EYEBROWS

[Hollis]

"Oh, Maybelline, why can't you be true ?
Oh , Maybelline, why can't you be true ?
You started back doin those things you used to do...

Chuck Berry - He wasn't singing about makeup, was he ?

Hollis

[jdb1]

It's so funny, because in the Olden Days, Maybelline cosmetics were strictly Woolworths merchandise and considered rather declassé by us sophisticated New Yorkers. Some people said they mixed roadkill into their formulas; for the oils, you know. There were very limited ranges of colors (lipstick: red, orange, pink; eye shadow: blue, green, brown -- maybe aquamarine ) and most of those were rather, shall we say, bright. When I was a little girl, we associated Maybelline with the Grand Ol' Opry.

Then, Maybelline got wise, jacked up their prices tenfold, and became a "designer" brand. Phooey. It's still Maybelline to me, and everything but their lipsticks gives me an allergic reaction.

[moira finnie]

For me, it's the beaded false eyelashes even more than the regular fakes that drive me crazy. You see this alot in silents, but also in the early '30s, as evidenced by the Man Ray photo below. That's actually a small wax bead of melted wax with pigment or Vaseline with coal dust, which was originally how Maybelline sold mascara in cake form that was applied with a wet brush to a lady's lashes. How comfortable could this have been??

And don't forget to mention to the young 'uns how ladies applied that mascara: some may have wet the brush, but most spit on the cake. You can see it done in quite a few Classic movies -- I remember Dietrich doing it -- maybe in The Blue Angel?

My mother, who rarely wore anything but lipstick, had an old cake of Mabelline mascara in the back of a bureau drawer, as I recall. It smelled like celery powder.

LOL. Well, I almost mentioned the bit about spitting into the cake of mascara, but didn't want to make anyone queasy. My Mom had one of those old Maybelline compacts too in one of her dressing table drawers, (does anyone have a dressing table anymore?). I don't remember its smell, but wondered how old it could possibly be when I spotted it in the '80s. Yuck. When do you think they stopped making those kind of mascaras, Judith?

Btw, speaking of Hollywood eyebrows, I just remembered that our fellow member, Larry Russell, who worked at MGM for a time as, I believe, an assistant to his family friend Sydney Guilaroff, mentioned once that Lana Turner's eyebrows were shaved early in her career, (de rigueur at that studio for all women stars, allegedly. Turner's eyebrows were reportedly originally shaved off for her role in the 1938 Goldwyn film The Adventures of Marco Polo. Thereafter Turner wore false eyebrows). They never grew back!! Yikes, I'm so glad that I never bothered to try to take that stab at femininity. My eyebrows have been blond since birth, (so tend to go through life looking constantly surprised, even when I'm feeling jaded).

Looking good, Lana, even if not exactly natural. Poor thing.

[knitwit45]

Back when the dinosaurs were just disappearing over the hill, I used to go downtown (that was Big) with a girlfriend, we even had to transfer (that was Really Big) and always headed straight for the "cosmetic" counter at Woolworths. We would shop the open bins for at least an hour or so, before picking out a lipstick and mascara, always Maybelline or Helene Curtis if we were feeling rich. Then over to the lunch counter for a grilled cheese and a Coke, and then to the Saturday afternoon matinee at one of the 4 big theaters. Of course, the lipstick and mascara had to stay hidden in our purses, and then in the back of a drawer, only to be used AFTER leaving the house....to ride the bus downtown for more booty!

What memories. Thanks for the laugh.

[jdb1]

LOL. Well, I almost mentioned the bit about spitting into the cake of mascara, but didn't want to make anyone queasy. My Mom had one of those old Maybelline compacts too in one of her dressing table drawers, (does anyone have a dressing table anymore?). I don't remember its smell, but wondered how old it could possibly be when I spotted it in the '80s. Yuck. When do you think they stopped making those kind of mascaras, Judith?

