I understand that the summer 2018 exhibition themes are, once again, not original or thought-provoking, but they definitely got me dreaming of lazing in a hammock under some palm trees on a tropical island filled with exotic colorful birds. Flamingos and palm trees as well as a pink and green color scheme appear to be everywhere this year, even more so than in past seasons, and I wanted to celebrate these trends with some of the most summery makeup we've ever seen. Consider 2018 an updated version of the Museum's 2015 jungle/safari themed exhibition, that, astonishingly enough, does not contain a single mermaid! I'll be sharing all the images that inspired me in a follow-up post, but for now let's feast our eyes on some pretties.
Top row, left to right.
I'm very intrigued by this vintage Bulgarian face powder box and sample packet. And while I'm not a fan of the Kardashian/Jenner clan, I think the April Vogue cover made a perfect modern example of advertising's love affair with pretty birds. (See also these images of Jennifer Lawrence and Liz Taylor, as well as this 1957 Harper's cover.)
I believe this is the first time I've worked in a print by an illustrator in an exhibition. This print by Kendra Dandy pairs well with some of the pieces from the Charlotte Tilbury/Norman Parkinson collection. I've been a fan of Kendra's since I discovered her via an Anthropologie collection a few years ago, and I'm still kicking myself about not getting anything from it (especially the flamingo-printed lip balm, which would have been perfect for this exhibition.) Fortunately she consistently puts out amazing illustrations so I'm at least able to buy those.
Vintage Rex palm tree compact (ca. 1950s) and Woodbury Tropic Tan ad:
These flamingo-themed Violet Voss and Nomad palettes were a total surprise, which is one of the reasons I had to delay the exhibition launch. It was worth it though. :) I know they look very cramped but I really wanted them on the same shelf since they're both new and by indie brands.
Second row, left to right.
Sephora lipstick case and Paul & Joe Face and Eye Colors:
I adore the packaging for this new Japanese line (look at the little flamingo tracks!), but the story behind its creation is interesting too.
I love the palm tree pattern of the By Terry palette, it's so elegant. The ArtDeco items are actually from last fall, but they read more summer to me. I ordered the Beauty Box Trio and the Blush Couture so the embossing on the blush and design on the outer cases are visible at the same time, but unfortunately they screwed up my order so I'm still waiting for the Beauty Box Trio.
I'm so pleased that Collecting Vintage Compacts and "Cap'n Rexall" (the author of this blog) had the full story on Jonteel. And when I say full story, I mean they were somehow able to track down every bit of information on this vintage line. As always, I weep at the fact that I will never come close to this level of research.
Third row, left to right.
Another print by Kendra Dandy, I just couldn't resist! Looks right at home next to these Pai Pai and Etude House lipstick cases.
LM Ladurée blush container:
Here's the palm-tastic Urban Decay Beached collection…well, not the whole lineup since there is a bronzer with palm trees on it as well, but I didn't want to invest any more in this collection.
How cute is this Dorothy Gray ad?! The Stratton compact is lovely but I also really appreciate the kitschy vibe of the hand-painted souvenir compact. If I were a tourist in the golden age of compacts I definitely would have gotten one from every destination I visited.
Bottom row, left to right.
Wet 'n' Wild Flights of Fancy items and Morphe Babe in Paradise palette:
Another vintage powder box which admittedly I bought before trying to come up with information on it. Alas, I wasn't able to find much save for a couple of newspaper ads. But the design is just too exquisite to pass up.
Clarins 2017 and 2018 bronzers:
Why Paul & Joe is recycling a print from their 2016 spring collection I don't know, but it was a good fit for this year's summer exhibition.
And that concludes the summer 2018 exhibition! Any favorite items?
