I'm not sure why but this spring I have bees on the brain! It could be the lovely Chanel Mouche de Beauté powder, Marc Jacobs' upcoming Honey fragrance or these stunning images for McQueen's bee-themed spring 2013 collection:
Or it could be the influence of the newest addition to our plushie family. This little guy loves his honey!
In any case, I hope the exhibition gets you buzzing with excitement for spring. Enjoy! (And thanks to the husband for making the awesome exhibition poster!)
Dior Garden Party palettes, which I neglected to include in last year's exhibition! I meant to do a capsule exhibition with them but never got around to it. Probably should have anchored the clutch palette on the left somehow.
If you're not too tired from viewing the exhibition, here are some behind-the-scenes shots I took as I was setting up. I still can't believe how expensive it was to put together…cake plates don't grow on trees! Still, I was determined to have some pretty things on which to put the objects.
I got the green cake plate from Sweet and Saucy, the white one from Williams-Sonoma, and all the silver pieces (cupcake stand, sugar bowl and candy dish) were from Etsy.
The husband gathered macarons from two bakeries: Bonjour Bakery and Patisserie Poupon. I swore I'd never go back to the latter after they messed up our wedding cake, but they do have the best macarons in town so I didn't have much of a choice.
In between figuring out what should go where I made the cupcakes. I got the liners and silver ball decorations from Fancy Flours.
They were pink champagne flavored and yes, I drank the champagne that was left after making them! There wasn't much though, I needed a lot for the recipe and the bottle I had was fairly small. It's a good thing…otherwise I would have been too tipsy to take pictures. 😉
Getting there…
As you can see, the truffles that appeared on the bottom tier of the cupcake stand and on the plate with Shu palettes in the exhibition were Godiva. I had bought them a week before and it was sooo hard to resist eating them before the exhibition went up.
I finished setting up everything and took pictures. Then the sun went down and that's when the exhibition opening started! Makeup Museum staff was very eager to start dismantling everything so they could eat some of the props.
Here's Cookie Chef Babo warning Seasick Babo not to puke on the cookies.
The party's in full swing…
…and petered out after Exhibition Designer Power Babo collapsed from exhaustion. Poor little guy. I guess I worked him too hard.
Still, I think a good time was had by all!
Whew! It was a lot of work, but I'm finally ready to share the Museum's latest special exhibition!
"Sweet Tooth: Confections in Cosmetics and Beauty" examines makeup and other beauty products that are inspired by sweet edibles. From candy to chocolates to pastries, these objects convey the charm of beautifully made desserts as well as the sheer bliss a sugar rush can bring.
The idea of using sweets and dessert fare to sell cosmetics is nothing new, dating back to at least the mid-20th century. In 1940 Elizabeth Arden released a candy-cane decorated collection that was "as gay as the circus!"
Twenty years later, Revlon introduced Berry Bon Bon, a shade that "lifts red to a new boiling point [and] dips it in sugar." In 1972 Yardley expanded on their line of flavored lipsticks, this time including dessert flavors like Snappy Cinnamon Stick and Pink Fluffy Marshmallow.
A year later, drugstore brand Bonne Bell rolled out their "Lip Smackers" lip balms in a variety of dessert-based flavors, which are still best-sellers today. More contemporary examples include Prada's Candy fragrance, Estée Lauder's 2008 Chocolate Decadence collection, MAC's Sweetie Cake and Sugarsweet collections (from 2006 and 2009, respectively) and Bobbi Brown's 2006 Chocolate collection, for which the company collaborated with gourmet chocolate brand Vosges to create a limited-edition chocolate bar. And let's not forget high-end-turned-Walmart brand Hard Candy.
The trend doesn't seem to be fading any time soon. Philosophy continues to produce sweet scents in their bath and body products, their latest concoctions being Pink Jelly Bean and Raspberry Passionfruit Dreamsicle. MAC will be releasing another sweets-themed collection, Baking Beauties, in April, and Catrice is coming out with a collection called Candy Shock this summer.
