I've a fondness for old things of any sort, but especially vintage clothing, accessories and cosmetics. And I love reading about and recalling the old styles of bygone eras. If you do too, Glamour Daze is a pretty fascinating website that details decades of fashion and makeup trends from the last century. Another one is Cosmetics and Skin, while less visually appealing, has a very interesting timeline, nonetheless. If you know of other websites or online places like these, I'd love to know about them too. Leave me a comment below and let me know!
With the current make-up craze so prevalent today, I delved into my own memory bank in an attempt to see if I could remember some precious cosmetic treasures I had in the past that 'rang my bell'. No small chore, considering the mid-sixties, which was when my makeup mania developed, was fifty years ago!
The first thing that pops into my mind is an eyeshadow quad I had as a teen. In the mid- to late sixties, Maybelline (long before they became Maybelline New York) introduced a line of highly exciting color cosmetics called Blooming Colors. These were a bright addition to their regular line of plain red or white packaged basic products. Along with lipsticks and single shadows in this line, there were little shadow quads with small oval pans in several color combinations, all quite frosty. Beautiful pastel lilacs, spring greens, and sky blues, named after various flowers, these sparkling treats seemed so mod and up-to-the-minute, compared to the usual, limited selection of dull brown, blue or green in plain packaging. If you Google "vintage Maybelline Blooming Colors" you'll find a plethora of images of ads of this line in all its permutations. Even found the actual quad on someone's Pinterest board! I remember that quad with great fondness.
Speaking of frosty, shimmer was introduced into a line of Gala brand lipsticks in the late fifties. However, it was not very widespread until a few years later. Frost made its way into eyeshadows as well and suddenly, everything was frosty and pale by the mid-sixties! I remember being disgusted when my sister told me that frost was made of ground up fish scales! I don't know what they use today...mica maybe?
In the decades prior to the sixties, lipstick and 'rouge' had a long association of being worn only by actresses, performers or prostitutes, thus the average woman shied away from it for everyday use, for fear of being considered 'loose'. Until the late fifties/early sixties, lipsticks were generally only available in dark or bright shades of red or deep pink. Fashionable shades for lips grew lighter and paler as the sixties unfolded. The lighter the shade, it seemed, the more acceptable it was for younger women and teens to wear. Eventually, the pale peaches and pinks made way for shimmery white, pale lavender, light yellow and even a pale blue. My newborn lip collection of my early teens had samples of all those colors, mostly Yardley, Max Factor or Revlon.
Speaking of Max Factor, oh how I miss that line! To this day, I don't understand why we can no longer get this in the U.S. I absolutely loved the scent of Max Factor cosmetics. They had a wonderfully scented mascara called Lash Maker with a tiny comb for a wand, instead of the usual brush. It was one of the best mascaras I've ever used. Please come back to America, Max Factor!
Another favorite product I used for years was Revlon Love-Pat powder. I don't understand the psychology behind it, but getting a new Love-Pat compact always filled me with such a sense of contentment. The subject of face powders reminds me of Cornsilk; remember Cornsilk? The first truly transparent powder, once I tried it, I was hooked. Used it for years. I also remember Pond's Angel Face powder which came with a wonderful little disc-shaped brush, which I kept for ages, long after Angel Face disappeared from store shelves. And of course, we can't forget Coty Airspun Loose Powder which has been around since time immemorial. I began using it in the eighties and used it for decades. You can still get it, though the container is now plastic, instead of cardboard. It still has that unmistakeable old-fashioned scent and those cute little retro powder puffs printed on the lid. From time to time, I look at it wistfully as I peruse the drugstore shelves. But once I jumped on the Bare Minerals train, I let my Coty go by the wayside. Might have to rectify that situation, just so I can smell it and be transported to the past!
And do you remember Revlon Moondrops? Once upon a time, it was an entire line of lipstick and skincare that was considered a step above the regular Revlon line. Along with the Moondrops, you could also find Norell, Revlon's first designer fragrance, created in 1968, now all but obliterated into the dust of the past.