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There were so many great artist collaborations this holiday season – some of which I'm still hoping to write about before January 1st – but ultimately, magpie that I am, the sparkly stuff won out as this year's holiday/winter exhibition theme. I'm lured by glittery, blingy makeup packaging year-round but the holidays seem to intensify my weakness for shiny things. And 2017's offerings did not disappoint! There were so many to choose from, but ultimately I went with the ones I thought were prettiest (and easiest to obtain, truthfully – there were many international releases that were too difficult/expensive to get a hold of). There was also an emphasis on light. Whether from twinkly holiday strands, reflections off of fresh snow, or fireworks and bright stars illuminating a night sky, makeup companies seemed to gravitate towards the play of light in many different forms as the concept for their holiday items. Even the names (Striking Night Lights, Symphony of Light, Dazzling Lights) demonstrate the fascination with light this season.
A note about the labels: I couldn't print them on glittery rose gold paper as I would have liked, so I felt they needed a little extra something. Fortunately I was feeling crafty and added a little sparkle to them with nail polish. 🙂
I hope the exhibition leaves you feeling festive for the holidays and brightens the dark dreary days of winter for you. Let's get to it!
Top row, left to right.
For such a popular design, there was a lot of conflicting information on these Evans "sunburst" compacts. The ad I included for the exhibition is from 1949, but according to one of my collector's guides the sunburst design had been introduced in 1948.
Meanwhile, in the Evans collector guide I purchased in hopes of finding more information, there are ads that refer to the design both as sunburst and as the "Adonna". Unfortunately there were no dates listed for either ad so once again, I'm not sure of the date range for this design.
I would have included this ad in the exhibition but it was literally so small there was no point – this is not an entire page of the book, just a tiny ad on one page full of other ads. I figured it wouldn't scan well either.
While I don't have concrete information on this particular design, there's always the trusty Collecting Vintage Compacts for a complete history of the Evans company if you're interested. 🙂
Givenchy's holiday collection was so sparkly!
Chanel Signe du Lion highlighters:
Maquillage Snow Beauty compact is once again stunning. I just wish I had the 2014 version.
Second row, left to right.
MAC's Snowball collection was seriously gorgeous inside and out.
Shiseido Symphony of Light:
These kind of presents are my favorite. 😉
I originally thought these Germaine Monteil pieces were from the '50s, but they're actually later – from the '70s according to several newspaper ads I found. I didn't include them in the exhibition since I thought the magazine ad was visually more impactful, but here are the clippings if you're so inclined.
Third row, left to right.
Love the glitter gradient effect on Lancôme's holiday collection. The cushion compact, of course, was not available in the U.S. so I had to get it from Ebay. I don't know why they do that but it drives me nuts. Americans like cushions! I don't know why Lancôme thinks there's not a market in the States, especially since they sell other cushion products here.
How adorable are these vintage Revlon mini lipstick sets?! One of the trios is missing a lipstick, but 2 out of 3 ain't bad. And while I couldn't locate a magazine ad, I was happy to find newspaper clippings so I could at least get dates for them (1954 and 1953).
Someone went a little crazy for all the shiny cushion cases that Korean beauty brands offered this season. I know they don't look great crammed on the shelf, but I was overwhelmed with the sparkly goodness and felt the need to include them all.
The lovely Bellyhead at Wondegondigo called my attention to this subtly shimmering Suqqu case. And I was so pleased to add another sequined beauty to the Museum's collection, courtesy of Chantecaille.
Bottom row, left to right.
Happy 10 years to the Armani Black Gem palette!
Dior Precious Rocks are precious indeed. Dior was late in releasing the beautiful lipstick case so it arrived a day after I photographed the exhibition…I'll be adding it to the shelf shortly.
And that concludes the holiday/winter exhibition! Which items were your favorites?
