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.
(images from museumoflondon.org.uk)
So what do you think of these? Which one is your fave?