In addition to celebrating delectable packaging, the Sweet Tooth exhibition seeks to provide a cursory analysis of the popularity of dessert-like beauty products. Why are beauty items reminiscent of sweets, either in scent or packaging (or both) have such longevity in beauty culture?
There are several reasons. First, cosmetic companies acquiesce to basic gender stereotypes. Baking and decorating are traditionally women's domains. In addition, there's the common (but not necessarily factual) presumption that all women have a raging sweet tooth. It's widely believed that women crave sweets much more than men; they have voracious appetites for all types of sugar-filled treats, especially chocolate. Cosmetic companies employ these stereotypes as marketing tactics, as women are the primary buyers of makeup.
Secondly, dessert-like makeup serves as a substitute for a real, edible dessert, but still retains the sense of indulgence and luxury that comes from nibbling on sweets. Encouraging consumers to give in to temptation is a key theme. Estée Lauder challenges one to "tempt your color palette": "From Berry Chocolate Truffles and Caramel
Pralines to swirls of marbled fondant dusted with golden spun sugar,
Estée Lauder has captured the essence of a luxurious chocolate boutique
filled with rich chocolate works of art." LORAC's Eye Candy Full Face collection claims to "satisfy your beauty cravings" with their "deluxe
assortment of sweet, tempting treats contains a luxurious selection of
fresh colors for eyes, cheeks, and lips that you simply can’t resist". (Sometimes the idea of indulging in makeup instead of sweets isn't so innocuous, as some ads present the dessert-like items as weight loss aids – always a bad strategy. "Indulge your taste for sweets
with Berry Bon Bon…you won't gain a thing but admirers!" says the commercial for Revlon's Berry Bon Bon. The commercial aired in 1960, and while cosmetic marketing has greatly shifted since then, this line of thinking unfortunately persists today. A 2012 Marie Claire blog post on Mor Lip Macarons states that with these scented lip balms, one doesn't "have to book a flight or consume a single
calorie to get the same aesthetic satisfaction" as downing real
macarons.)
At times, the advertising for sweets-based collections goes a step further, literally transforming desserts into makeup. "Ice the eyes in almond, top your nails with sprinkles," says the copy for MAC's Sweetie Cake collection. Korean brand Etude House's recent Sweet Recipe collection depicts women turning the treats they've just made into blush and lipsticks.
The idea of luscious, freshly-made desserts as bases for an alchemical process that results in makeup further blurs the line between cosmetics and comestibles – they become interchangeable treats. This dual nature is alluring for consumers because they feel as though they're receiving twice the gratification. Purchasing only regular makeup or sweets is enjoyable, but buying makeup that also resembles dessert creates the impression that you're getting two for the price of one.
Finally, the last reason dessert-like makeup prevails is simple: color. As we saw with fruit-themed cosmetics, sweets are an excellent
source of color inspiration – seemingly all shades, from deep chocolate
hues to macaron pastels, can be expressed well in a sweets-themed makeup
collection.
Now for the exhibition! Grab your sweet of choice and enjoy. 🙂
I believe this is the first time in the Museum's history that I have incorrectly labeled an object. The palette in the back that's closed (fortunately) is actually the Raspberry Mocha palette, not Mint and Vanilla.
The
bottom tier contains Majolica Majorca Puff de Cheek blushes in
Raspberry Macaron and Apricot Macaron, along with Etude House Cupcake
Eyes and All Over Colors.
Etude House Ice Cream nail polishes:
The collage consists of the following ads: Jo Malone Sugar and Spice collection, Shiseido Candy Tone lipsticks, Jill Stuart Patisserie collection, Clinique Chubby Sticks (one for lips and one for eyes), Shu Chocolate Donna, MAC Sugarsweet, Bobbi Brown Chocolate, Bourjois Paris Sucré, and Estée Lauder Chocolate Decadence collections.