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Welcome to the fall exhibition, finally! I know you're probably more excited about holiday releases at this point, but I still wanted to do a proper fall exhibition, late though it is. I had originally planned a very different exhibition – a retrospective devoted to an extremely talented and successful makeup artist who has become my obsession over the past few years – but ultimately decided that, much like my failed '90s makeup exhibition, I just couldn't do it the way I envisioned. I was also concerned that in the unlikely event of "Mother" herself catching wind of it, she might be a bit peeved that I staged an exhibition dedicated to her work in my bedroom, as I think it would be rather insulting to someone of her renown. I'm not letting go of the concept, of course, but it will have to wait until I can use a proper gallery or museum space for it*. So in lieu of that, I thought this fall I'd do another exhibition I've been wanting to do for a couple years now. Every autumn I seem to be more entranced by the magic and mystery of the forest. Perhaps it's my 11 year long status as a city dweller, or my love of woodland critters, but lately I've been loving the idea of relaxing in front of a roaring fire in a beautiful rustic cabin somewhere in the forest…or since I'm not really the outdoors/camping type, maybe a short evening hike in the woods surrounded by moonlight and the sounds of the animals would be more my speed. In any case, the vibe I was going for was about 20% enchanted, 1% scary (hey, the forest at night can be a little unnerving), but 79% peaceful and calm.
I thought this wonderful illustration by Alexandra Dvornikova perfectly represented the particular forest mood I was trying to capture. It's even better in its original animated version.
I'll be doing a follow-up post on why I chose the objects I did, the ones that didn't make it in and some other things that inspired me. In the meantime, welcome to fall 2017 at the Museum!
(Click to enlarge.)
Top row, left to right.
You would not believe (or be-leaf? haha!) how many vintage compacts I found with leaf patterns.
Okay, okay, I KNOW the Moschino seems out of place as it's technically a teddy bear and not one you'd find in the forest. But a certain little Museum intern begged me to include it, since there are so few bear-shaped makeup items. The Lamis King lipstick case is the only other one I can think of and that one is definitely more of a wild forest mama bear, what with being perched on a tree stump cuddling her cub.
Oils from Shu x OB and Mika Ninagawa collections:
I was positively elated to find not only these two compacts but also the original ad, as it contains the name and date of the design. I have no idea why that little dude is standing next to it though. I mean obviously it's part of an article, but it's just…weird. I'm guessing he was a jockey?
Second row, left to right.
Remember these?
This little sparrow is actually from the fall 2015 collection and not 2014, which means the label is wrong. Whoops.
So pleased to come across this compact and in such good condition. I was determined to find an ad for it and I did! Not a magazine ad but there was a newspaper one, so I "clipped" it online and printed it out.
Isa x Bambi:
I realize the ad is for a completely different product than the compact, but they're both full of appley goodness. 🙂
Third row, left to right.
I feel like indie companies are really leading the way in terms of creating some new and innovative brush designs. These flower-filled ones seemed a little spring to me at first, but then I read they're filled with seasonal dried flowers so I figured they were appropriate for fall. And the deep green of the pouch is very autumnal as well.
These items were also quite a find! I literally typed "fox lip balm" into Google and landed on this site, which sells a line called Folklore. And fortunately they ship to the U.S. I was also so happy to see this vintage squirrel compact – felt like I just had to buy it since it's the husband's spirit animal. It's not in quite as good shape as this one, but all the marcasite was still intact so I went for it.
So sad that the label for this is basically blank, but I still never uncovered any more information about these mysterious Shiseido Chinese zodiac figurines.
Last but not least in this row, the owl shelf. This one's for my mom since she loves owls. 🙂
The eyeshadow on the left is another piece from Paul & Joe's fall 2015 collection and the highlighting powder is from the holiday 2014 collection. The eyeshadow with the two owls is from fall 2005, and I remember being dismayed that I couldn't find their fall 2005 runway collection anywhere online so I could see if it had the owls. Then a few years ago I was flipping through an issue of Lucky magazine (I still miss it) and lo and behold, spotted the owls in action – not on clothing but on a pillow in some rich hipster chick's living room. How serendipitous! Of course I tore it out and saved it in case I ever exhibited the eyeshadow (and also because I'm a hoarder.)
Bottom row, left to right.
