A Pretty Surprise in an eBay Search
The other day, after clicking through some eBay vintage beauty tool listings, something stopped me in my tracks. A small plastic makeup box appeared in the similar items section. It was pink with raised white roses on the lid. Delicate… decorative… Jewelry-box pretty.
And it was clearly titled… Hollywood Max Factor Brownette vintage makeup case
With a little more digging, soon it became clear that this little box was part of a gorgeous series all tied together by the same idea.
They were boxes from Max Factor Hollywood’s Color Harmony makeup gift sets from the late 1940s.
And once you start searching for them online, they seem to appear everywhere. These little boxes are a charming piece of mid-century beauty history that deserves a closer look.
Table of Contents: (Click to Jump)
The Pretty Little Boxes
These little boxes were Max Factor makeup gift sets produced in the late 1940s, often advertised as special holiday beauty gifts. At first glance, though, what stands out most is simply how pretty they are!
The lids are what make them especially charming with features like raised roses, bows, foliage, or feathers. Each one looks a bit like a miniature vanity treasure box. They were meant to be displayed, not tucked away in a drawer.
It is easy to imagine one of these sitting on a mid-century vanity alongside a powder jar and a bottle of perfume.
Of course, the beauty of the box was only part of the appeal. These sets were designed as Color Harmony makeup gifts, tying directly into Max Factor’s marketing system that matched cosmetics to a woman’s natural coloring.
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The Idea Behind Color Harmony
The concept of coordinating makeup with a woman’s natural coloring was not invented by Max Factor. The idea that certain shades looked better on certain coloring of women was already part of beauty culture.
Max Factor’s contribution was to turn this idea into a highly organized marketing system. The company based its entire branding in the 1930s and 1940s around the concept.
Max Factor makeup shades were grouped according to a woman’s natural coloring so that the products in a set would work together. Women were encouraged to identify their coloring and select cosmetics designed specifically for them.
In some Max Factor promotional pamphlets, women could even fill out a small questionnaire about their hair color, eye color, and complexion. The form could be mailed in, and Max Factor would send back a personalized makeup guide along with a sample powder.
Side note: I’ve always wondered what these powder samples looked like. I’ve only ever seen full size Max Factor vintage packaging. Have you ever seen a vintage sample size powder?
The Four Color Harmony Categories
One of the earliest examples I have seen of Max Factor organizing cosmetics by four hair color categories appears in material from 1929. These categories became the basis for the Color Harmony system:
- Blonde
- Brownette
- Brunette
- Redhead
Max Factor reinforced these coloring categories by associating them with well-known movie stars. He in fact thrived during the tough times of the Great Depression by coordinating with movie studios. He got to use the famous faces and the studios got free advertising in his booklets for their movie stars and the movies they were set to appear in. The system helped translate Hollywood glamour into something everyday consumers could participate in.
Famous Redheads included Rita Hayworth, Lucille Ball, and Myrna Loy. Blonde movie stars included Jean Harlow and Joan Blondell. Brunettes like Joan Crawford and Yvonne De Carlo appeared in makeup pamphlets. And Brownettes like Bette Davis and Marion Nixon did as well.
Labeled Especially for You
The gift sets from the late 1940s included small stickers indicating which Color Harmony category the contents were intended for. On surviving boxes, these labels sometimes still remain, identifying the set as suitable for blondes, brunettes, brownettes, or redheads.
The boxes themselves were made from molded plastic, most likely cellulose acetate, a material widely used in the 1940s for personal items like combs, vanity accessories, and small decorative containers. Cellulose acetate could be molded easily and produced in bright, vibrant colors.
This might be why there seems come confusion among some online sellers that don’t know that these boxes are actually from the 1940s. I understand why.
The plastic material feels newer, but there were a lot of products made of plastics in the 1940s. It was a very important innovation replacing a lot of materials that were being rationed for World War II.
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Pink with raised white rose
This charming box appeared in a 1947 Max Factor advertisement as part of the holiday gift lineup.
Inside, the set originally contained several Max Factor cosmetic essentials including Pan-Cake Make-Up, Face Powder, Rouge, Lipstick, Cologne and Skin Freshener. For the price of $7.75, which is $113 in today’s money, so this was a very special gift set.
