent

21)

The first food and drug act in the US since 1906 went into effect in 1940, it now covered cosmetics. It covered all cosmetics involved in interstate commerce.  This law was designed to prevent adulteration, mis-branding and deceptive packaging.  No cosmetic could therefore contain poison or harmful substance and could not promise to eradicate wrinkles or anything else it could not actually do!  The Industry adjusted to the changes and survived providing the public with better quality and accurately labelled cosmetics.

Make-up advent

20)

Max Factors pan-cake was the first water soluble cake foundation.

Make-up advent

19)

In 1937 Yardley opened its first salon in London

Make-up advent

18)

By the 1930's new products were seldom marketed in the cosmetics industry, at least by reputable companies without having undergone exhaustive tests.  Sun tan lotions were patch tested on women's backs with ultra violet light. Face creams were put into ovens and refrigerators to make sure the ingredients did not separate. Products were also aged for months and years to discover if they would turn rancid.

Make-up advent

17)

1923 saw the invention of KURLASH. A tool for curling eyelashes. It took ten minutes to use, looked extremely complicated and cost 5 US dollars, it did enormously well.

Make-up advent

16)

 Helena Rubinstein had began by beautifying Australian women in 1902 with a batch of home-made face cream from Poland. Make-up soon became her business and her art. Rubinstein formed one of the world's first cosmetic companies with her first salon initially in Australia. At the outbreak of WW1 she moved to New York city opening her first cosmetics salon in New York city in 1915, the first of many across the country. She could also be consulted personally in London's Grafton Street in the 1920's. 

Make-up advent

15)

In 1913 for the first time ever cakes of powder and rouge were being packaged in a single box.  These often included puffs and mirrors...."little boxes of hard powder, each with its tiny puff"...wrote the beauty editor of Vogue in 1913..."have become almost indispensable to womankind"...

Make-up advent

14)

In the early twentieth century beauty parlors sprang up and were popular. However these were usually no better than their owners, mostly owned by wealthy men with no knowledge of anatomy, physiology, chemistry or medical therapeutics.

Make-up advent

13)

The twentieth century saw the return to the free and open use of make-up again.  Unlimited use of cosmetics became universally accepted perhaps for the first time since the ancient Egyptians.

Make-up advent

12)

Ladies not content with whitening their faces also liked to emphasize the blueness of their veins on their porcelain skin.  Blue tint for the veins was available, grease pencils or jars of french/ venetian chalk made into a paste with gum.

Make-up advent

11)

In Victorian times the deception of wearing make-up continued with most women not advertising the fact that they wore rouge.  Women were very discreet and secretive about their make-up and few women rouged openly in fact and got away with it.

Make-up advent

10)

The nineteenth century saw make-up become much more neutral.  Deceptively worn or sometimes not at all.

Make-up was much more artfully applied to avoid detection.  Women pretended they were not painting their faces and cosmetic were going out of fashion or underground. With rouge now out of fashion a pale ethereal look came into Vogue. However older women tended to cling on to their old habits of white enameled faces and rouge.

Make-up advent

8)

The end of the sixteenth century saw the beginning of a new era of 'patching'.  This was the fashion of wearing little black beauty spots to set off the whiteness of the skin. They came in different shapes and sizes and were used to cover blemishes and scars. They are believed to have begun with the application of black velvet or taffeta to the skin. The seventeenth century became known as the century of patches as they were worn by both men and women and were essential to the fashionable.

Make-up advent

7)

Under Queen Elizabeth 1, make-up became more permissive. She introduced 'Sweet Coffers'.  These contained paint, powder and patches for the face. White lead or powdered borax was usually used to paint the face.