I can't even remember what I was researching when I stumbled across this site chock full of vintage compacts, but I'm so glad I did. I was dazzled by both the quantity and quality of this person's collection, and then I saw that it formed an exhibition that took place a decade ago. "The Art of Allure: Powder Compacts and Vanities of the 19th, 20th and 21st Centuries" was on display at the University of Arizona Museum of Art in April and May of 2004, so at this point it's a vintage exhibition of vintage compacts.
The collector behind this wonderful compilation is Noelle Soren, whose bio I pored over and have decided it's movie-worthy. She and her husband both hold advanced degrees in archaeology and art history (ahem) and have traveled the world digging up various artifacts. Eventually she found her way to collecting vintage compacts, and she also wrote and photographed the catalogue for the exhibition. The catalogue is available online and is incredibly informative. She also mentioned that hard copies of the catalogue do appear on Ebay from time to time, so I'm going to keep my eyes peeled in the hopes of snagging one. Definitely check it out (but only if you have plenty of time – you can easily spend an hour looking at everything!)
Welcome to part 3 of my series on identifying the original artwork for Too-Faced Quickie Chronicles palettes. Since today's palettes are one-offs, meaning the artist's work was used for only one palette, I'm not going to provide bios for each of them – otherwise this post would be way too long. Instead I'm linking to their information (where available) in their names so you can click on that if you're so inclined. Here they are in no particular order.
First off is Sin in Space (1961), illustrated by Robert Stanley and used for the Future Lovers palette. I spy more prudery from Too-Faced in that they lengthened the model's shirt. So they're against both cleavage and underboob.
(image from fuckyeahpulpfictioncovers.tumblr.com)
Tempted! from 1949 was illustrated by Fred Rodewald and used for the Summer Lover palette.
(image from pulpcovers.com)
Here's She Couldn't Be Good (1951) illustrated by Ray Pease for the Man-Eater palette. I can't quite figure out what's going on in the background in the palette – the size of the pillows is off compared to the original.
(image from goodgirlart.com)
Carnival of Love (1949) illustrated by Ray Johnson was used for the Plaything of Passion palette. Is it me or is the blonde in the background totally giving us the stinkeye?
(image from goodgirlart.com)
The cover of the August 1949 issue of Coronet magazine, illustrated by Wesley Snyder, was used for the Bathing Beauty palette. Here's a funny story about this. In my usual scatterbrained state I couldn't locate the picture I took of this palette in my files so I thought I'd just re-shoot it. When I went to fetch the palette from storage I couldn't find it anywhere. I basically overturned my house looking for it in a panic…only to realize that it was still sitting on the exhibition shelf in the bedroom, as I have yet to dismantle the summer exhibition. Duh.
Anyway, the original Coronet cover oh-so-helpfully advertises its article on "ways to find a husband." And I thought it was tough being a woman now.
(image from ebay.com)
The Life of the Party palette was modeled off of a cover for a December 1940 issue of Love Story Magazine designed by Modest Stein. Unfortunately I couldn't unearth a larger picture of the magazine.
(image from pulpcards.com)
Finally, we have It Happened in Hawaii (1961) created by Tom Miller for the Tropical Tease palette. It looks like Too-Faced interpreted the original image to have a more Caribbean feel since they named it the Spiced Rum palette.
(image from moviepostershop.com)
That's it for today! The series will wrap up in part 4, where I was able to match the artwork but the artists are sadly unknown.
I love getting inquiries but I hate when I let the inquirer down by not having an answer! This one was truly a head-scratcher. A woman emailed me explaining that she used to collect beauty ads, and sadly her house burned down and she lost the entire collection (one of my biggest fears!) She wanted to know whether I remembered one of her favorites that was lost so that she could try to track it down. The ad description is as follows:
– Was for a fall collection in 1998, 1999, 2000, or 2001;
– Was for a drugstore company (Cover Girl, Maybelline, etc.);
– Featured a "smoky and myterious" palette, comprised of "dark greens and purples and blues, very autumnal and mystical";
– Was at least 2 pages long, possibly 3;
– In addition to the model, there was also a cat in the ad.
Unfortunately, since I didn't get into collecting until about 2004, I had no memory of this ad. I scoured the Interwebz for hours trying every imaginable phrase in Google image search and on Pinterest. But I know not everything is online so I thought, we'll do this the old-fashioned way. I bought the 1999 and 2001 September issues of Allure as well as the October 1998 and 2000 issues hoping to find it. Wouldn't it be cool if I could find the actual ad in an old magazine and send it to her to help rebuild her collection? Alas, nothing fitting her description was in the magazines, nor in any of the earlier ones I had purchased for my failed '90s exhibition – I had kept an eye out for something fitting the description as I went through those. The closest thing I found was this:
(image from fuckyeahnostalgicbeauty.tumblr.com)
But that's definitely not it. While the colors, brand and timeframe fit, there is no cat – a detail the inquirer was sure about. She has also contacted Maybelline and Cover Girl and did not receive a response (um, nice customer service, jerks.) I think I may have to buy issues from 2002-2004 just to check those as well. I get plenty of inquiries that most likely will turn out to be unsolvable, but I really thought that with all the information she provided and the fact that this is more recent and not from, say, the '30s, I'd have a pretty good shot at finding the ad. That's why I'm so frustrated at not being able to unearth it.
