Black Cats and Perfume: Part Two

Je Reviens

And to continue along the black cat theme there are plenty of other companies that have seen the wisdom in using them for packaging for their products with varying degrees of accuracy and success.

Avon

Avon Tabitha

I think this is meant to be a cat in a hat but could be a bear, I guess.

Estee Lauder

1950s Compact 

There is an intriguing link between makeup, women and witchcraft and I wonder whether this type of packaging taps into this link.

Or perhaps black cats are just really cute?

Max Factor Primitive 

And finally, just to complete the set, here is my black cat. Meet Bertie Wooster - and yes I am THAT type of person. 

Have you seen the Max Factor Sophisti-Cat?

Pop Up Vintage Library

On Saturday I will be at Dragon Hall, Norwich for The Little Vintage Lovers Fair. Along with Retro Chick and Missy Vintage I will be bringing the contents of my book shelf for our Pop Up Library. We did this, as part of a Vintage Norwich display recently and it was a great success.

So if you are doing a bit of shopping at the fair and want a break - do drop in, put your feet up and enjoy one of our fantastic books.

We will also be on hand to talk fashion, makeup and style as well as to coo over your recently purchased goodies. As Missy Vintage said on her blog "Imagine bookworms with lipstick... you just imagined us!"

The Sophisti-Cat

Max Factor introduced the Sophisti-Cat to its perfume line in the mid 1960s annoyingly, for the timing of this post, not for Halloween but as part of their Christmas gift range.

She came with a small bottle of perfume - either Hypnotique, Exuberance, Primitif, Jonquille or Golden Woods - clasped between her paws and was resplendent with rhinestone eyes, bright feathers and a jewelled collar or ribbon.

The Sophisti-Cat packaging featured a number of different coloured cats, although the most popular one seems to have been the black one, and these can be found in bright yellow, aqua blue, lavender and pink.

The whole lot was topped off with a fairly flimsy plastic dome providing a little bit of packaging protection.

The Sophisti-Cat seems to have been produced in fairly large numbers or, at least, has survived in great numbers as they are quite a common site on eBay or in antique markets. I hope they were treasured gifts as they are quite sweet.

What's On the Menu?

The Internet has transformed my involvement with historical projects and allows interested people the opportunity to volunteer all over the world. One of the best examples of this is the New York Public Library’s restaurant menu collection. With over 40,000 menus dating from the 1840s to the present their collection is one of the largest in the world.

Maxim's 1906

The menus themselves were collected by Miss Frank E. Buttolph who began collecting in 1900 on the library’s behalf. On her death, in 1924, she left over 25,000 menus to the library – a collection that has been added to ever since. The collection primarily, but not exclusively, centres on restaurants in the New York area.

The value of the collection is immense and the information contained is useful for historians, chefs, novelists and anyone else with an interest in food and a desire to see some of the restaurant offerings of the past.  

Like any historical source the information is only useful if it is accessible and without this project the menus are not searchable by information about the dishes, the price and how the meals were organised the stuff that can give researchers the most valuable information about the history of food and culture.

The NYPL project,then, is to get virtual volunteers to transcribe these digitised menus dish by dish. Out of the 40,000 + in their collection just over 10,000 have currently been digitised and available for volunteers to work on.

Volunteers help this project get completed quicker and at lower costs to the library and hopefully it will not be long until the entire collection is a searchable resource allowing researchers to unlock the juicy information contained. By opening the work in this way the library believes that interest in the collection and the type of projects it can stimulate will be sparked and I can quite see that happening.

I think another aspect of this project is some of the wonderful menu covers which feature some beautiful designs. 

Forbidden City Restaurant, 1943

The project itself is clearly laid out and it is easy to get involved. In fact as easy as opening their website and getting started. You can choose which menu you want to work on and whether you want to start transcribing or review transcriptions completed by others. It is a great project to dip in and out of when you have a spare five minutes and an interesting way to learn about dishes of the past.

The project is supplemented by a blog which is great for putting flesh on the detail of the project with recent posts including The Story of New York and Its Oysters as well as help for transcribers. A twitter account @nypl_menus also highlights interesting menus as they come up as well as potentially providing a way for volunteers to get to know each other. 

Pancake House 1969

If you want to learn more about this project then please have a look at their website. Even if you don't have time to help out looking at the menus are a fantastic way of spending a few minutes. 

