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Underground > Art, Fashion & Design >

Cosmetics!

19:20 / 16.02.06

I was surprised to discover that there doesn't seem to be a thread on makeup in this forum. Perhaps my web-fu is failing me?

I was wondering about trends in makeup and face-fashions, and the historical origins thereof. (Very specifically, I was wondering where mascara came from, and tangentially wondering if that was a "standard" cosmetic in other parts of the world besides the U.S.) Does anyone have a clue?

And as long as we're here, we can also talk about Egyptian kohl and Geisha girls, the cultural significance of henna and woad, what shades of lipstick you like, and how awful that blue eyeshadow thing in the '80's was (unless you happen to like blue eyeshadow)...

Tryphena Absent

18:31 / 17.02.06

The history of mascara.

In a nutshell the first mascara in its current form was produced by Helena Rubenstein in 1957. There's a slightly elaborated history here and a discussion of the egyptian use of kohl here if you want a broader history of cosmetics. The discussion of perfume in particular is interesting because modern perfume, like many of the other cosmetics that we use, was a 20th century innovation of Paul Poiret's.

It would be quite interesting to discuss Geisha in this thread although it takes some care- the differentiation between the make up of a maiko and a three year old Geisha for instance is quite important but generally ignored.

The perception of make up in the fashion world and the way that it doesn't relate to the high street also occured to me as I read your post. For instance fashion magazines are always talking about the in eyes for the season or the most popular lipstick shade but does anyone in the whole entire world follow these rules? Even the catwalk seems to ignore the suggestion most of the time.

14:32 / 21.02.06

Mascara is available in cake form? I'd no idea.

The origin of Maybelline is an interesting side-note in that as well.

For instance fashion magazines are always talking about the in eyes for the season or the most popular lipstick shade but does anyone in the whole entire world follow these rules?

I've wondered about that as well. I can think of a few major trends that were notably pervasive - blue eyeshadow, for one - but year-to-year it doesn't seem to be a real issue, and I don't think that the blue eyeshadow thing started in magazines, either. I don't think that the fashion magazines set rules for cosmetics in the same way that they might for clothes.

Actually, these days I'd say it's probably celebrities - particularly in the music industry - that do the trendsetting in cosmetics. Arguably true for clothes as well, but moreso for makeup and for hair.

14:34 / 21.02.06

What about hairstyles? I don't see a thread for that here either. My goodness.