EYEBROWS

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moira finnie
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Re: EYEBROWS

Post by moira finnie »

jdb1 wrote:
Hollis wrote: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.
Actually, I have an Avon lady in my neighborhood and she drops her catalogues in my mailbox from time to time. They don't look bad, and I think that outside of big metropolitan areas they are still a viable way for a stay at home Mom to make a few bucks. As to Mary Kay, her cosmetics and her cadillacs, I have a strong aversion to the color pink, so I never looked at any of their goop, and I sure wouldn't be caught dead at one of those Mary Kay cosmetic parties (though I've been invited). Friends in the know have told me the stuff tends to be quite pricey. If I'm going to drop some big cash on my own shaky vanity, I think I'll go for the gusto, and choose some Clinique, Sephora, or Estee Lauder products at an upscale department store. (And that kind of frivolous purchase is not happening anytime soon, believe me.)
jdb1 wrote: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.
Well, I think that Avon products have kept pace with certain changing tastes, Judith. Some of their stuff is just normal looking, while a few pieces, in particular the casual clothing, seems to come from that school of fashion known as "strumpet-ware" in my family.

I've known and worked with really nice people who really didn't know any better when choosing these fashions, some of them quite nice, just a bit too out there in their fashions--at least for the more conservative businesses. Once there was a girl who was working with me in an insurance office who wore leopard print skirts and fishnet stockings every day. She was bright, hardworking and really a nice kid, but hopelessly undercut her value by her fashion sense. In retrospect, I wish I could have found a nice way to guide her to the tv show, What Not to Wear. But even that show sometimes seems a bit off to my rather conservative taste.
jdb1 wrote: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.
If only we could open those file drawers in our memory when we wanted them, not when it comes unbidden to the surface.
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JackFavell
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Re: EYEBROWS

Post by JackFavell »

I was hoping when I opened this thread that it would have oodles of pictures of Victor Mature, but alas, I find that it is about makeup. :cry:

My mom had that cake mascara when I was a kid. I also remember Maybelline liquid eyeliner which always felt so cool and wet going on.

When I did theatre, one of the joys was using Max Factor pancake makeup, a base that I believe every woman in America used at one time for everyday use. It went on so smoothly and covered perfectly. The theatre makeup version was quite thick. But it was waaay better than greasestick, which was a creamstick base that just oozed on your skin and melted all over the place. It made me break out like crazy.
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Re: EYEBROWS

Post by knitwit45 »

I love Elizabeth Arden make up and moisturizer, but I certainly can't afford them anymore. A fellow knitwit sells MaryKay from her home or does catalog sales, and more out of politeness than interest, I bought some Timewise Moisturizer from her. To my huge surprise, it is every bit as good as the Elizabeth Arden product, and about 1/3 the price. Sure, MK has some pricey stuff, and some "unusual" eyeshadow and lipstick colors, but then, so does EA, but those do not interest me. I'm happy to have found something that works, is in my price range, and doesn't make me "break out like crazy" :shock: :lol: :shock: :lol:
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Re: EYEBROWS

Post by Hollis »

Judith,

Are you absolutely certain that hidden beneath the name "Faberge" there wasn't a fabulous jewel encrusted egg? I hear they were quite the rage with the czars and czarinas...

Hollis
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charliechaplinfan
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Re: EYEBROWS

Post by charliechaplinfan »

I'm missing the reference to Victor Mature, did he have very large eyebrows. I'm not at all fimiliar with him.

Avon works in the same way here, I have a friend who is an Avon lady. When I was a child my mother would order from the catalogue, I can't say I ever have. I love going into the stores and putting goodness knows how many colours on the back of my hand.
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Re: EYEBROWS

Post by JackFavell »

Yes, Victor Mature had tremendous, sexy eyebrows.

Image

Sorry for the interruption, ladies!
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charliechaplinfan
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Re: EYEBROWS

Post by charliechaplinfan »

Ah, now I understand :wink:
Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself - Charlie Chaplin
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mrsl
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Re: EYEBROWS

Post by mrsl »

Before we get too far into Vic Mature's eyebrows (did he really have two?). Let me let all of you ladies in on a wonderful cosmetic that once tried, will turn you off to anything else you have ever used or experimented with. I don't have any stock in the company and I bought it purely by accident. I misunderstood the price explanation and I thought I was getting something different, but it turned out to be a happy mistake.

