1950s Vintage Beauty Magazine…1,000 Hints.
We all scour antique malls, thrift stores, and the internet for clothes and such to put together that perfect vintage head-to-toe look. But there is probably something you collect way to much of. For some ladies, novelty print dresses might be their obsession. For other ladies, scarves might be pouring out of their drawers.
For me, it’s all about vintage beauty books and magazines. I have way too many probably. It’s reaching library levels. They cover hairstyles, haircuts, make-up, skincare, posture, glamour, so much.
But what good is it doing sitting on my shelf for only I to enjoy? These rare items only make it into the hands of a few, so I’m sharing today.
I’ve written a series of posts with make-up articles from 1,000 Hints Beauty Magazine, published in 1952. They each have some very interesting pieces of advice for each element of your 1950s make-up look. Scroll down for links to the other articles.
The first article of the make-up series by Mary Brown in the magazine is called Make-up Makes You Lovelier. It’s a simple overview, not of make-up techniques, but reasons why you will be happier if you wear make-up, which I agree with on a purely superficial level. I always feel a little better when my make-up looks good.
I know there are a lot of people who disagree, but they probably aren’t reading a blog post about vintage makeup techniques. So let’s move on.
Full Article
Make-up Makes You Lovelier
by Mary Brown
In just 5 minutes you can work miracles with color and contour changes through make-up art.
Beauty needn’t be a some-time thing, or the exclusive gift to a favored few. You’ve seen those “before” and “after” pictures often enough. The “after” pictures are wonderful–and you determine that some day you’ll make yourself over just like that! In the meantime, doesn’t it seem a shame to waste so much time looking like the sad “before” portraits.
Naturally, we all want to look as pretty as possible at a party, or for some special occasion, but if we took a little time to form careful beauty and make-up habits, couldn’t we always look pretty ay home, school or office? Brief, but regular beauty care, daily, makes it unnecessary to spend two hours getting ready for a dress-up affair now and then. Besides, there’s the advantage of being lovelier, more interesting and colorful at all time.
There are actually just a few girls who were born with perfectly beautiful faces. The majority of lovely girls have achieved beauty by studying and improving themselves; by learning to enhance their best features with skillful make-up.
Make-up is as much an art as painting on canvas except the stake to you is greater because it is your skin–your face. Look at yourself critically before a good mirror, and in an adequate light. Do you use foundation to cover any little skin defects and give your face a velvety texture? Do you carry foundation down below your jaw-line, covering your neck and throat evenly well? Would rouge add a delicate glow and brighten your eyes? Or do you use too much rouge? Could your eyes be more beautiful and expressive if you used the tiniest bit of shadow? Would a few minutes with the tweezers clean up your eyebrows so that your eyes would appear farther apart, your nose smaller? Should you re-shape your mouth into smoother, more generous curves?
Make-up can not only enhance your natural good looks, giving them velvety finish and fresh color, but it can do an overhauling job on your personality, too. If you know you are lovely, it adds new poise, takes the strain out of your face, and relaxes you into a more permanent kind of loveliness that isn’t creamed away at the ends of the day.
The woman who can relax, particularly with members of the opposite sex–is the woman who feels self-confidence within her own resources. She stops worrying about her hair, because she knows it is well-groomed. Her hands lie quiet and poised, because she takes care of her nails. She doesn’t powder her nose every few minutes because she took time beforehand to apply make-up properly.
She is charming because she can forget about herself when she is among friends–she has made herself as attractive as possible at home before leaving her dressing table.
It doesn’t take months or weeks for someone to have a brighter, lovelier face. Why, in just fifteen minutes you can work miracles with color and contour changes through make-up. Here is your chance to be your own fairy godmother–to change the drab marks of cinders and ashes into soft, petal-smooth beauty.
Read more details about the early days of makeup in the book, Retro Makeup: Techniques for Applying the Vintage Look.
Read more from the 1952 vintage beauty guide 1,000 Hints Beauty Magazine:
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