So my last resort is to ask fellow makeup addicts: Do any of you remember this ad and if so, can you please comment on this post or drop me an email? I would be so happy to have this inquiry solved!
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The first part of this series focused on the art of George Gross, who did some of the illustrations used in Too-Faced Quickie Chronicles palettes. Today I'm looking at the work of two more artists whose work was appropriated by Too-Faced: Reginalde Heade and Paul Rader.
The very mysterious British artist Reginalde Heade was responsible for many pulp covers in the 1950s. I say he's mysterious because there's not even a formal record of his birth (he was born in either 1902 or 1903.) According to the author of Good Girl Art, "[Heade] died in 1957, leaving no children, no will and no evidence of his existence other than his signatures on those gorgeous covers he produced. And in 1954, he even stopped signing his work, when the publisher of the books he illustrated went to jail on obscenity charges. Heade produced over 300 covers, most of them impossible to find. He is not listed in any British standard artist references – no one even recalls meeting him." How strange. I wonder if this man was leading a double life, sort of like Ron Swanson/Duke Silver. In any case, while he was best known for his covers for pulp crime books, he also did some covers for "romance" novels.
His cover for Plaything of Passion (1951) was used for Too-Faced's Sex Kitten palette. I was looking for any differences between the two, and it looks like the left side of the pin-up's bra provides a little more coverage than in the original. Who would have thought we'd be more prudish in the early 21st century than in the 1950s?
(image from moviepostershop.com)
Heade's work for the 1950 book Coffin for a Cutie (uh, nice title) was also used for the Bad Girl side of the Too-Faced Good Girl/Bad Girl palette. The Good Girl side is by an unknown artist and used for a book titled No Time for Marriage.
(images from moviepostershop.com)
Sorry for the small picture. Believe it or not, I actually don't own all the Too-Faced Quickie Chronicles, and this was the best stock photo I could find.
(image from urbanoutfitters.com)
Now on to the second artist of this installment, Paul Rader (1906-1986). Fortunately there's a lot more information on him. He got his start painting portraits of well-to-do figures in Detroit in the early '30s. In the early '40s, with a family to support, he moved to New York and began doing advertising illustrations for various companies like General Electric. By the late '50s he had started getting work with top publishing companies, most notably Midwood. It was during this time that he cemented his status as a top illustrator for pulp novels. His wife Edith explained, "[Paul] had the ability to create a desirable woman on canvas…his idols were [George] Petty and [Alberto] Vargas. Paul loved George Petty’s formula for turning each woman he painted beautiful. But Petty’s girls were sometimes anatomically impossible, if those legs were real they would be 9 feet tall. Paul was more of a realist.” (source)
Among the many pulp novel covers he created was for 1961's Sin on Wheels, which was used for Too-Faced's The Makeup Trailer palette. Saucy!
(image from thegreenlemon.com)
I apologize again for the atrociously small picture – The Makeup Trailer is another one I don't own and this was the only stock photo I could find online.
(image from beaute-test.com)
He also did the cover for The Little Black Book (1961), which Too-Faced used for its Sure Thing palette. I like that there is a nod to the book title in the description of the palette. I noticed the same kind of change as in the Sex Kitten palette: Too-Faced covered up the model a bit more by extending her blouse on the right side. Again, I'm not sure why the company chose to do this. Does Too-Faced have a problem with substantial cleavage? I guess they didn't want to sex up the covers too much for fear of offending their consumer base, but honestly, it's a pin-up. They're supposed to be scantily clad.
(image from pulpcovers.com)
So that's it for today's installment. Stay tuned for part 3 where I will be covering more artists.
I was so heartened to find the original artwork for some of The Balm items a few months ago I thought it would be fun to revisit Too-Faced Quickie Chronicles palettes to see if I could dig up the original images for those as well. Part 1 will cover the art created by illustrator George Gross for some incredibly cheesy pulp novels from the late '1940s and early '50s.
