You might remember this neat ad for Max Factor's Italian Touch that I featured in the summer exhibition.
I also mentioned there was a really cool bust used as a store prop floating about on E-bay, but that it was pricey. Well, as it turns out I didn't have to worry about the cost because a certain very thoughtful and generous husband purchased it for me! I really don't have anything like this in the Museum's collection and I was so happy he snagged it for me. As far as store advertising goes it's pretty unique.
I've named him Enrico. 🙂
I love the sphinxes on each shoulder! Perhaps they were borrowed from the Augustus of Prima Porta.
I couldn't find a complete history of the campaign but it must have been quite large, given that I've seen ads in various languages. In addition to plain old English, I also came across French:
(image from hprints.com)
Italian (of course…additionally, Italian film star Virna Lisi starred as the model, which further demonstrates how calculated the campaign was):
(image from delcampe.net)
And Dutch. This is particularly fascinating given that the e-bay seller Enrico was purchased from was located in the Netherlands. I also would have loved to get my hands on the little set pictured in these ads to round out a sort of capsule collection of the Italian Touch campaign, but I'm pretty satisfied with the bust.
(image from invaluable.com)
I also found these two English-language ads from Canada and Singapore.
(image from middlebrowcanada.com)
I couldn't remove the watermark from this but you get the gist.
(image from eresources.nlb.gov.sg)
In the U.S., a new shade called Roman Touch was available in several products in addition to the Italian Touch collection.
(image from news.google.com)
(image from arch.torranceca.gov)
All in all, I think this is one of the strangest, yet well-planned advertising campaigns for a vintage collection I've come across. Normally I'd be creeped out by the idea of statues coming to life, but in this case I think the offbeat nature of it is quite amusing. And based on what Museum Advisory Committee member Sailor Babo has told me about his conversations with him, Enrico is totally harmless and has lots of interesting stories.
What do you think about this latest Museum gift? Big huge thanks to my awesome and supportive husband. 🙂
Please say hello to the latest member of the Makeup Museum family, Sailor Babo! No, not the little guy. This fella is the full-sized version and very rare – he's one of 50, made for the first Uglycon in Los Angeles in 2006. We spotted him on Ebay a few weeks ago and knew we had to rescue him.
He and the other Sailor Babo have been hitting it off, obviously.
And like most sailors, he's got a tattoo. (It's an autograph by the creators of Uglydoll.)
I'll have to mull over what he'll be doing at the Museum, other than getting crazy with little Sailor Babo and Seasick Sailor Babo! Oh, the shenanigans they've been getting into…
As you may or may not know, September is National Honey Month. And since bears love honey, Makeup Museum intern Babo Bear is here to round up some honey-infused/bee-related products to help you celebrate during these last few September days. In addition to LUSH's Fair Trade Honey shampoo and Marc Jacobs Honey fragrance shown in the picture above, here are some more recommendations.
- Rodial Bee Venom Eye Cream
- Skinfood Honey Pot lip balm
- Nuxe Rêve de Miel lip balm
- Tokyo Milk Honey and the Moon perfume
- Fresh Ultimate Nourishing Honey Mask
- Paul & Joe Lip Treatment Balm (coming in October)
- Vecua Honey Luster Lip Gloss
- Guerlain Abeille Royale Daily Repair Serum
- LUSH Honey I Washed the Kids soap
- Ardency Inn Modster Manuka Honey Enriched Pigments
- Perlier Honey Anti-Age Body Balm
- Burt's Bees Beeswax Lip Balm
- Michael Aram Bumblebee Candle
- The Body Shop Honeymania Body Butter
- Farmacy Honey and Ginger Lip Bloom
Babo Bear also researched vintage bee items to get him buzzzzzzzzing – I'm so proud of the little fella! Some ads:
(image from cosmeticsandskin.com)
(image from flickr.com)
(image from moviestarmakeover.com)
Some compacts:
(image from pinterest.com)
(image from pinterest.com)
He also came across an ad for the Yardley compact above.
(image from cosmeticsandskin.com)
Finally, Cosmetics and Skin has a great little read on the use of royal jelly in cosmetics.
