Spending on cosmetics increased dramatically when millions of women entered the workforce during the Second World War, gaining greater independence and purchasing power. Younger women embraced an overtly flirtatious persona, signaled through the conspicuous use of bold rouge, powder, lipstick, and nail polish.
When nylon stockings became unavailable because of war-time commodity shortages, women turned to leg make-up—paint-on hosiery maintained the illusion of nylon-clad legs. Government-produced posters encouraging women to join the war effort depicted female nurses and factory workers in bright red lipstick and dark mascara.
Makeup, especially lipstick, had become such an essential component of American femininity, that the federal government quickly rescinded its wartime materials-rationing restrictions on cosmetics manufacturers in order to encourage use of make-up. By the s and s, teenage girls were commonly wearing make-up and cosmetic companies devised separate marketing campaigns to target the younger age groups.
In the late s, using makeup became politicized. Counter-cultural movements celebrated ideals of natural beauty, including a rejection of make-up altogether.
These ideals still relied on racial whiteness as the basis of feminine beauty, but under continued pressure from women of color, major cosmetics firms began to cater to the African American market, not only by producing products geared toward black women often under separate brands , but also by hiring black women as sales agents. However, the Make-up section relied on the following references:. Gill, Tiffany M. Urbana; Chicago: University of Illinois Press, Jones, Geoffrey. Globalizing Beauty, c.
Morris, Edwin T. New York: Scribner, Peiss, Kathy Lee. New York: Metropolitan Books, Scranton, Philip. New York: Routledge, This one is ca. Watkins Company owned the Mary King Cosmetics line. Here, agents sell Watkins products and Mary King cosmetics.
Scurlock Studio Records, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution Spending on cosmetics increased dramatically when millions of women entered the workforce during the Second World War, gaining greater independence and purchasing power. However, the Make-up section relied on the following references: Gill, Tiffany M. Caroco Complexion Bloom White. Love's a Little Cover, Beachy. When considering the origin of cosmetics as we know them today, many argue that it was the Egyptians who first invented makeup —but as early as the first millennium BCE, Chinese royalty in the Zhou dynasty were using gelatin, beeswax, egg white, and gum arabic to paint their nails gold and silver.
This practice continued for some time, and the nail colours eventually became a tool to identify social standing, as those in lower classes were forbidden from wearing bright colours. There is also a story in Chinese culture surrounding a princess called Shouyang, that influenced makeup trends.
Legend has it that she fell asleep under a plum tree, and a blossom fell and left petal stains on her forehead, enhancing her beauty. After her death, she was worshipped as the goddess of the plum blossom.
This story is just one of the mythical origins of meihua zhuang or plum blossom makeup that gained popularity among courtly women during the Southern Dynasty from to CE. Women would decorate their foreheads with petals or paint florals using sorghum powder, gold powder, and jade. A painting of princess Shouyang sleeping below a plum blossom tree. Across 7, years of history, nearly every culture in the world has some mention or interpretation of cosmetics recognizable as the makeup we know today.
But as romantic as the origin of makeup may seem—all painted clay pots and gold filagree compacts—the ingredients themselves were rather antediluvian. Clay, lead, ash, and burnt almonds were among the substances used as early as BCE to create the kohl cosmetic products for ancient civilizations in North Africa, India, and the Middle East. The Egyptian rich and royalty, like Cleopatra, also had bright lipstick made from carmine beetles while the poorer citizens settled for clay to colour their lips.
Heavily lined eyes were meant to protect against the evil eye and other spiritual dangers. It is believed that a lot of Egyptian beautification originated from rituals that honoured gods and goddesses, and warded off the elements.
Incidentally, the eyeliner had a sunglasses-effect by deflecting the sun. Elizabeth I of England, with her white face and large forehead the lead in ceruse would often cause hair to fall out , is quite representative of this look, which was popular for centuries. And though women today might like to joke about how they suffer for beauty, women who used the lead-based ceruse often ended up with muscle paralysis or in their graves.
At the dawn of the 20th century though, products that we'd recognize today -- lipsticks, mascaras and nail polishes -- began to emerge. On the next page, we'll examine the birth of the modern-day makeup industry.
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