The advertisement suggested that after you removed the makeup, the box could be used for cigarettes, handkerchiefs, etc.
Today, surviving examples often appear in antique listings still beautifully preserved.
Find your own:*
- 1947 Pink w/white roses Brownette box on Ebay for $32
- 1947 Pink w/white roses Brownette box on Ebay for $45
- 1947 Pink w/white roses Brownette box on Etsy for $60
- 1947 Pink w/white roses box on Ebay for $68
White with coral pink foliage design
Another gift set from the same 1947 advertisement featured a white molded plastic box with a raised coral pink rose and leaf design.
Inside, the set originally contained several Max Factor cosmetic essentials including Pan-Cake Make-Up, Face Powder, Rouge, Lipstick, Invisible Make-Up Foundation, Skin Freshener, Eyebrow Pencil, Eyelash Make-Up and Cologne.
Like the other sets, the box was intended to remain useful long after the makeup was gone.
Find your own:*
- 1947 Deluxe Blonde White with coral pink rose box on Ebay for $27
- 1947 Deluxe White with coral pink rose box on Ebay for $45
White with coral pink leaf detail
Pan-Cake makeup was one of Max Factor’s most famous products, originally developed for film use before becoming a popular consumer cosmetic. This gift set centered around that product.
The box is white molded plastic with a raised coral pink leaf motif on the lid. Compared to the rose designs, the leaf detail has a slightly more modern decorative style.
The set included Pan-Cake Make-Up, Powder, Rouge, and Lipstick.
Find your own:*
- 1947 White with coral leaves box on Etsy for $17
- 1947 White with coral leaves box on Etsy for $20
- 1947 White with coral leaves box on Ebay for $35
- 1947 White with coral leaves Brunette box on Etsy for $39
Pink with raised white bow
One of the most playful designs in the series is the pink box with a raised white bow. It contained Face Powder, Rouge and Lipstick.
The 1947 advertisement positioned this set directly as a Color Harmony make-up set, emphasizing the idea that the contents were carefully coordinated shades chosen to suit the wearer’s coloring.
Find your own:*
- 1947 Pink with white bow box on Ebay for $15
- 1947 Pink with white bow box on Etsy for $25
- 1947 Pink with white bow box on Etsy for $40
- 1947 Pink with white bow Brownette box on Ebay for $50
Pink with white feather design
This box appears in advertisements from both 1948 and 1950, suggesting it remained in production for several years. But yet I could only find one for sale online, when I found several examples of the other boxes.
The lid features a raised feather design molded into the pink plastic surface. The feather motif has a slightly more stylized, modern look compared to the earlier floral designs.
This was also sold as a Pan-Cake Make-Up set containing Pan-Cake Make-Up, Powder, Rouge, and Lipstick.
Find your own:*
- 1948-1950 Feather pink hinged box on Etsy for $55
Blue with gold and white design
By the late 1940s, the design language of these boxes began to shift slightly.
This deluxe set features a blue box with a gold and white modern graphic design on the lid. Instead of molded flowers or bows, the decoration reflects the cleaner, more modern styling that was becoming popular toward the end of the decade.
Like the Deluxe Make-Up Set from 1947, this 1948 deluxe set contained several Max Factor cosmetic essentials including Pan-Cake Make-Up, Face Powder, Rouge, Lipstick, Cologne and Skin Freshener.
Find your own:*
- 1948-1950 Deluxe Brunette Blue Box on Ebay for $25
- 1948-1950 Deluxe Blue Box on Etsy for $30
- 1948-1950 Deluxe Redhead Blue Box on Etsy for $125 – A bit pricey, but this one is unique in that it still has its original “Redhead” sticker on it, which is a rare sticker.
Even without the original cosmetics inside them, these boxes remain so appealing. They capture a moment when beauty marketing, Hollywood glamour, and new plastic manufacturing techniques all came together.
Max Factor’s Color Harmony system promised that every woman could find makeup suited to her own coloring. The little plastic boxes turned that promise into something tangible. And they did it in a way that was genuinely pretty.
*Prices are at the time of writing this blog post. Item prices may be different.
Disclosure: Bear in mind that some of the links in this post are affiliate links and if you go through them to make a purchase I may earn a commission.
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