Since Babo Bear did such a good job with today's post I am off to get him a honey latte as a treat. Please feel free share your favorite honey products in the comments. 🙂
In honor of National Lipstick Day (who decides these things, anyway?) here's a little gathering of lipstick-themed bags at different price points.
Save: Sephora Beauty Insider tote bag – free with 250 Beauty Insider points
Here are some larger images…the bag is roomy enough to fit a full-sized Babo!
Spend: Lipstick bags available via Society6, $22 each
(images from society6.com)
Splurge: Prada lipstick print shoulder bag, available for a mere $2,400 at Saks and Neiman Marcus
(image from neimanmarcus.com)
There's also a smaller bag with this print available for "only" $990. I have to admit that if it went on sale for, say, 90% off I'd totally buy it. Or maybe one of these Saint Laurent lipstick print bags– the colors are a little more subtle and versatile. A girl can dream…
Hope you're enjoying National Lipstick Day!
I outdid myself yet again this season, oops. Most of the damage was done online, but the husband and I took a trip up to NYC to escape what was going to be a very noisy 4th of July weekend in our neighborhood, and I bought some more things there.
It was so nice to play at the Armani counter since the closest one to us is in Virginia and I never get a chance to see anything in person. I got an eye tint (#12, a very nice neutral) and Fluid Sheers in 5 and 6. I have no idea why but I didn't realize there were some pigmented Fluid Sheers that could be used as blushes – I thought they were only highlighters. I also picked up a Troy Surratt powder brush and it's seriously the softest brush I've ever had. I thought Trish McEvoy had soft brushes but this one blows them away. I now want the blush brush too. I got the powder brush and the Armani stuff at Barney's. The Armani counter manager there, Judy, was super nice and gave me a ton of samples. I was really shocked as it's the first time I've had a non-pushy sales person at the beauty department at Barney's – usually they're incredibly aggressive, but Judy was great. So keep that in mind if you're in the vicinity. 🙂
I am loving all of my new blushes. Clockwise from top left: Hourglass Incandescent Electra, Bobbi Brown Sunset Pink shimmerbrick, Tom Ford Pink Sand, Stila Shimmering Lotus, and NARS Silent Nude. The Armani Fluid Sheers are excellent too.
Here's the lip stuff. Clockwise from top: Tom Ford Skinny Dip (goes beautifully with the Pink Sand blush), Clinique Melon Pop, MAC Tumble Dry, Becca Beach Tint Lip Shimmer Soufflé in Watermelon/Opal (love this with the Stila Shimmering Lotus) MAC Fashion Force, and Lancôme Shine Lover #140 Corail Lover. Overall I'm pleased with these, but not wild about MAC Fashion Force and the Lancôme Corail Lover. They looked very different when I swatched them in store. When I got them home, they were just meh.
I was over the moon when I saw that Bobbi Brown was re-releasing some old gel eye liner shades. Bronze Shimmer remains one of my top 5 favorite liners ever. I also picked up a replacement for my old Ivy Shimmer, which was pretty dried out, and Gunmetal, which I didn't own previously.
Obviously I couldn't resist Tom Ford Midnight Sea either!
Oddly enough, the new Ivy Shimmer looks considerably darker than the original version. I'll have to swatch them to see if there's a noticeable difference.
We were wandering about Soho when I spotted & Other Stories, which I had heard of previously but had totally forgotten that there was a location in New York.
I love Philosophy's Iced Mint Lemonade – it's not overly citrusy, minty or sweet, just a perfect mild lemon scent. I actually picked up a second tub of the body butter! I went a bit crazy at & Other Stories, they had tons of really lovely scents but I limited myself to Punk Bouquet (very unique and of course I fell for the name) and Lemon Daydream, which reminds me a little of Fresh Hesperides.
And now for some non-makeup goodies. Another Barney's find was this shell necklace on a massive sale – so perfectly mermaidy! Sailor Babo insisted on modeling it.
Then we went to the Anthropologie store in Soho. We have several Anthro stores in Baltimore but the one in Soho is much bigger than the ones around here, so I thought I'd take a look around. When I saw this shirt I knew I couldn't leave the store without it! I mean, really, is there anything more perfect for a beauty junkie? It fits me well but obviously it looks way better on Seasick Sailor Babo.