Exhibition Notes
1. Inspiration
As a huge dessert fan myself (I guess I fit the stereotype!), I'm immediately drawn to any makeup or beauty item that looks or smells like I could eat it. But while the objects themselves were definitely inspiring, a French influence was strong as well. As MAC's Sugarsweet ad says, "Temptation is everywhere – luscious, whipped-cream decadent, deliciously
decorative frosting colours and sugared almond combinations. Like
peering through the window of a Parisian patisserie, you’ll want to
become one of each!" It's true – when I went to Paris a few years back I was dumbfounded at the abundance and quality of the desserts. There were patisseries on literally every street, and when I had my first Laduree macaron on that trip, I realized the French really knew what they were doing when it comes to sweets. Sure, I had heard of pain au chocolat and macarons before I visited, but didn't know just how amazing they were until I got there. So I wanted the exhibition to have a slightly French mood as an homage to their desserts. Also, the "I Want Candy" scene from Sofia Coppola's 2006 film Marie Antoinette has stayed fresh in my mind all these years, and I wanted to highlight the luxury and extravagance of both gourmet desserts and high-end makeup. In terms of styling the actual table,well, I blame Pinterest. I never really paid too much attention to party planning and design until I started planning my wedding a few years ago, and I just fell in love with all of the little details. My aforementioned affinity for sweets, combined with my more recent interest in party planning, led to an obsession with dessert tables. And once I got on Pinterest there was no turning back. Given the theme, this exhibition was a great opportunity to depart from the Museum's usual shelves and play with dessert table styling.
Marie Antoinette-era stylings also were the inspiration for the colors I wanted to emphasize (mint green and pale pink), but this time, it was Marie Antoinette by way of contemporary Chanel. While researching Chanel's 2013 Cruise collection for the Mouche de Beaute Highlighting Powder, I was struck by the candy-colored wigs the models were sporting for the runway show.
I also thought touches of silver (as seen in the cupcake stand, sugar bowl and candy dish) would give it a fancy, gourmet feel.
2. Time frame
I had the idea to do a dessert/makeup exhibition since last summer. Once I saw Shu's Chocolate Donna collection and the LORAC Eye Candy and Too-Faced Love Sweet Love sets late last fall, I knew I had plenty of fodder to pull together a good exhibition. I did want to have it posted right before Valentine's Day, but then I stumbled across the Etude House Sweet Recipe collection and decided to postpone it, as I considered those to be essential pieces for the exhibition and it would take a few weeks for them to arrive from Korea.
3. Things I would have done differently.
I'll start with the details. First, it would have been great if I had access to really fancy cupcakes and pastries like these:
But no bakeries around here do anything like that and I lack the necessary decorating skill, so homemade cupcakes it was. For the labels, I would have printed them out on white paper instead of pink so that it didn't clash with the tablecloth. I forgot to specify to the designer (a.k.a. the husband) that I wanted white paper before he printed them out on pink. With not much time left to photograph everything before what little daylight we had faded away, there was no time to reprint them on white paper. And the tablecloth…I wasn't expecting how wrinkled it was going to be when I unfolded it, so I didn't unfold it until right before I started installing the exhibition. Only too late did I realize that it was totally rumpled and had no time to iron it.
On a bigger scale, space is always an issue. Not necessarily a lack of space, but since the exhibitions are taking place in my home I am somewhat limited by the layout. The collage hanging in the back was really just a way to cover up the TV. The credenza that the exhibition was set up on is way too heavy to be moved conveniently, and there was also no place to move it without some of the artwork on the walls getting in the way anyway. So we had to leave that there. Same issue with the TV – too cumbersome to take off the wall, and too time-consuming to Photoshop out all the holes in the wall where the wires go in behind the TV. Overall, it was much more convenient and less expensive to make a collage out of ads rather than moving the TV or having a big poster designed and printed. However, I can assure you that if the Museum did occupy a real, public space and had unlimited funds, the backdrop for the table would be magnificent.