Laneige x Lucky Chouette:
Chantecaille Save the Forest and Protect the Wolves palettes:
This one is another mystery. I've seen this shape of Helena Rubinstein compact before and the date was listed as 1962, but have been unable to find it in any ads. I'm wondering if these were only distributed in countries outside the U.S. since they're relatively hard to find and don't appear in any American newspapers. Obviously the Heaven Sent compacts with the angel date sometime after 1941 since that's when the fragrance was released, but this one with the deer on it is strange – I have no idea why it would be connected to the Heaven Sent fragrance. My hunch is that it's actually related to their Moonlight Mist scent. Still, the compact's shape and style look way earlier than 1962 or even 1956 when Moonlight Mist was released.
Speaking of Helena Rubinstein, an exhibition devoted to her just opened at the Jewish Museum in Vienna, so if you're able I highly suggest visiting. 🙂
And finally, Stila fall 2006 blush and eyeshadow trios:
And that concludes the fall 2017 exhibition! Did you feel as though you were deep in an enchanted forest, hearing squirrels romping and leaves crunching under your feet? I hope so! And let me know what your favorite item in the exhibition was. :)
*I missed the deadline for MICA's call for proposals for their annual Curator's Incubator show, but I plan on submitting one next year.
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For this summer's exhibition theme I couldn't decide between a Mediterranean vibe or bathing beauties. There were lots of other ancient Greece/Italian-inspired ads and items, but sometimes I could only find the ad and not the corresponding object or vice versa, which was driving me crazy. Not to mention the fact that I would have felt pressured to write something on the use of ancient Mediterranean beauty ideals in both vintage and contemporary makeup, and I simply didn't have time. What it boils down to is that I didn't have enough items from either theme to fill up 16 shelves worth, so I ended up doing both. It's kind of an odd combo but in the end it was too difficult to do just one. Plus I threw in a couple of items that didn't really have anything to do with either theme. But overall, I still think the exhibition screams summer and I hope you do too. :)
Oh, and the husband had the brilliant idea of posting the jpegs of the labels, so while I still printed out and mounted the labels on the shelves, they're in electronic form here as they're much easier to read than my usual crappy, blurry photos of them.
Enjoy!
(click to enlarge)
Top row, left to right.
This ad was so bizarre/funny I had to buy it. The "Italian Touch" campaign must have been quite large, since I found the ad in 3 different languages and also this bust used to promote the collection in store. (It's so expensive but I may cave and buy it soon – it's very unique and I don't have any store props in the Museum's collection.)
You might remember I fell in love with this Leaning Tower of Pisa lipstick holder when I spotted it in Lips of Luxury. One came up on ebay so I pounced.
Dolce & Gabbana Sicilian Bronzer:
Charlotte Tilbury/Norman Parkinson collection:
I am so grateful to Collecting Vintage Compacts for his very thorough posts on the Pompeian company (here and here).
Here is the ad text. Incidentally, "Madame Jeanette", a "specialiste en beauté", was a completely fictional character dreamed up by the company. (For you Simpsons fans, I guess it was a Tipsy McStagger sort of situation.)
I don't even know where to start with the racism here. Despite the inclusion of a "dark" tinted face powder, there's zero mention of dark skin tones themselves…plus there's also the use of "oriental" as a shade name. Yikes. As always though, I think it's important to include these types of ads to demonstrate how unacceptable this would be today.
Second row, left to right.
This was another long-time wishlist item of mine that I was finally able to acquire. I explored vintage lipstick holders back in 2013 and knew I positively had to have a mermaid lipstick holder of my own. This one is from a company other than those I had seen before, but it's authentic.
I was going to put some fun-colored blue and green lipsticks in there but ultimately decided I didn't want to obscure the little gal!
NARS summer 2016:
Anthropologie The Artist's Studio featuring Lou Taylor:
Third row, left to right.
Paul & Joe summer 2016 face powder:
Tarte Rainforest of the Sea Quench Lip Rescues:
Guerlain Terra Ora bronzer:
Too Faced Bathing Beauty palette and Chantecaille dolphin palette:
Bottom row, left to right.
