I spotted this makeup mirror on one of the 204 design blogs I follow in Feedly and was instantly smitten. It's a very simple design but rather genius.
Created by Hungarian designer Viktor Pucsek, this modern vanity consists of a rectangular mirror upon a tripod easel. There's a thin glass shelf at the bottom of the mirror for beauty items. More details: "The supporting structure is made from slim rods finished in solid ash that are hinged to the mirror top without any seams. The backing of the mirror is made of a laser cut copper sheet. For storage there is a shelf provided made from beautifully crafted tampered glass, and for the perfect lighting there is a lamp that can be easily clipped and adjusted to everyone's needs."
(images from n3stproject.com)
The idea of makeup as art has a long history – which I won't go into now because it would be an entire book – but I view this table as a modern continuation of the theme. Just for fun I rounded up some ads and items that portray the application of makeup as traditional painting.
(image from cosmeticsandskin.com)
(image from library.duke.edu)
I swear the word "niggardly" is not a racial slur!
(image from library.duke.edu)
(image from collectingvintagecompacts.blogspot.com)
Volupté released some palette-shaped compacts starting in 1940 (at least, that's when this ad is from – too bad I couldn't find a larger pic so we could see the text.)
(image from pinterest.com)
(image from etsy.com)
Don't you love these Avon palettes? They were used as salesperson demos. I wish stores today had testers in cute packaging like this!
(image from pinterest.com)
(image from ebay.com)
Here's a sketch for an ad by famed fashion illustrator René Gruau for skincare and makeup brand Payot, ca. 1951:
(image from arcadja.com)
I wonder if this 1980 Dior ad (and this crazy palette hat from the fall/winter 2007 couture collection) took its cue from that illustration, even though it wasn't created for Dior.
(image from hprints.com)
More recent examples include Chanel's Les Gouaches set and Stila's Masterpiece palettes from 2013. I can't remember exactly when the Gouaches set came out (I want to say 2002) but I do know that 1. I bought it hook, line and sinker specifically because the pigments looked like real paint tubes and I could pretend I was an artist while doing my makeup, and 2. I REALLY regret getting rid of it. Back then I wasn't collecting and swapped it on Makeupalley because I never used it. Little did I know I should have held on!
(image from ebay.com)
(images from pinterest.com)
As you can see, the general concept of makeup as art, along with the depiction of makeup as paint applied from an artist's palette are not new. However, I feel as though the idea came full circle with Pucsek's mirror design. We had one part of the equation (makeup colors literally shown as a painter's palette) but needed an expression of the counterpart, which is the face-as-canvas idea. In the case of this design, the mirror stands in for the canvas through directly reflecting it (i.e., one's face). The description of the mirror bolsters this argument: "Figuratively a canvas which we can paint(ed) on to show the person we would like to be, identify ourselves with and the eyes we would like to see the world through."
In terms of practicality, I can't say I'd have any use for this as my foundations alone take up way more space than that shelf could accommodate, but if you have a small stash and want to feel like a true artist every day, this is a beautifully minimal way to apply and store your makeup. It also seems like a very rudimentary setup, so I bet it's possible to go the DIY route…but I don't think would look nearly as elegant. It may be a moot point anyway, as I'm not sure it's actually for sale.
What do you think? Do you pretend you're a real painter when applying your makeup, or at least, find the idea appealing? I definitely do…I can't paint or do anything remotely artistic, really, so makeup gives me a chance to explore and be somewhat creative. I especially love playing with all my various brushes and seeing how they perform with different products and textures.