Speaking of funding, I would dearly love to re-stage the exhibition, possibly in a different space (don't know where) and hire a professional photographer. While the pictures are slightly improved from previous exhibitions due to my purchase of a new camera, they are nowhere near professional and thus do not capture the beauty of the objects and table setup.
I would have done more research and written a more thoughtful and polished essay about sweets-themed makeup and the relationship between women, dessert and cosmetics (would love to work in Janine Antoni's 1992 work Gnaw somehow). For a temporary exhibition I just couldn't put in the time, but maybe for the coffee table book I could do this, especially if I re-do the exhibition and have it professionally photographed.
In terms of curation, I was pleased with all of the objects. The only things I would have added would be the Creme Caramel Shimmer Powder and Caramel Swirl lip gloss from the Estée Lauder Chocolate Decadence collection, Steamcream's "Lola" tin, which is adorned with a cupcake illustration, and these gorgeous cupcake-shaped "bath bakes" from Miss Patisserie. I was going to order all of this and put the exhibition off even further, but then I decided it was probably going to be too much to fit on the table. Plus having too many objects negates the whole idea of curating – each piece in an exhibition is selected for a good reason.
If you've made it this far, thank you! And if you want to see more on the exhibition, check out my post on what went on behind the scenes and pictures from the exhibition opening. 😉
I wanted this year's holiday/winter exhibition to have sort of a retro vibe to it. I wasn't sure exactly what period – anything from the 1920s (I was very inspired by Boots No. 7 Deco Darling collection and Clé de Peau's 2010 holiday palette) through the '50s (Too-Faced Life of the Party palette, Bobbi Brown Party Shimmerbrick and MAC holiday 2012 eye palette all have a 50s feel). But I knew I wanted it to have an old-school glamour about it and an emphasis on snow, which I think the exhibition poster captures perfectly – silver and gold and stylized snowflakes. I also chose pale grey paper with golden shimmer for the exhibition labels. So I guess the theme would be snowy vintage glam? In any case, enjoy!
Top shelves:
Bottom shelves:
Now for the individual shelves, starting with the top row, left to right.
Elegance Fabulous Rouge palette…while this was a spring release, the red and green signaled Christmas to me, and the shape of the lace pattern reminded me of pizzelle cookies – making these is a holiday tradition on my mom's side of the family.
Third shelf, left to right.
Shiseido Camellia palette and an illustration showing how the camellia logo changed over time:
Finally, I took a picture of the paper used for the exhibition labels so you could see how pretty the golden shimmer is.
Happy holidays, and I hope everyone stays warm and cozy this winter!
You didn't think the NARS/Warhol madness was over at the Makeup Museum, did you? How silly! Because this collection is so extraordinary and to tide myself over until I can launch the holiday 2012/winter 2013 exhibition in late December, I'm devoting a small, special pre-holiday exhibition to the NARS Andy Warhol collaboration. Enjoy!
You can read about all of the objects included in this exhibition here and here.
Top shelves, left to right.
Kiss Lip Gloss set:
NARS Andy Warhol poster:
Flowers palettes #1 and #2:
Flowers Palette #3:
Second shelf, left to right.
Beautiful Darling gift set:
Self-Portrait palettes #1 and #2:
Self-Portrait palette #3:
Photobooth gift set:
Here's another museum to which I must make make a pilgrimage! In lieu of actually visiting, I've selected a few highlights from their collections. (Sorry the pictures are so small – not sure why they have such teeny pics).
Here is one of the original bottles of their best-selling skin treatment Euderline from 1897, along with a bottle of their camellia perfume from 1917. "The name Euderline was also novel for the time, taken from Greek words meaning 'good' (eu) and 'skin' (derma). The 'red wine' appearance of the lotion earned it the nickname 'Shiseido red water' among users."