NARS Adult Swim promo (summer 2014) and Special Edition O blush…I could have sworn I tore out the Adult Swim ad from a magazine because I remember how much I liked the image, but went through my clippings and realized I hadn't. Oops.
Dolce & Gabbana Collector's Edition powders:
Try as I might, I was unable to find a Woodbury ad that featured this particular box. All of the ones I could find depicted a slightly different version of the box (the goddess figure is shown perched on a shell surrounded by flowers). There are also other ads that have the same goddess as the powder I have, but she appears on a round box that's actually a set containing powder, blush and lipstick.
Any favorite pieces from this year's summer exhibition?
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About and History
Dedicated to the preservation, research and exhibition of cosmetics from antiquity through the 21st century, the Makeup Museum® is a progressive, unique space that explores makeup history, culture, design and packaging from all eras. The Makeup Museum is the first museum in the U.S. devoted exclusively to cosmetics and a leader in conceptualizing new ways of thinking about makeup and its cultural and artistic significance. Particular focus is given to previously hidden or little-known about histories and topics, offering an alternative account of makeup that challenges conventional narratives and highlights the voices of marginalized communities. Using an interdisciplinary approach that blends a variety of fields, especially material culture, art history, sociology, business, race and gender studies, the Makeup Museum offers a truly original perspective on makeup that goes beyond the canon.
In 2006, the Museum’s founder and curator had the idea to develop a coffee table book devoted to the most beautiful makeup from the 1990s and early 2000s. From that idea grew the bigger notion of an entire museum to display these objects, along with older pieces and a visual history of the makeup industry. In 2008 the Museum’s website was launched as a way to chronicle new makeup releases, research cosmetic objects and champion the idea of a dedicated cosmetics museum on a global scale. Over time the Museum evolved from a repository for well-designed makeup to a vital educational resource and agent for change.
The Makeup Museum is a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit organization and a member of the International Perfume Bottle Association, the British Compact Collectors Society, the American Alliance of Museums, and a co-founding member of the Cosmetics History and Makeup Studies Network.
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There is no public physical space for the Museum yet, but private in-person tours of the collection can be arranged and admission is FREE! (Donations are greatly appreciated but certainly not expected.) As of September 2022, private in-person tours are no longer available due to COVID. But the magic of the internet means you can visit online 24/7. The collection as well as most exhibitions are displayed in the Curator’s Baltimore, Maryland home, while more in-depth exhibitions can be found here. Temporary/pop-up spaces are continually being explored. Subscribe to the blog feed or sign up for email updates for Museum news and announcements.
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Mission Statement
The mission of the Makeup Museum is to:
– Preserve and document cosmetic objects from all eras and cultures for a variety of audiences: scholars, historians, makeup artists and enthusiasts, and the general public.
– Promote these objects as legitimate artifacts by examining the history, design, and artistic inspiration behind them.
– Explore the sociological and cultural impact of cosmetic artifacts, including their usage and advertising, along with makeup artistry and trends.
– Study and record the history of makeup, and serve as a worldwide research hub.
– Educate the public on the artistic, cultural, and historic value of makeup through exhibitions, publications, presentations, and workshops.
– Effect social change by displaying problematic artifacts and styles, discussing the harmful aspects of makeup history and beauty culture – both past and present – and recommending ways to take action.
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The Makeup Museum is situated on the unceded ancestral land of the Susquehannock, Nentego (Nanticoke) and Piscataway peoples, now commonly known as Baltimore, MD. Please join the Museum in acknowledging the Native community, their elders both past and present, as well as future generations. The Makeup Museum recognizes the continued oppression of our country’s Native peoples and the role museums often play in this oppression. It also acknowledges the painful history of genocide and forced occupation of their territory, and that the Museum was founded upon exclusions and erasures of many Native peoples, including those on whose land this institution is located. This acknowledgement demonstrates a commitment to beginning the process of working to dismantle the ongoing legacies of settler colonialism. We strive to establish The Makeup Museum as an institute that develops and nurture positive relationships with the Indigenous peoples of this region as well as globally.
FY 2022 Annual Report
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