Book Review: Lauren Rennells -Retro Makeup: Techniques for Applying the Vintage Look

Make-up books tend to be more for professionals so it is great to have one aimed at those of us with an interest but not years worth of experience. 

Providing 16 complete looks from the 1920s to the 1960s Retro Makeup by Lauren Rennells provides plenty of opportunities for experimentation with different styles and is a perfect compliment to her previous book Vintage Hairstyling.

But this little gem is much more than just a how to for specific looks and is also sumptuously illustrated with images of make up collectables, advertisements and iconic images for inspiration.

It is also chock full of fun and quirky facts about cosmetics and their application and if there is one criticism I have of the book is that it seems to be heavily reliant on Richard Corson’s  Fashions in Makeup -itself an amazing read. I would like to see some lesser known examples being cited and there is always a danger that repetition of isolated ‘trends’ will give them a false prominence in cosmetic history.

Application techniques are thoroughly explained and are also more realistically achievable than a lot of books with clear diagrams, photographs and wonderful close-ups. Another definite plus for this book is that they do not recommend a particular brand or products which leave the choice firmly dependent on your own budget.

The looks themselves are quite varied for each era as well as giving options for different skin tones.

Something this book does particularly well is to give an overview of each decade – the types of cosmetics available, the tools for application, the colours used as well as new innovations such as lip gloss being released in the late 1920s and the new and improved Kurlash in the early 1950s.

For me this book is useful on two levels – both for people who are interested in achieving a particular style but also for people who want a good solid basic understanding of the history of cosmetics and period style. 

Crucially she has compiled an interested bibliography which lists other interesting books if you want to read further into the subject. Another fantastic resource for other books on this subject can be found here

I would highly recommend buying this book but if you want to have a look before you buy don't forget that I, along with Retro Chick and Missy Vintage will be bringing our Pop Up Library to The Vintage Lover Fair which will be held on Saturday 29th October at Dragon Hall, Norwich. 

Vintage Inspired Products:Berkeley Square Cosmetics Company

Is it too early to talk about Christmas? Although I am fairly certain the answer is yes my mind has turned to writing my Christmas list and top of the list is some Fig & Cherry Shea Butter Hand Cream. 


If you haven't come across this collection before, and certainly in Norfolk it is only carried regularly by a few shops, then it is definitely worth checking out. It is 'inspired' by the 1920s and the manufacturers, The Berkeley Square Cosmetics Company, teamed up with The Illustrated London News to feature original illustrations from popular artists of the day.


The four fragrances of this range are: Fig and Cherry, Rose Petal, White Tea and Lime and Clarysage and whilst I do not have the nose to describe the products full details can be found on their website. 

Gordon Conway, 1894-1956

Harry Dixon, 1861-1942

From The Bystander 1901-1940

Gordon Conway 1894-1956

The packaging, however, is the real draw for me and they would all look good on your dressing table. But the fragrances are also really yummy. I would say they are quite subtle and, slightly, old fashioned, but the Fig & Cherry is to die for. The quality of the hand cream especially is also really good and it is definitely the best one I have tried for a long time. 

I am a sucker for packaging and the lip balms look especially cute. Also Berkeley Square is where I used to sneak off to meet my then secret love (now husband) for coffee when I used to work in London so I always smile when I think of the range. 

Perfect Curls: The Pro Curler

1939 Advertisement

One of the first things I ever bought on eBay was a Pro-Curler. I had just started to think that my poker straight hair could do one and that I wanted nice bouncy curls. And desperate for all the latest technology a  late 30s Pro-Curler was soon winging its way over.

And actually it is a pretty useful product. When I had much shorter hair I was able to get a curl similar to that in the picture but I have also used it to help with pin curling especially to get neat curls around the front. 

They do come up quite frequently on eBay and I think it is well worth buying one. Being aluminium they are sturdy and I love the packaging. A win win I think! 

Wonderful Women Norwich: Networking

Last night the latest Wonderful Women meeting was held in Norwich. Our topic for the evening was networking and was held at a brand new venue in Norwich - 11 Bar & Kitchen.

http://11barkitchen.com/

http://11barkitchen.com/

Building on the subject of the last meeting, confidence, we discussed Automatic Negative Thought's (ANT's) - those little evil voices that pop in your head sapping your confidence and make you fear going up to people or telling them about your businesse. It is always interesting to realise that other people have the same fears - even those that appear to be incredibly confident - and the different tricks that there are to conquer them. Or, in self help book speak - how to replace your ANT's with CAT's (Capability Affirming Thought's). 