George Gross (1909-2003) started out doing illustrations for Winford Publications, including Mystery Novels Magazine and Double Action Western. He then became the top illustrator for Fiction House, cranking out hundreds of illustrations for all manner of pulp novels ranging from sports and war stories to romances. Artistic talent ran in the family; his father, Paul Gross, was a successful fashion illustrator whose main source of income was illustrating the mail-order catalogs for legendary department store Montgomery Ward. While Gross is primarily known for the voluptuous, scantily-clad women that graced the covers of various pulp novels in the 1950s, he continued illustrating up through the '80s for men's magazines and serial action-adventure books.
First up is Love Cheat, 1949:
(image from pulpcovers.com)
Everyone Loves Irene, 1950:
(image from pulpcovers.com)
It was alternatively known as Everybody Loves a Looker.
(image from moviepostershop.com)
These remaining ones do not show Gross's signature on the front as in the previous two, so hopefully the attributions I've found online are correct and these really are his illustrations.
Quickie!, 1950. Seriously, what kind of nickname is that?! It's interesting Too-Faced took the guy completely out of the equation for their cover art.
(image from goodgirlart.com)
The Virgin and the Barfly, 1950. Too-Faced made the woman's dress a little more modest by removing the cut-outs on her midriff (and, which I find hilarious, they also removed the minor camel-toe she had going on – something only a 21st-century audience would notice.)
(image from pinterest.com)
Fast, Loose and Lovely, 1950:
(image from flickr.com)
Hard-Boiled, 1950:
(image from flickr.com)
One Night with Diane, 1950. I like how Too-Faced jazzed up the cover a little by adding some rhinestones.
(image from pulpcovers.com)
Confessions of a Dime-A-Dance Queen, 1951:
(image from moviepostershop.com)
Passion Has Red Lips, 1951:
(image from moviepostershop.com)
Overall, the biggest differences I see between the novel covers and the Too-Faced covers are that some of the colors have changed, most of the images are zoomed in and cropped – I suppose to accommodate the titles and descriptions of the palettes – and finally, the women portrayed smoking no longer have their cigarettes (see Virgin and the Barfly/Royal Flush, Hard-Boiled/Heartbreaker, Confessions of a Dime-a-Dance Queen/Bombshell and Passion Has Red Lips/the Temptress). The man in the Fast, Loose and Lovely/Sweet Tarte images also is missing his nicotine fix. That's a good PR move on Too-Faced's part. While for the most part the images are absolute replicas of the originals, the company was careful to tweak them as needed to suit a contemporary audience, who no doubt would not approve of encouraging such a health hazard. Could you imagine the public outcry?
So that's part 1 of this series. While the lion's share of illustrations used for the Quickie Chronicles were by Gross, there were a few other artists that were chosen so I'll be covering them in the next several parts.
I was doing some research on vintage Helena Rubinstein for an inquiry (more on that later) and came across this 1953 ad for Rubinstein's Stay Long Lipstick in special jeweled cases. Here's a snippet in case you don't feel like clicking to enlarge: "Madame Rubinstein wasn't content with just having the gem of all lipsticks – now she also gives STAY-LONG a gem of a case! Cases that are masterpieces of costume jewelry – slim, golden columns crowned with a simulated but fabulous ruby, emerald, coral, turquoise, topaz or sapphire."
(image from ebay.com)
I managed to find an actual case on Etsy (too bad it's sold.)
Do these lipsticks remind you of anything? Say, perhaps, Dolce & Gabbana's holiday 2013 Sicilian Jewels collection?
These are proof that for all the packaging innovation the beauty industry has produced over the years, there are still some cosmetic designs that are always appealing. Faux-jewel encrusted lipstick cases will always make the one using them feel fancy, no?
Do you prefer Helena Rubinstein's rounded gemstone cases or D & G's more modern take? I honestly can't choose a favorite!
I had always been drawn to The Balm's kitschy retro packaging, especially since it reminds me so much of Too-Faced's Quickie Chronicles palettes (see my original post on The Balm from nearly 5 years ago for the company's background). Many months ago Hautelook had a sale so I stocked up on a lot of the brand's items that I had been eyeing literally for years.
I got Bahama Mama bronzer, Down Boy blush, Read My Lips lipsticks, Cabana Boy blush, Hot Mama blush, Rockstar palette and one of the Instain blushes.
While I still haven't solved the mystery of why the company chooses to go with retro images for a such a modern-themed brand, I did manage to track down a couple of vintage illustrations that were used in some of the packaging.
Illustrator Al Moore (read a great profile of him here) was famous for his drawings of pin-up girls in the '40s and '50s, with his work appearing in McCall's and Cosmopolitan, but his main client was Esquire magazine. Moore was commissioned to create a special calendar for the magazine in 1949. Below is the June calendar girl:
(image from ebay.com)
So now we know where The Balm got their Bahama Mama!
Next up we have the work of Peter Driben (1903-1968), possibly the most prolific American pinup artist. This image appeared on the November 1946 cover of Titter magazine. Yes, you read that correctly. "America's Merriest Magazine," indeed!