Rainbow Face Color Powders (1917) were cutting-edge for their time, while the design on the box of the Modern Face Color Powders (1932) is a good representation of both fashionable young city ladies and the company's pre-war aesthetic. The Rainbow powders were among the first face powders to come in colors other than white, including yellow, rose, green and purple, to allow women to match their powder to their clothing. The Modern Face Color Powder box was designed by Yamana Ayao, and shows "a beautiful harmony of Art Nouveau and Art Deco elements."
The one on the left was desgined by Yabe Sue in 1925 and perfectly represents the Art Nouveau style, and the one on the right is from 1930 and depicts two women, one clad in an elaborate 18th-century French-looking frock and the other in a traditional Japanese kimono. The meaning is unclear – is there a rivalry going on between East and West or is Shiseido showing their attempt to bridge the gap between their customers living in those two spheres?
These next two are from 1938 and 1961. The earlier one, designed by Yamamoto Takeo, looks vaguely surreal to me with the woman's profile seemingly floating amongst Magritte-esque clouds. But according to the website, "the poster is from the period around the 1930s when Shiseido's chain stores began using display windows. The Shiseido designers from this period were successful in creating images of feminine beauty that anticipated the changing times, and contributed greatly to bolstering the Shiseido image. The later one was designed by Mizuno Takashi and is from the company's first "campaign-style promotion" for a new line called Candy Tone.
Some other highlights of the permanent collection include an entire wall showing the evolution of the brand's packaging:
And a display showing how the typeface and camellia logos also changed over time:
Something else that I love about this museum (and something that I try to do with the Makeup Museum) is the launching of special exhibitions. In 2009 the museum showed "The Pleasures of Colors: Shiseido Paint Sets" which looked at the crayons, paints and other art implements the company produced for a brief period in the late 1950s. But these weren't makeup items aimed at women – these were art sets intended for children in order to introduce them to drawing and painting. "These included a string of ground-breaking new products that helped to guide Japan's new art education, and many featured charming packaging that encouraged children to try their hands at pictorial art. This exhibition highlights how well these colors have retained their bright appeal over time, and explores how they contributed to a next generation of education in Japan."
The current special exhibition is devoted to lipstick called "The Excitement of Lipstick: Color, Form, Spirit." Here's the description from the website: "Lipstick can be considered the most striking and important element of women's makeup. Even just a little bit of lip coloring can lend an “adult” sophistication to the face of a child, bring an air of specialness to an otherwise ordinary day, give rise to numerous and various female expressions, and even embolden the spirit. This exhibition, with its display spaces reminiscent of show windows, presents these appealing aspects of lipstick in various visual and entertaining ways.
The exhibition is organized around three themes—Lipstick Colors, Lipstick Shapes, and Lipstick & Spirit—and will focus on the beauty of lipstick itself while exploring some of the unseen relationships women have with this essential of the makeup kit. It will also include some hands-on displays where visitors can explore the enjoyment of lipstick experientially, including a corner for trying on various lipstick shades and computerized tablet stations where visitors can simulate applying their own makeup." (Note to self: steal this idea.)
Shiseido's been rolling out new products and doing lots of events in honor of their 140th anniversary this year. To add to the celebration, the company released this lovely camellia highlighting/blush compact.
With flash:
The Shiseido Corporate Museum (more on that tomorrow) hosted an exhibition on the company's use of the camellia. "In 1915, Shiseido's first president Shinzo Fukuhara replaced the hawk emblem trademark used by the company's original pharmacy business with a camellia blossom. Ever since, this camellia trademark has been closely and fondly associated with Shiseido as a company. What does the camellia mean for the Japanese people? What does it mean for Shiseido? As the camellias came into bloom to welcome Shiseido's 140th anniversary this year, the year's first planned exhibition considered the history of the Japanese people's relationship with the camellia, and looked back on the history of the company's camellia-related products and designs using the camellia motif." I would have given my right arm to see this exhibition, but Japan is a long way off for a quick museum visit! Fortunately, at their website Shiseido fills us in a little bit as to the meaning of the flower for their brand. "When the company was known as a pharmacy, its trademark was a brave hawk, but when it shifted its focus to cosmetics, it was thought that the stern image of a hawk was unsuitable. It is said that the camellia was chosen because the best-selling product was Koyu Hanatsubaki (hair oil; Hanatsubaki is Japanese for camellia). At that time, trademarks in Japan were typically traditional patterns from ancient family crests, but the Western design of the camellia mark was a great novelty. The camellia trademark was designed by the company's first president, Shinzo Fukuhara. The original nine camellia leaves were reduced to seven by the Design Department staff. In 1918 its design was near today's, and in 1919 the trademark was registered. Many small changes have been made since, and in 1974 the present design was decided on."
