The Makeup Museum is operated solely by the Founder and Curator. Maintaining and expanding a world-class cosmetics museum is a demanding job for one person. If you love what the Museum does and would like to see it continue, here are some (mostly free!) ways to get involved.
The Museum reserves the right to decline any contribution, donation, monetary gift or offer of volunteering if the contributor’s values and interests do not align with those of the Museum.
Volunteer
The Makeup Museum is looking for individuals who are passionate about its mission to donate their time on a volunteer basis. If you would like to assist with editing and proofreading, social media/PR strategy, advising on curatorial best practices or museum operations and planning in general, please email the Curator. No monetary compensation can be offered, but you will be fully credited for your contributions. As the Museum is primarily an online space, location is obviously not an issue – you can volunteer from anywhere!
Social Media and Outreach
Online support is essential to increasing the Makeup Museum’s visibility and solidifying its position as the world’s leading cosmetics museum. Please follow and engage with the Museum on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook and subscribe to the Museum’s blog via email alerts or the RSS feed. Follows, likes and comments on social media posts are key to the Museum’s growth. Sharing Museum content (articles, exhibitions, etc.) with your social media networks as well as editors, journalists, historians and museum professionals is also integral to the Makeup Museum’s expansion.
Donate
The Makeup Museum gratefully accepts donations of vintage cosmetics and related objects or materials (tools, ads, displays, archives or personal papers from makeup companies/artists, etc.) in good to excellent or new condition. These include all beauty categories except for fragrance, skincare, hair and personal hygiene products. Contemporary makeup items are accepted as well, but must be new or like new. You can visit the Curator’s wishlist for specific items that the Museum is actively seeking to acquire. Offers of objects that aren’t included there are still greatly appreciated, so please send an email with photos of anything you’d like to offer. Donations are accepted at the Curator’s discretion; please do not be offended if your donation is not accepted. Note: The Museum is unable to reimburse for shipping and additional related costs, such as packing supplies, transportation to/from a post office, etc.
Contribute
Have a great makeup history tale to tell? Do you want to show off a makeup object or collection? Email the Curator if you’d like to be featured at the Museum’s website. Guest post and interview opportunities are also available. If you’re a museum or makeup professional/enthusiast who’d like to share your perspective on a given topic, or if you’d like to write an article on vintage or contemporary objects, brands or trends, please get in touch.
Give
If you are able, the Makeup Museum gratefully welcomes monetary donations in any amount. Gifts do not support artifact acquisitions; those are purchased with the Curator’s personal funds. Gifts are used instead to support the following areas:
Digitization – website redesign, professional object photography, and collections management software that allows a searchable database of all objects to be published online;
DEI initiatives – hiring of BIPOC and LGBTQ+ consultants, writers and historians;
Research – subscription fees to various archives/trade journals and fees for external researchers (as needed);
Preservation – purchase of archival storage materials;
Operating expenses – annual professional membership dues, blog and domain name renewal costs.
The Makeup Museum, Inc. is a 501 c3 nonprofit. Your contribution is tax-deductible.
Hello, if you’re still out there! Not that anyone is waiting with bated breath to see where I’ve been, but I figured I’d give a brief update. My absence was, unfortunately, not the planned blogging break I intended to have, but what I’m suspecting was the flu. And if it wasn’t, it was easily the worst cold I’ve ever had. I’m starting to feel better after a week of praying for death, so hopefully I’ll be back to blogging in a few days. Thanks for staying with me. 🙂 (And get your damn flu shot!)
Catching up on links from the past two weeks. I didn't plan on taking this past week off from blogging, but last weekend I enjoyed a pre-Thanksgiving/belated birthday celebration with my parents and didn't get a chance to prep any posts. Hopefully I can stay on top of everything this week.
– If you have anyone on your holiday shopping list in need of new underwear, might I suggest these bacon-scented undies? Or how about this Golden Girls-themed set? (Seriously, WTF?)
Now for the important stuff: who's ready for Cyber Monday? Any deals calling to you?
Happy Halloween! I thought I'd share some spooky beauty items and ads I've stumbled across the past few months. (These will be offered without much commententary since it's been a long week and I'm too tired/lazy.)
Estée Lauder Shimmering Spider compact from the Glitter Bug compact collection, 2000:
*Church Lady voice* Could it be…SATAN? Why yes, there is "a bit of Satan" in these Evening in Paris Satin Finish lipsticks, according to the ad (1957).
Finally, here's a cute Elvira-esque Stila girl in from an email I got a few weeks ago. Looks like she's also rocking some Louboutins.
Hope you enjoyed these! I'm off to clean up…some staff members got into the Pumpkin Spice M & Ms I found at Target and thought it would be fun to feast on them among the decorative gourds.
I didn't blog for about a month, but I was still collecting links along the way! Much to catch up on.
– If you're not watching Broad City, you really should. Actually you can't now because the season finale was last week, but I'm sure you'll be able to find episodes somewhere. Read praise for it here, here and here. Also find out what fragrance each of the girls would hypothetically wear at Rouge 18, and check out an ode to Ilana's style.
– Locally, this is probably the best news I've heard, like, ever. Now if we can only get rid of Flowermart, the St. Patrick's Day parade, and all the other things throughout the year that make living in Mt. Vernon hell, that would be sweet.
– There is a new Babo but shockingly, I am passing on adding him to our plushie family. His little face doesn't look nearly as cute as usual because of the makeup, plus I'm not a KISS fan.