They look very pleased with themselves, no?
What did you haul this summer? And if you have any questions about specific products I mentioned in this post, leave them in the comments…I know I didn't do in-depth reviews but I have tried everything out so I can provide additional info. 🙂
For the life of me I can't figure out why Paul & Joe decided to create a print of a cat wearing a sailor hat, but I know a certain Makeup Museum staff member was very intrigued. Then again, this isn't the first time Paul & Joe decided to dress up their cats.
He admired the kitty's pipe and asked me if he could get one.
Unfortunately, as with the MAC Hey Sailor collection, I don't think I'll be getting the powder or the pouch back. Sailor Babo and Sailor Cat are kindred spirits.
I think I hear Sailor Babo offering up some rum so I better get going before things get too out of hand!
I'm so not a Trekkie but this little guy was way too adorable to pass up. Please say hello to Dr. McCoy! (I call him Dr. McCook – our Babos shorten "cookie" sometimes to just "cook"). He arrived back in early March but I'm just getting around to taking his staff photo now.
If you're unfamiliar with Star Trek, as I am, here's a good compilation of Dr. McCoy. Seems kinda uptight, no? I find his personality incongruous with that of a happy-go-lucky, very affectionate Babster, but whatever.
I'm not sure what he should do at the Museum. Maybe work in Visitor Services with Space Babo, since they're naturally best buddies. 🙂
I have no idea why Chantecaille would release a glacier-themed palette for spring, but I guess it's appropriate given that we're still getting snow in early March. Ugh! I also was not thrilled with the design. While it's worthy of my collection, I still feel like Chantecaille could have done so much more. I would have loved to see a jaw-droppingly detailed alpine scene captured in a highlighting/eye shadow powder, similar to these but in a shimmery white, silver, blue and taupe color scheme. Anyway, it's the usual spiel – you buy the palette and Chantecaille donates 5% of the proceeds to a charity. This time the money will go to the Extreme Ice Survey. (The name makes me think of a certain faux energy drink…it's not a regular ice survey, it's an EXTREEEEEEEME ice survey! To the MAAAXXXX!)
I enlisted the help of Makeup Museum staff member Ugly Yeti to showcase this eye shadow trio – as you can imagine, he was quite fond of it since it reminds him of his natural habitat.
The big guy wanted to make sure you saw the pretty, shimmery mountains on the inside of the palette.
Chantecaille's website has some breathtaking photos of glaciers, but if you want more there's also an exhibition of photos and paintings entitled "Vanishing Ice: Alpine and Polar Landscapes in Art, 1775-2012" at the McMichael Canadian Art Collection currently.
What do you think of this trio? I'm off to make some hot chocolate for Ugly Yeti…as much as he loves the snow, I think he likes my homemade hot chocolate even more. 🙂
Holy crap, I can't believe how popular this giveaway was! I ended up with a whopping 866 entries – that's over 20 times the previous giveaway's entry total! Thanks to everyone who entered!
Anyway, the Makeup Museum's dynamic duo, exhibition designers Power Babo and Super Babo, are very excited to announce the winner.
Congratulations to…
Yay!! Kathy, please email me your mailing address so I can send out your prize this weekend!!
Uh-oh. They've got that crazy look in their eyes.
"I heard Karl Lagerfeld designed a Chanel lipstick cake…these must be the fancy cookies he made to go with it!"
No no no no no no no!! Guys, those aren't cookies!
Well, I guess it wouldn't be a real Makeup Museum giveaway unless staff tried to eat the prize. 😛
Thanks again to everyone who entered!!
Some new staff members arrived earlier this week. Say hello to Cowardly Lion Babo and Origins Babo!
I think since Cowardly Lion Babo is still a bit skittish despite getting his courage medal I will make him an intern. Plus he'll get along well with the Museum's other intern Babo Bear (lions and tigers and bears, oh my! Well, no tigers…) I'm not sure what Origins Babo will do. I might make him in charge of Membership Services.
I'm off to see how they're getting along with the others!