You know, Moira, these things have been a part of my life for so long that I don't remember when cake mascara went away. I do remember it being used when I was quite young, but I think my first awareness of "wand" mascara was the Helena Rubenstein brand (remember her?). I was probably aware of it because Mme. Rubenstein used to do her own commercials on television, and I was puzzled why such an ordinary looking woman was considered so glamorous (she looked like many of our middle-aged, plump and rather dowdy Mittleuropean neighbors).

However, I do believe that some female relative or other used Hazel Bishop products, and that wand mascara was among them. It was probably my Aunt Frances, who was the prettiest of my mother's sisters and who everyone said looked like Elizabeth Taylor (she did -- a little).

In any event, cake mascara is a real bother. Wands are much better. And, by the way, when I started using makeup in my teens I used the Helena Rubenstein mascara, which came with a scored metal wand, not a bristle type brush. It was expensive, so I saved it for "special ocassions." It was the best mascara I have ever used. Where has it gone?

[charliechaplinfan]

From the cake of mascara would you apply it with your finger? I do like make up but only natural colours, I suppose it must be so much cheaper relatively than it was for our grandmothers. I can imagine the cake of mascara being taken out only at special occasions when today they say you shouldn't keep one for more than 6 months, not that many can afford to do that.

[knitwit45]

No, the little red box slid open, and there was a tiny little brush that you used. I remember some of the older girls spitting, it seemed icky to me, I always wet the brush under the faucet (once I was allowed to use it!)






well, looking at the picture, I guess it was a hinged (paper) box.

[moira finnie]

No, the little red box slid open, and there was a tiny little brush that you used. I remember some of the older girls spitting, it seemed icky to me, I always wet the brush under the faucet (once I was allowed to use it!)

well, looking at the picture, I guess it was a hinged (paper) box.

Oh, how hygenic...

Re: the real Helena Rubinstein. I thought we might get the gist of Judith's mitteleuropean comment by seeing the lady. Please see below for a glimpse of hardworking glam. You can even find her HR products, 21st century style, natch, at this spot on the web.

Hard at work in the lab, (above) making the world a bit more beautiful, one customer at a time.
(Below) HR in full battle fatigues. Who says "less is more"?


We shouldn't forget those arch-rivals, Helena Rubinstein vs. Elizabeth Arden. I believe that those beauty salon scenes in The Women (1939) were based on the two business women's efforts to make a luxurious spa in the middle of Manhattan. Way before I was around, my Mom had a standing account at Elizabeth Arden's in NYC for many years, so anytime she and Dad went to the big city, she got herself shellacked, but good by the trained hands there. Here's a lively account of the Arden-Rubinstein war, at the Vintage Powder Room.

If anyone is interested in even more vintage info about the good and bad of the old days, fashion-wise, you might enjoy The Fedora Lounge, a discussion group about this topic, which is so remote and yet still so fascinating. The denizens even share tips on how to get certain vintage looks. It's all very restful, given the hurly-burly of the real world.

Btw, back to eyebrows...
Doesn't it seem as though the Fifties got a bit carried away with "almost natural" eyebrows? I love the way she looked, but you could land a plane on one of Audrey's eyebrows below. I suppose it was part of that "bigger is better" mentality that afflicted the movies back then.

[jdb1]

Hmmm . . . . the mascara I remember my mother having was apparently not Maybelline. I think it was in a little hinged box, but the box must have been metal , because I'm sure it clicked as it was closed -- I do remember it was a sort of taupe color, and the little brush was brown, maybe wooden. And now that I'm thinking about it, I think there was writing imprinted on the cake - a brand name. Sounds pretty fancy -- it was probably a gift to her. I remember the cake as being pristine, so she probably never used it. She didn't like makeup -- thought its use indicated some kind of weakness.

Great. Now it's going to drive me crazy until I can remember something more.

I like Madame with her jewels --- was she selling costume jewelry too? She kinda looks like Ruth Gordon there, or maybe my father's neighborhood friend Gladys Schnoll, who came from the same town in Poland that he did. I can hear Madame saying, in her lilting and refined accent: "Lasts through five shampoos!" That was her commercial for shampoo with temporary hair color. But I can't make too much fun, because I have been following one of her beauty regimens for many years: in one of her commercial appearances on the Ed Sullivan show, she taught us how to lightly massage and tap the skin around our eyes to reduce puffiness. It works.