Additionally, there was once something called the Camellia Club – a membership service for loyal Shiseido customers that was launched in 1937. Club members received exclusive pamphlets and invitations to beauty classes. The biggest spenders received commemorative gifts – I'm thinking this is sort of like Sephora's VIB program in which customers can become "VIBs" after spending $350 in a given year. "The first year's gift was an art deco metal vanity case, the following year's was a Nishijin handbag, and in following years continued with ceramic sash clips and other luxurious items." While I enjoy the more modern perks of today's membership programs (free samples, discount codes, etc.), receiving keepsakes from the company sounds great to a collector like me.
Stay tuned for more on the history of Shiseido tomorrow, when I will highlight some pieces from their museum.
I have to admit, I wasn't quite as inspired as I was for the summer 2012 exhibition. There weren't any particular collections or images that I felt captured the feel of this season. So I fell back on some classic fall standbys: animal prints. I was pretty shocked my husband was able to make such a good exhibition poster based on my sad little sketch.
I also worked in some of the oxblood color that's this autumn's "it" shade in the labels, and selected an oddly textured, crinkly paper that reminded me of snakeskin. Overall, the words I was thinking of as I was putting this together were fierce, primal and heavy.
Upper shelves:
Lower shelves:
Here are the individual objects, starting with the top shelf and moving left to right.
Clinique Fresh-Picked eye shadows – I know it's a little strange to include spring items in a fall exhibition, but between the berry color and the fact that pears are a fall fruit, I decided to include them.
Makeup Museum (MM)
Musings is a series that examines a broad range of museum topics as they
relate to the collecting of cosmetics, along with my vision for a
"real", physical Makeup Museum. These posts help me think through how
I'd run things if the Museum was an actual organization, as well as
examine the ways it's currently functioning. I also hope that these
posts make everyone see that the idea of a museum devoted to cosmetics
isn't so crazy after all – it can be done!
The general introduction to MM Musings above refers to my vision for a physical museum. However, this installment will make an exception to the usual focus on a physical space and explore how the Makeup Museum could occupy the World Wide Web in a vastly different format than its current existence. I will be using several examples from the world of fashion, since, as I explained in the inaugural MM Musings post, the worlds of fashion and cosmetics face similar challenges in terms of being considered art, and both are a form of bodily adornment for their own sake. These examples serve as inspiration for an eventual massive transformation of the Makeup Museum blog. I will touch on what I think are the most compelling aspects of these online fashion exhibitions/museums and discuss how they can be applied to the Makeup Museum. (I am only including examples of shows and museums that are exclusively online, not the websites of museums that physically exist, e.g., the Smithsonian website – that will be the next installment of MM Musings).
Like the Worth and Mainbocher exhibition, you can scroll through and click on any object to learn more about it. I like that it's arranged by time period.
But perhaps the most advanced online museum to date arrived in late 2011 courtesy of Valentino. The Valentino Garavani Virtual Museum contains highlights from the archives of the designer through an app that can be downloaded to your computer or phone. It features the latest 3D technology so users can experience the space and view items at 360 degrees. As the New York Times explains, "The idea is to open up the archives, with the online facilities offering
unlimited possibilities for interconnections and cross-references. A
key outfit can thus be seen up close in intimate detail in 3-D, with
explanations of its cut and craftsmanship, as well as when and where it
was first shown and who subsequently wore it…for students — and for historians — the result is a generous offering
that comes from a nonprofit association and makes the archive globally
available."