Bare Essentials is the best thing I have ever found in my 64 years. I wish it had been around 34 years ago. With Bare Essentials you wear no 'pore clogging' base cream or blemish disguise. With a few brush strokes your entire face is relieved of lines, dark or red spots or any other ugly marks you may have. Now Bare Essentials is the one I use, but all the big companies have their own copy - Loreal, Max Factor, even the aforementioned Mabelline. It lasts a long, long time because you only need a touch. You don't load the brush with the powder, you just use a touch directly on your bare face. You really don't feel at all like you have makeup on, and believe me, I hate to wear makeup.

I swear I didn't plan on this sounding so much like a commercial, but it's still new to me and I'm under it's spell.

Try it at your local makeup counter, you'll love it.

Anne
Anne


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charliechaplinfan
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Re: EYEBROWS

Post by charliechaplinfan »

By some co incidence I was watching a Cary Grant film last night called Kiss and Make Up in it Cary plays a doctor who runs a successful beauty salon which also offers plastic surgery. He advises on diet, face cream, beauty regimes and he can make the ugliest faces beautiful. Only when confronted with the beauty regime in his own life does he realise how he was made husband's lives a misery. My question was about cold cream, nowadays night cream/cold cream soaks into your skin. I remember Elizabeth Taylor saying once that she wasn't that pretty once she'd got her cold cream on. In our mother's and grandmother's day ws it something they slathered on and removed the next morning.

I also remember my Mum going to bed with a head full of curlers some nights and they were spikey, how she ever slept I'll never know. Even at an early age I know Dad used to complain. At least she didn't go out with them in during the day, my grandmother's friends did. Perhaps wearing hair curlers/rollers during the day was a British thing?
Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself - Charlie Chaplin
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moira finnie
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Re: EYEBROWS

Post by moira finnie »

JackFavell wrote:I was hoping when I opened this thread that it would have oodles of pictures of Victor Mature, but alas, I find that it is about makeup. :cry:
Image
JF, do you think that the archness of those eyebrows made it more difficult for Vic to be taken seriously as an actor? Surely, his role in The Shanghai Gesture, in which he had little to do but arch his eyebrow may have helped and hurt his acting reputation??
charliechaplinfan wrote:By some coincidence I was watching a Cary Grant film last night called Kiss and Make Up in it Cary plays a doctor who runs a successful beauty salon which also offers plastic surgery. He advises on diet, face cream, beauty regimes and he can make the ugliest faces beautiful. Only when confronted with the beauty regime in his own life does he realise how he was made husband's lives a misery. My question was about cold cream, nowadays night cream/cold cream soaks into your skin. I remember Elizabeth Taylor saying once that she wasn't that pretty once she'd got her cold cream on. In our mother's and grandmother's day ws it something they slathered on and removed the next morning.
I think that cold cream is still available as Pond's markets a product similar to this in the US to this day. My mom used it to remove makeup, but I've never understood why women in the movies and tv kept it on all night. It seemed kind of heavy to be a good moisturizer, but there were lots of ads in old magazines like the one below with Whitney Bourne pushing it for that purpose.
Image
Of course, to each her own. Btw, I just remembered reading that Doris Day wrote in her autobio that to soften and moisturize, she used to slather vaseline all over her body and face and hands, and wrap up in a flannel nightgown and gloves to sleep in that goop.
charliechaplinfan wrote:At least she didn't go out with them in during the day, my grandmother's friends did. Perhaps wearing hair curlers/rollers during the day was a British thing?
No, unfortunately, it's not just a British quirk. You still see people in grocery stores and on the street wearing curlers. Where are they going later that they thought it would be okay to show up in public this way, I always wonder? To visit the White House? Their wedding? A ribbon cutting?
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Re: EYEBROWS

Post by JackFavell »