Which reminds me of Revlon's Charlie, launched in '73. We ALL wanted to be Charlie, the confident, free-spirited beauty swinging along in Revlon's ad campaigns, personified by the model Shelley Hack. I got myself a big ol' bottle and applied it lavishly. At nineteen, I left home and went to live with my sister, toting my bottle of Charlie. Some time later, she told me about a conversation she had with our mother about my liberal use of scent. Mom had said, "Yes. She smells like a whore in church." Well. That curbed my proclivity to take a shower in the stuff!
I discovered department store makeup around 1974. I was living in Anchorage, AK and there was a nice, big (to me) Nordstrom's downtown on the corner of 5th or 6th Avenue, I think. I could be wrong about the location; after all, that was over 40 years ago. I remember being in awe of all the fancy makeup! All I can really remember ever buying there was a couple of Shiseido eyeshadows, a frosty green one and a frosty blue one. But my high end makeup lust was born right there in that store.
Despite my brush with Nordstrom's and Shiseido, I pretty much stayed in the drugstore lane. But after I got married in 1975, my new military husband was transferred to Texas. He subsequently left the service and Fort Hood in '76 and we moved to San Antonio and began 'civilian' life. It was at the North Star Mall, that I discovered Ultima II and began a long-standing obsession with that brand. At the same time I was exposed to the Big Holiday Makeup Extravaganza! While Christmas shopping at Dillard's that first year in San Antonio, Ultima II offered a GIGANTIC palette of eyeshadows. My memory wants me to think it was FREE with a fragrance purchase, though it may have been a purchase w/purchase. This palette must have been at least 18" X 12", was sort of flimsy with a clear plastic cover, and had 64 full size shadows---every single shade Ultima carried at that time. My eyes must have bulged out on stems at the sight of it. Oh, I had to have it! We didn't have a ton of money, but I plotted and saved until I had enough to go purchase an enormous bottle of Ciara cologne, a strong, sickeningly sweet scent Revlon introduced in 1973. And I was able to take home that glorious, amazing shadow palette. I kept it for years and years! But almost never wore that awful cologne.
Back in the seventies and eighties, not many brands offered the big holiday bonus items, like everyone and their brother offers now. Estee Lauder and Elizabeth Arden always did, for as long as I can remember any familiarity with those brands. Throughout the nineties, I ritually nabbed their goodies every Christmas. In the late eighties, I developed a thing for Princess Marcella Borghese. I think that was born in Texas, as well. One Christmas, Borghese had a big red wooden jewelry box (click link to see the box on Ebay) with a sort of Oriental design and a flocked green lining. Housed inside were a tray of around 30 shadows, a good half dozen lipsticks and another tray with at least four blushes. Gorgeous! I kept that for years and years, too.
For many years, my all time favorite eyeshadow was one called Gleamiest Grey by Revlon. It had a faintly taupe cast and so much shimmer, it was nearly metallic. Have no idea when this came out, but it was one of their single eyeshadows and was in a round pan. I think it was circa 70s. When I saw they were discontinuing it, I bought an extra and held on to it for 20 years! I do that from time to time. What can I say? It's an obsession.
On the subject of taupe, my 'first taupe' ever was a gorgeous Estee Lauder one from the late seventies or early eighties called Sand or Desert Sand. I remember wearing it on my lids with a Lancome' eye pencil called French Blue under my lower lashes and thinking how much bluer that combo made my eyes appear.
Wow, I had no idea back then what makeup application would evolve to today. How naive and simplistic I was in those days: gray shadow on the lid and a pale peach highlighter from the crease up; that blue eyeliner under the lower lashes and black mascara. That was it for me. No eyeliner on the top, no brow pencil, no foundation. Maybe some powder. Otherwise, that was it. I didn't even wear lipstick though I bought dozens, nor blush. Thought I had plenty of color as it was, and I did. Truthfully, with naturally rosy lips and cheeks, I didn't need more than that. Ha! I wish I could say that today!
In those golden, olden days we wore makeup to enhance what we already had, and didn't want to appear too painted or overdone. We didn't wear it as an art form, which is rather what it is now in 2015. But I do wish we could have been a bit more free, like it is today. What will it be like in ten years, twenty-five....fifty? I might even still be around in twenty-five years! Wearing my lipstick and gleamy eyeshadow, oh, yes I will!
Thanks for hanging in there through this nonsensical rambling through my memory!
Till next time,
"It is easily overlooked that what is now called vintage, was once brand new." ~Tony Visconti~
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