What have you been up to?
The Makeup Museum’s collection contains over 2,500 objects from the late 19th century through the present year, and eventually will incorporate artifacts dating prior to the 1800s. From renowned and iconic vintage objects to unique contemporary pieces, the Museum is home to an eclectic, one-of-a-kind collection that spans all categories of makeup and related memorabilia from all over the globe.
Digitization of the Museum’s collection is ongoing. In the meantime a PDF of the inventory is available for viewing and download.
Guerlain Cherry Blossom lipstick and cases, spring 2020
Faberge false eyelashes, mid to late 1960s
Shu Uemura cleansing oils, 2004-2018
Overton’s face powder boxes from the 1920s through the early 60s
Florasis Miao palette, fall 2020
Happy Saturday! It's been a week since I've posted anything and if you're wondering where I've been, I was visiting the merry old land of Oz – party planning, that is. My niece's 4th birthday party is coming up and it's going to be a Wizard of Oz theme! Since my little pea brain can only handle so many non-work activities, this week I spent the hours I normally would on the Makeup Museum at Pinterest and Etsy instead, obsessively researching ideas and starting to order party supplies. I think I've got it all figured out, so I'll be back Monday. I'll leave you with my chief party inspiration. 🙂
When I did the group portrait of the Makeup Museum's Chanel palettes, I realized I never posted about the lovely Coromandels de Chanel, which was released all the way back in the fall of 2005. Meant to evoke the lacquered Chinese screens lovingly collected and displayed in Coco Chanel's Rue Cambon apartment, the palette consists of three horizontal bands of bold color imprinted with gold patterns. Here is the full description from Vogue Australia. "Imagine a journey, a very long journey, from the Ming
Era to today…Starting in Asia, at the heart of Imperial China, it
continues along the Indian coast of Coromandel until reaching Paris, rue
Cambon, and ending at the apartment of Mademoiselle Chanel. The link between the two worlds and eras resides in the singular art
form of Chinese screens: Coromandels. Objects of passion for Coco
Chanel, these famous lacquered screens-extremely fashionable in the 18th
century – have now inspired Heidi Morawetz and Dominique Moncourtois in
the creation of the star product for Autumn 2005: Coromandels de
Chanel…With its antique frieze, olive branches and decorative scrolls 'engraved' in the pressed powder, Coromandels de Chanel resembles a
screen fragment in the black frame of its laquered case. The precise and
delicate motifs that decorate the surface take up the relief and colour
of an illustration on one of Gabrielle Chanel’s screens. With this creation, past and present have been brilliantly combined with
art and innovation. Coromandels de Chanel not only draws from the
immense heritage of Mademoiselle, it is also a modern breakthrough.
Using laser technology, an electronic arm controls a laser beam to
polish, colour and create 'incision' motifs on the compact
powder. In line with the original screens, the palette offers a matte
satin texture for a velvety skin result that is more powdery than shiny
and as luminous as ever."
In a quote from one her biographies, Coco Chanel states: “I’ve loved Chinese screens since I
was eighteen years old…I nearly fainted with joy when, entering a
Chinese shop, I saw a Coromandel for the first time…Screens were the
first thing I bought.” Over the years she amassed 32 screens, and her apartment at 31 Rue Cambon contained 8 of them. She used them as wallpaper and also to conceal doorways. "Mademoiselle Chanel hated doors," Chanel archivist Odile Babin stated in an interview with NPR. "She hoped that by
placing the [the screens] in front of the door, her guests might not remember to
leave." (Coco Chanel used the apartment only for entertaining and work – she actually slept and took meals at a private suite at the Ritz across the street.)
As for the artistry of the screens themselves, the Chanel website has this to say. "The Coromandel lacquer technique
emerged at the end of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), in the Hunan
province, in the heart of China. The major themes include mythology,
scenes of imperial life and love of nature, which bestow a spiritual
dimension upon the art form."
The descriptionof the palette says that the patterns were taken after one of the screens owned by Mademoiselle Chanel. While I couldn't find a picture of an exact match pattern-wise, the overall feel and colors are similar. Below are some of the screens installed in her magnificent Rue Cambon abode.
While I didn't see a match for the designs on the screens, you'll notice that the gold Greek-like pattern on this coffee table does match the one in the middle of the Coromandels palette.
So we have an explanation for the inspiration behind the palette, and the design does in fact align very closely with the beautiful screens owned by Coco Chanel. However, I'm puzzled as to why the company decided to release this collection in the fall of 2005, when the pieces shown in the runway and couture shows displayed no Asian/Chinese influence whatsoever. Unlike the more recent Byzantine and Versailles palettes, which were released in conjunction with particular fashion collections, Coromandels had nothing to do with what walked down the runways for both the fall 2005 ready-to-wear and couture collections. Even the makeup wasn't remotely related to the theme of Coromandels.
Perhaps it's because this palette was released before Peter Philips took over as Creative Director of Makeup in 2008 (and sadly, will be stepping down shortly). Prior to his leadership, seasonal makeup collections were devised by Heidi Morawetz, director of the makeup creation studio, and Dominique Moncourtois, international director of makeup creation. While the palette is certainly inspired, it may have been more timely had it been released in 1996, when Lagerfeld designed his Coromandels evening dresses.
Still, I can't begrudge Chanel too much in their lack of cohesion between the fall 2005 makeup and fashion collections. Les Coromandels is a gorgeous and creative palette, and remains one of the Curator's favorites from Chanel.