JF, do you think that the archness of those eyebrows made it more difficult for Vic to be taken seriously as an actor? Surely, his role in The Shanghai Gesture, in which he had little to do but arch his eyebrow may have helped and hurt his acting reputation??
I don't think it's the eyebrow... I think the most damaging thing to Mature's career was his introduction to the public as "beefcake" or "The most beautiful hunk of man you ever saw in your life!". There are countless publicity stills of him shirtless, or doing handstands in his underwear. His features are so overblown that he is almost a caricature.... and that's how they marketed him, but his acting is not. I think he could have had a great career even with those features, had the studios not tried to capitalize n his looks quite so much. He said that he took acting ten times more seriously than anyone, but just couldn't show it. He's one of my favorites, mainly because of his humor about himself, and his performances which are surprisingly good. Oh, yeah, and his eyebrow.... oh, baby!

And about the makeup.....I swear by Alpha Hydrox lotion myself. I couldn't live without it. It's the only moisturizer I use anymore, aside from a sunscreen in the summer.
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Re: EYEBROWS

Post by charliechaplinfan »

The curlers thing still happens then.

My tip is Elizabeth Arden's 8 hour cream. It was invented to soften horses hooves. It's lovely as a balm or to soften hands, cracked skin or give your face a dewy look. It's isn't cheap but it's not massively expensive either, it's lasts forever.
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mrsl
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Re: EYEBROWS

Post by mrsl »

I admit I have run to the corner store in curlers maybe 4 times in my life, but that was because I never could afford hair salons, so I had to set my own hair and comb out for weddings and things, so you have to have curlers in your hair during the a.m. and early afternoon.

I still do the Doris Day goop thing with vaseline on my feet a couple of times a month because I face the fact that at 64 my feet are not as naturally moisturized as they used to be and get pretty dry looking if I don't give them a little special care.

I used to get Tony Curtis and Victor Mature mixed up with their Italian looks of well-formed mouth, dark eyes and curly, almost black hair. But I grew up with a whole family that looked like that so the look never really turned me on, it was kind of like looking at my cousins and uncles.

Ignorance is world wide and to me it is ignorant to run around in curlers in public, which is why I started with the phrase "I admit". You don't have to look your best in public, but you should at least look presentable (I always think "what if I run into someone I want to impress, like my boss). To me it's the same as a woman with a cup size of 'C' or larger, going out without a bra on, or a man going out with only an undershirt on. I don't mean a 'T' shirt, I mean the white ribbed 'dago T'.

Anne
Anne


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]***********************************************************************
Hollis
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Re: EYEBROWS

Post by Hollis »

Good morning all,

Having lived most of my life in a somewhat "cosmopolitan" city, Philadelphia, I can say with a certain authority that if a woman had to commit the unpardonable sin of leaving the house in curlers (save for a prom night or wedding) she almost invariably tried to hide the offending devices under a tightly tied scarf, even if the temperature was nearing the century mark! The funny thing is, that as rarely as you'd see a woman in curlers, it was all too common to see them wearing what my mom always called a "housecoat" or "housedress". They were invariably of the floral design and were fastened with buttons from the hem to the neckline. I don't know that a more unflattering fashion has ever been conceived of, but what really makes me curious is how they gained such widespread acceptance. I can only assume that it was the ease of putting them on, and the fact that it seemed to require no accompanying accoutrements such as bracelets or necklaces. Thankfully, they seem to have fallen from favor, as I don't recall having seen one in quite a while, even here in the deep south. Of course, "big hair" is "de rigueur". It seems to have spread well beyond the borders of Texas. Sorry, all you Lone Star Staters!

As always,

Hollis
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Re: EYEBROWS

Post by Hollis »

Hi Anne,

I just noticed your signature and it brought to mind something that my father (raised as a farm boy in South Dakota) taught me. The reasons that pigs wallow in the mire, as it were, and do all they can to cover themselves with a layer of mud is that their skin is actually very sensitive and burns easily under the sun, much as a human's does. Modern day pig farmers, for the most part, keep their stock under the cover of a corrugated tin roof to protect them from the sun.

A-b-b-b-a that's all folks!

Hollis
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