(image from flickr.com)
It looks The Balm replaced the mirror with a maraca in the packaging for Hot Mama, which is puzzling. But what I had been really wondering about all these years is how The Balm, and Too-Faced, for that matter, had been able to get approval for these images for commercial use. According to my cursory research, they didn't have to. Apparently once a copyright expires on an image they are considered to be part of the public domain, so anyone can use them for anything they wish. This is probably common knowledge but I had no idea until now. I can only assume that these images were in the public domain (i.e., the copyright on them had long expired and was not renewed) and so were able to be used freely on these products. However, it would have been nice to see some acknowledgement of the original artist on the packaging somewhere.
In any case, I tried to find the images for Down Boy and Cabana Boy but to no avail. However, my searches did turn up quite a few original illustrations for many of Too-Faced's Quickie Chronicles, so perhaps another post comparing those palettes and their original artwork is in the making. ;) Stay tuned!
p.s. This is quite a timely post, as The Balm is once again on Hautelook today.
I came across this article at Mental Floss about a series of French illustrated cards produced for the 1900 World's Fair that depicted what daily life might be like 100 years in the future. They're all pretty great and some are downright hilarious (underwater croquet and eel racing, anyone?), but naturally the one portraying a woman's beauty routine was my favorite. This particular image was produced in 1910 by an illustrator called Villemard.
Seems rather complicated for something that should be more efficient in the future, no? Lots of levers to pull and buttons to push – I think I much prefer the gadgets we have now to the contraptions in this picture.
What do you envision people using in their daily routines in the year 2100? Assuming I'd live that long, which obviously I won't, I would love to have something that dries and styles your hair perfectly every day in a matter of seconds – no more wrestling with tangled hair and blowdryers! Villemard's image hints at that but I'd like something less cumbersome and more streamlined, like a helmet of some kind.
I was pretty excited to see these Little Round Pots at British Beauty Blogger way back in January and managed to snag a couple of them at Asos. These limited-edition eye shadows and blushes from Bourjois feature a floral print that originally appeared on their packaging for loose powder in 1934.
However, I was disappointed in the quality. The flowers are stickers, not printed directly onto the case as in other limited-edition Bourjois collections.
If you look at previous collections from Bourjois, like this collaboration with Nathalie Lété (one of my favorite collections!), you can see how the design is printed onto the case. It's sturdier than a sticker, which can peel off, and looks much nicer.
Additionally, I was unable to find any images of the Bourjois products that had the floral print allegedly used in the '30s. So overall this collection was kind of a miss for me.
When you follow no fewer than 1,044 blogs, as I do, you're bound to come across loads of interesting stuff. Take, for example, this sleek masculine packaging for a hypothetical men's skincare line named Savages.
(images from packagingoftheworld.com)
According to the website where I found this, Packaging of the World, this is a student project for a ecofriendly, "biodynamic" brand. The description doesn't have a very good English translation, but you get the gist: "The packaging is based with the focus on nature. The nature is raw and full of contrast to reflect the inner strength of the man, and his contrast. It is black and white to appeal more to the man. The logo is a combination of sharp corners and rounded corners, to show the sharp edges of the man and the organic of the product, which is symbolized in the packaging by the round can and the square wooden lid."
I think the packaging is well done, but what's most intriguing to me is how similar the font used for the Savages titling is that of a vintage lipstick brand called Savage.
(image from flickr.com)
(image via ffffound.com)
(image from lettersfromhomefront.com)
(image from questionableadvice.tumblr.com)
I asked the Makeup Museum's resident graphic designer to weigh in on the fonts used, as he can usually identify a font from a mile away. Unfortunately since he seldom gets to used "fun" fonts like these for his projects, he couldn't identify either with certainty. He maintains, however, that the one used for Savage lipstick is a variation on a typical Art Deco font.
I think it's worth noting how the company name and the typography, while comparable, were used to market to such incredibly different audiences: skincare for contemporary (and one would assume, "manly") men and 1930s women. But perhaps it makes sense, given that the copy of the Savage lipstick ads plays up the power one would supposedly have if she donned this particular lipstick. The woman who wears Savage lipstick, while extremely feminine, prefers a "wicked" shade of red and is "going out to conquer" with her "maddening hues". Similarly, Savages skincare refers to the "inner strength of the man" and the font's edges represent "the sharp edges of the man." It's also interesting how both brands evoke the environment and human nature – Savages skincare has organic ingredients, uses wooden blocks as caps, and is "full of contrast", emblematic of the human race, while Savage lipstick ads repeatedly reference the jungle and (offensively) humanity's "primitive" roots.
(image from honeyman.com.au)
Thoughts? Am I crazy for thinking there's any similarity between these two?