Vintage Archives - Page 2 of 2 - The Makeup Museum: Where Cosmetics & Art Intersect

I was so pleased I was able to trek up to NYC last Thursday to see Makeup in New York's show and vintage lipstick exhibition! It was fun to walk around and see all the packaging companies, but the main draw for me, of course, was seeing some highlights from Lips of Luxury up close and in person.

The show was held at Center 548 in Chelsea, which is an area of NYC I'm not too familiar with – we normally stick to Soho and Union Square, with occasional jaunts to where all the department stores are (uptown? downtown?):

Nice little brochures were provided when you checked in.

I eagerly searched to find where the lipstick exhibition was.

Fortunately it was on the 2nd floor so I didn't have to climb too many steps to get there!

Right up front were the Revlon Couturines!!

Behind those was that crazy Lenox lipstick holder:

Some other treasures:

Why yes, that IS a mermaid-shaped lipstick case!!

Huge dork that I am, I had brought my copy of Lips of Luxury with me in the hopes of getting either Jean-Marie Martin-Hattenberg (the author) or Anne Camilli (Editorial Director) to sign it, if they happened to be at the exhibition. And I thought maybe I could give them my card. I did in fact meet Anne, but ultimately I was too chicken to actually ask for an autograph or start plugging the Makeup Museum. My husband pointed out that it may not have been as weird as I thought to ask her to sign the book, as she was the one who, you know, helped write it. But I thought I might come off as annoying or worse, some kind of creepy stalker, so I just said I was a big fan of the book and left her alone.

Overall, I thought it was a well-curated exhibition. The selections were definitely what I would have chosen from the book. I did think, however, that the presentation could use a little work. The glass jars with the pink tops were cute, but the acrylic stands that some of the lipsticks were sitting on within them looked pretty cheap. And the jar wasn't the best choice of display vessel for the Alberto Guardiani lipstick shoe – it looked squashed in there! I also would have made the label text nicer and with thicker paper. Good typography and quality paper goes a long way. Of course, I have little room to talk since I tend to cram items onto the shelves I use for my exhibitions and the shelves themselves aren't tremendously well-made. Still, I think for a formal exhibition in a "real" public space I'd go the extra mile to make sure everything looks amazing.

After I was done drooling over the exhibition, we explored the other booths and saw what conference sessions were taking place.

On the way out I helped myself to a goodie bag.

I thought this was cool – it's all the packaging companies that attended the expo in Pantone swatchbook form.

A bag of samples of the latest and greatest in packaging:

Copy of Beauty Packaging magazine and a pencil.

Then after that we hit up Soho for some shopping. Unfortunately (or fortunately, for my credit card balance) I didn't see anything I wanted, but as we were walking to catch a cab back to Penn Station I caught a glimpse of something very exciting – the space where a new outpost of Ladurée will be!! It's supposed to open in mid-November and will be the biggest in the world!! It will definitely make staying in Soho all the sweeter once it opens, literally.

You can see more photos from the Makeup In New York show here. 🙂

How cool is this? A man in Torrance, California was helping a friend go through some old boxes in her garage, when he came across a virtual treasure trove of Max Factor memorabilia, including photos, corporate documents and even some makeup! The friend's father was a facilities manager at Max Factor Studios and
when these items were abandoned in company storage, he decided to store
them himself rather than throwing them out. Good for him.

One of the men in the videos, Stephen Woo, was the one who brought this to my attention. He also asked if I'd be interested in buying any of the items! Naturally I said yes, but I have not heard back. :(

See anything in the vid you'd like to get your hands on? I know I did – face powder and lipsticks!

Part two of this year’s Ghosts of Christmas Makeup Past is devoted to this gorgeous highlighter by Clé de Peau, released for the 2010 holiday season.

With flash:

The golden raised stripes look like rays of sunlight streaming down from the sky, and to my eye, have a very Art Deco feel to them. A detailed description of the characteristics of Art Deco period would take way too long, but here’s a good little overview on the jewelry of the time (this would be the most relevant, as the Clé de Peau holiday vintage palettes are modeled after antique jewelry).

Take a peek at 2009’s palette and let me know whether you prefer that one to 2010’s. Personally, while I think they’re both gorgeous, I love the 2010 one more.

I've decided that a couple days a week posts will have a certain theme. This blog could use just a tiny bit of structure! Therefore, Fridays will be devoted to retro/kitschy/just plain fun packaging. Mondays will feature makeup by the big fashion houses (Chanel, Dior, YSL, etc). The rest of the time I'll have a more freeform approach.

For the first installment of Friday Fun, I'm looking at some fall items from a few seasons ago: Benefit's Roadside Attractions palettes. Released in the fall of 2005, these kits feature either eye shadow or lip gloss and have retro images for the outer packaging, complete with cheeky phrases like "Exes Make Great Speed Bumps". The interior cleverly features a mirror in the shape of a rear-view car mirror.

(photo from benefitcosmetics.com)

These palettes definitely stay true to Benefit's mantra: "Who says makeup has to be serious to be good?" Indeed, the concept of a road trip and visiting places ("roadside attractions") along the way is fun, and the idea was perfectly executed in these palettes.