beauty Archive

0December 5, 2011
Princess Pat

I just love everything about vintage Princess Pat powder — from the logo and colors to the name that, once in your brain, of speaking aloud you simply cannot refrain….
1December 1, 2011
Cheap Thrills Thursday: I Love The Bobbed-Hair Bimbos

Sheet music I Love The Bobbed-Hair Bimbos, by Zeph Fitz-Gerald (1923). Via.
0November 30, 2011
An Offer She Shouldn’t Refuse

The infamous “Hooker” cover of True Life Secrets #23 (1954), in which a woman responds to a man proffering jewels by saying, “…And just what I must I do to get…
0September 29, 2011
Delores Hung Out In Turnpike Rest Rooms

Found in a vintage Pennsylvania Turnpike System brochure (circa early 1950s), this photo is actually captioned as follows: “Freshening up” in a comfortable rest room
2September 28, 2011
Make Your Children Feel Pretty By Making Fun Of Presidents (Or I’m Giving Away Atomic Religous Beauty?)

Perhaps today’s right-win conservative evangelists are only following the advice of Dorothy C. Haskin in God In My Kitchen: Fifty-Two Thoughts For Homemakers (copyright 1958, Warner Press, Anderson, Indiana)… In…
0September 22, 2011
Make Up For Breasts?

No offense to Mr. Vargas, but I think he misunderstood the task… This vintage ad was for “Twin Make Up,” not makeup for “the twins.” The original artwork by Alberto…
0September 12, 2011
Why Long Nails Are Sexy

Fingernails have long been symbols beauty — specifically as indicators of wealth. The cleaner, the longer, the more well-manicured, the more they distance the wearer from manual work. Long nails,…
10September 6, 2011
Bombshell Manual Of Style Giveaway!

I’ve decided to part with my copy of The Bombshell Manual of Style, by Laren Stover (Ruben Toledo, Illustrator). This hardcover with dust jacket is in like-new shape, and sex…
1May 11, 2011
Have Hairdryer, Will Travel

This vintage travel photo is awesome on its own, but it’s also a culmination of many posts I’ve made today! (Hint: That means all but one of the the links…
0April 28, 2011
Literary Debutante Ball Fashion Advice: Etiquette Advice We Can All Actually Use

“For attractive lips, speak words of kindness. For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people. For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry. For beautiful hair, let…
1January 12, 2011
Lashes For The Feminist Movement

Picture the scene… It’s 1974 and those women’s libbers are everywhere. Before you know it, those damn women will have screwed up everything. Hell, we won’t even be able to…
0December 23, 2010
“Give Your Wife An Extra Head For Chirstmas”

An ad from 1969 that likely couldn’t be published today: OK, so it reads “an extra head,” not just “extra head” or just plain old “head,” but still, ad execs…
4December 8, 2010
Marjorie Hellen: “Identification Girl” The Ultimate Objectification Or Not?

Featured on the cover of People Today, September 22, 1954, was “Marjorie Hellen… TV’s Golden Girl.” Her story begins on page 55, filed under “People In TV,” Hellen’s story is…
4September 30, 2010
Beauty Kills

As the seller of this vintage 357 Magnum Hair Dryer correctly states, this gun and holster blow dryer might just be the “most misogynistic appliance” ever. Or at least the…
0March 19, 2010
British Ladies Cat Fight With American Women, 1832

Since I love old beauty tips and their cultural context, I was intrigued by A Slip of a Girl’s posts sharing clippings from the March 1831 issue of Atkinson’s Casket…
8March 17, 2010
Breaking Free Is A Drag (Or, Drag Queens Part 1)

Glowing Doll Danielle says she was “totally gob smacked” watching Freddie Mercury’s “sexy mustachioed housewife” in Queen’s I Want To Break Free. In her post, Danielle also wrote: I love…
2November 17, 2009
After Stocking Panic, Women Made-Up

I’ve researched and written a lot about vintage nylon stockings over the years because the history of nylon stockings is quite fascinating to me. I’m sure most of you have…
2November 13, 2009
Does Makeup Keep You From Getting Laid? (Or, When He Professes He Likes The ‘Natural’ Look)

Don’t you just hate it when your man turns to you and says, “I like you better without make-up,” or makes some comment about how he “prefers the natural look”…
0November 13, 2009
Make-Up Works: Exaggerated Beauty Gets Noticed

Also in the December issue of Psychology Today, Mina Shaghaghi reports on the findings of a series of studies by Richard Russell of Gettysburg College which explains the “allure of…
4November 8, 2009
When Beauty Is A Crime

I have a modest collection of vintage vanity items. (My collection and I have even been featured in Collectors News magazine.) And indeed, I’ve often wondered about the vast popularity…
2October 9, 2009
Reporting On The Mayan Predicted Demise Of Our Planet

Early in 2010, Greta Sandler smelled the green, envisioning great commercial success in the “green” environmental movement. She cut and pasted digitally merged Shamanistic traditions and historical beauty tips, “recycling”…