It’s astonishing to me how many vintage beauty ads are for plain old bar soap. What’s even more amazing is the beauty claims it makes. Who knew that washing your face with soap and water was such a beauty secret? Apparently Camay’s tender touch will caress your skin to a new loveliness. This is such… Read more »
Posts Categorized: Beauty
Loretta Young for Max Factor Pan-Cake Make-up, 1946
This is an interesting tie-in ad from 1946 that has actress Loretta Young promoting both a product (Max Factor Pan-Cake makeup), and her movie (“The Stranger”). It makes sense to have a beautiful Hollywood actress promoting Pan-Cake makeup, as it was initially developed to be used in Technicolor movies. The old-style greasepaint makeup used in… Read more »
Cutex ‘Play Red’ Nail Polish, Summer of 1946
This is such a beautiful, modern-looking ad from the August 1946 issue of Ladies’ Home Journal magazine. Cutex “Play Red” Nail polish – the newest color under the sun. Brilliant, sun-sparkle color that glows in daylight – moonlight too… spice for the browned-butter shade of your skin. I love the intensity of colors used in… Read more »
Yardley of London’s Soft Baby Look of 1972
This is a really pretty Yardley of London ad from 1972 for Sigh Shadows. The model is fresh and lovely, as Yardley models tended to be in the late 60s/early 70s. There was a pastel-ly, soft, sweet, baby look that was big in 1972. Not only in clothes, but in cosmetics. Yardley capitalized on this… Read more »
Romantic Chanel No. 22 Perfume of 1968
The groovy hippie vibe was thriving in 1968, but there was also a romantic vibe that held its own in the zeitgeist of the day. This pretty ad for Chanel No. 22 perfume captures the whole flowery, lacy, Victorian-dress, sitting in fields-of-green element that was going on. It seems a bit dichotomous for Chanel to… Read more »
‘Natural’ Right Guard Spray Deodorant of the 70s
One of the biggest buzzwords in 1970s health and beauty advertising was ‘natural’. Practically every ad had it; appealing to the more folksy Bohemian vibe that was the zeitgeist of the day. This ad, from a 1972 issue of Seventeen magazine, was for Gillette’s Right Guard Natural Scent Antiperspirant. It features a long-haired, hippie-ish, ‘natural’… Read more »
I'm Marilyn, and I'm obsessed with vintage clothing, thrift stores, clotheslines, and Chanel. Welcome to my down-to-earth world!