I suppose Audrey didn't look so unusual then. Heavy eyebrows were in -- the more pencil the better. A reaction, I suppose, to the thinnner brows of the previous decades.

[Garbomaniac]

Well, I am all for painted women. I have never been into the "natural look." Both my wives were painted women. If we all looked natural, we would probably be close to hideous. That is why they created all of these over the top looks. Of course, even back in Louis XV's day, they used charcoal to make beauty mark over the sores. Anything to escape that "natural look." My favorite period of film is the Thirties, eyebrows and all. I do like the Forties. They were pretty stylized. The Fifites were outrageous with their wasp waists and huge basoombas. I guess the sixites started us back to the "natural" look, and that is were I lost interest. I love the shaved eyebrows, the exaggerated lips, the false eyelashes, and the padded shoulders. Give me fantasy every time. I deal with the ugly reality of reality everyday. When I want to relax, I watch Marlene Dietrich and Jean Harlow's false eyebrows, Hedy's false eyelashes, Joan shoulders and as someone put it, "that gash for a mouth!" It was the MOST FANTASITC era of film in the WORLD, and it is all ours to cherish just for what it is.

And, yes Judith, Judy has a beautiful mouth.

[charliechaplinfan]

It must have been so hard to carry out that thirties look all the time, it could imagine it could make a serious dent in your day, lovely for those special occasions but everyday, would the female stars of the time be expected to go out in full makeup all the time?

I like makeup and try most days to wear it, I'm naturally pale and it just gives me a lift but I have it down to a five minute routine in the morning, anymore and I'd never get the kids to school on time. I must be one of the only Mum's when they aren't working who wears it. I just enjoy having it on, on a good day, when I get it right it highlights my better features, when it's not my best effort it at least gives me colour. I don't suit strong colours.

[Birdy]

Oh, I'm all for makeup. Any effort will help most of us. I use it lightly, myself, and can hardly bear the photos with my 80s look. Once I forgot to wear mascara to work and I swear people asked me all day long if I was sick.

I remember my cousins dolling me up with the cake mascara, but do not remember any spitting. On the other hand, we weren't near a sink.

Speaking of makeup, I checked out that new Cover Girl foundation that Ellen Degeneres hawks, can you believe that it's fourteen bucks. Fourteen bucks, I ask you, for Cover Girl? What is this world coming to?

[Garbomaniac]

Absolutely surreal!

[Hollis]

Evening all,

As a guy, and thereby somewhat detached from the whole makeup frenzy (except for the occasional tube of Clearasil as a young teenager) where do "Mary Kay" and "Avon" fall into the pantheon of women's cosmetics? I'm asking from a purely intellectual standpoint of course! The cross dressing phase was over years ago!

As always,

Hollis

[jdb1]

Evening all,

As a guy, and thereby somewhat detached from the whole makeup frenzy (except for the occasional tube of Clearasil as a young teenager) where do "Mary Kay" and "Avon" fall into the pantheon of women's cosmetics? I'm asking from a purely intellectual standpoint of course! The cross dressing phase was over years ago!

As always,

Hollis

I wonder, Hollis. Those brands, originally sold person-to-person and not in stores, were probably very popular in places where a woman couldn't get "nice" cosmetics because she didn't live near "nice" stores. Not to say that other women in differing circumstances didn't use them as well. But in this day, when every brand calls itself "designer" and is available in every mall and drugstore, I don't think Mary Kay or Avon are what they used to be. And, despite their raising their prices to look as though they are "designer" brands, I don't think they have kept pace with the technologies or tastes of today.

And -- an amazing thing. Yesterday, out of the blue while I was doing something completely unrelated, the name that was stamped on the cake of mascara my mother left unused in her bureau popped into my head: it was Faberge. Now I know for sure she didn't buy it for herself -- she never spent more than 69 cents on a cosmetic in her life. But be that as it may, isn't the brain amazing? Somewhere in the depths of my brain a little subconscious filing cabinet was being sorted through, and after days and days, the appropriate factoid was located.