Glamour Makeup application was called ‘Hollywood’. Red lips. Just think of how many derivations of red we now have available! But, this ‘was’ the basics for the face.  Make up was applied in a ‘cinematic’ way because the ‘starlets’ were the idols women looked to, to recreate the ‘glamour’ look. They used panstick (Max Factor), cake powder and black eyeliner with a coating of cake mascara which was applied with a lash brush and a bit of water. Alchemy! False eyelashes, for the come-hither look, were not yet available to consumers of the 40’s. The ‘thin’ eyebrows we think of from this era? Applied with a famous ‘red pencil’ we still use still today. Today, we see the residuals of this glamour face in companies like Benefit who use ‘retro’ packaging and who make this ‘early version’ of mascara. Many makeup lines try to recapture the ‘glamour’ of an era now lost through packaging. Think of the Vargas Girl now used as a template for glamour makeup products. The rouge – or blush as we now call it-- was of a pink hue because there were very few  colors available. Think chemistry and technology here…the technology for producing the thousands (millions?) of colors now available was still a dream back then.  ‘Pinching’ the cheeks was a method used by millions of women to achieve ‘pink’ flush. Think 40’s Cinema…think black and white. Face base/foundations were very heavy –the thousands of different liquid, crème and powder foundations were simply not available yet and tended to have a pinkish tone to it. Beige and Yellow undertones were not yet developed.

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