Of course I downloaded the app to see for myself. Here is the "main entrance".
I went to the right and through the panel marked "Themes and Variations".
I decided to zoom in on this pink number:
When I clicked on the "more" button at the bottom, a wealth of information about the dress popped up, along with the option of viewing the dress all the way around.
The "Themes and Variations" wing was divided into subsections based on color or prints. This was the white room:
And here was the animal prints room:
I also took a spin through the Very Valentino wing:
I particularly enjoyed the '60s section.
What was so mind-blowing about this site was that it was arranged as a real museum would be, and you could easily get anywhere you wanted by pulling up the map.
I could definitely see the Makeup Museum adopting this format, since it seems to be the closest thing to a physical space but still has the accessibility and ease of use of an online experience.
In looking at these three websites, I think for the Makeup Museum I'd probably combine elements of the three. I like the clean design and detailed information for each piece at the Worth and Mainbocher exhibition, the arrangement of objects into distinct time periods at the Sackrider (although I'd probably arrange the makeup collection by brand rather than time period), and the accompanying information at each of those two – the essays and discussion at Worth and Mainbocher and the history of handbags at the Sackrider. As for the Valentino Museum, I love that users can sort of move through the space but still be able to skip around to various parts of the museum at the click of a button.
Looking at these also makes me wonder whether a physical space for the Makeup Museum is necessary at all. As Melissa at Worn Through remarks about the Worth and Mainbocher exhibition, "It’s interesting to see so many costume collections working to put their
object information online, and in particular the way that virtual
exhibitions are becoming a more popular way to share information and
document collections. I’ve been thinking a lot about some of the
advantages of a format like this, especially for objects that are
extremely fragile that might not be able to endure the strains of
exhibition otherwise. While nothing can replace the experience of
viewing something in person, this type of format is a really great
substitute, particularly for opening up an audience that might otherwise
be constrained geographically." She brings up two great points – one is that makeup items, like clothing, are very fragile, so in the interest of preservation it might be best to have them displayed only online. The second is that you can reach a much broader audience by having the museum exist exclusively online.
So perhaps my focus going forward should be revamping the Makeup Museum's website rather than trying to establish a brick-and-mortar museum. This effort will still cost money, but I'm guessing not as much as finding a physical space.
What features would you like to see in an online beauty museum?
I'm still trying to figure out why I didn't visit this museum when I was in London last year! I'm not sure whether the cosmetics are actually on display, but the Museum of London has a lovely online collection of late 19th-century and 20th century beauty artifacts. Here are a few of my favorites, in rough chronological order.
First is this electric face massager from around 1908-1912. At first glance it seems ridiculous that women back then would actually be rubbing this on their faces in the hopes of reducing wrinkles, but really, is it so different from the contraptions we have now? Thousands of women today (myself included), make use of the Clarisonic electric cleansing brush, which is essentially our generation's version of this face massager (although the Clarisonic is for deep cleansing rather than wrinkle reduction).
Up next is this incredibly charming "sunbathing powder", or what we know today as bronzer. I wish a company would come up with packaging as cute as this for bronzer! I adore the bathing suits. This object was manufactured some time between 1921 and 1950.
I was fascinated by this WWII-era face powder because while it was made during the war, the design looks more 1920s rather than the 40s. According to the museum website, "A note on the box states that it contains
the same amount of powder as the original pre-war boxes.
Make-up was not rationed during the war, but it was extremely scarce.
This face powder would have been highly sought-after." Could you imagine makeup being difficult to purchase?!
Finally, we have one of the earliest examples of an attempt at cosmetics containing "natural" ingredients: Mary Quant foundation. This is from the 1970s and contained honey, almond oil and wheatgerm oil. I like the vintage apothecary vibe of the jar, from its shape to the font – reminds me of C.O. Bigelow.