For networking CAT's can be realising that everyone else in the room will be there for the same reason, that you you do have something to offer and, most importantly, that nothing bad is going to happen to you if you just go up to someone and start talking to them. 

We also discussed something that none of the book I read in preparation for the evening even touched on - the role of alcohol in confidence and networking. Perhaps we British have a different take on this (most of the books I read were by North Americans) but obviously having a drink can help you to gird your loins as it were. 

One of our WWMOOB's, Retro Chick, produced a really useful post on how to cover events which covers many of the things we discussed. You can read this article here

A big thanks to those ladies that attended last night. We had Emma owner of Monkey Mash, a retro inspired clothing range, Sifora from Sugar & Hatter, vintage inspired accessory maker extraordinaire, Gemma of Retro Chick fame, and the lovely Kerry who blogs under Missy Vintage and is a constant source of style inspiration.  

Ancient Egyptian Make Up: Cosmetic Spoon

 Most of my posts have been (and will be) about twentieth century make up but the thing that first got me interested in the subject was Ancient Egypt. Back in my distant past I had an alternative lifestyle as an archaeologist and spent my days digging in fields, living in tents and inhaling dust in museum store rooms.

Ok – that’s not quite true. I was an archaeologist but I managed to ensure that my fieldwork was at a site in Israel where they just *happened* to stay in a 5* hotel nearby. But it was hot and dusty and sometimes the maid didn’t clean our room everyday. I suffered.

Anyway Egypt …. they loved their make up and one of the most important and iconic cosmetics was Kohl.  Archaeologists (proper ones, not like me) have found palettes for grinding eye paint dating back from 10,000 BC.

Archaeologists like me manage to ‘dig up’ things like this little beauty for 50p at Fakenham Market (for the non-Norfolks out there this is a small market town near the North East coast).

She is a very poor imitation of an Ancient Egyptian cosmetic spoon and was probably bought under sufferance from a street seller somewhere in Egypt about three weeks ago. But I think she is kind of charming and, in the absence of the real thing, can be used to think about how cosmetics were used in Egypt.

Kohl was black, gray or coloured and was made from different materials including stibnite (antimony sulphide), black manganese oxide, burnt almonds, lead, malachite and black oxide of copper.

The material was powdered and kept in pots and tubes until ready to be use. Preparation for using the kohl was itself an extensive and highly ritualised effort. The powder was poured from the tube into a cosmetic spoon or dish and then moistened with rose water or olive oil.

Alternatively a kohl stick would be moistened and dipped into the tube.

Materials for these items were also varied and much dependent on the social status of the owner. They could be made from faience, alabaster, wood, stone, glass or metal and spoons would be made from ivory, wood, alabaster or bronze. Containers were often decorated with the image of Bes – protector of the household and children – to give added protection.

Olaf Tausch Creative Commons Licence

Black, grey and green were used for eye lining and green, aqua, turquoise, terra cotta, black and shades of brown for eye shadow. Green malachite was one of the most popular colours.

Eye shadow would often be of a different colour to the eye liner and was often applied to both lower and upper lid.

It is mostly agreed that the primary purpose of the eye paint was medicinal – a protection against the glare of the sun and dust from the desert. But I bet they also just realised that it made them look a bit gorgeous as well.

1930s Beauty Products: Tho Radia

After radium was discovered in 1898 it was greeted with great enthusiasm by the medical world and radium therapy was  introduced into hospitals at the turn of the twentieth century. Like other medical advancements at the time there was hardly any understanding of the dangers that could be caused by this new treatment.

Initial reports indicated that the effects of radium were miraculous and soon it was being prescribed for a variety of conditions including impotence, ulcers, arthritis, high blood pressure and cancer.

Newspapers compared its magic to the golden healthful rays of the sun and its use quickly spread to consumer products to such an extent that it has been estimated that between 1914-1945 200,000 objects containing  (or said to contain) radium were produced.

The variation in these products is immense and you can find all sorts of products proclaiming their radium content or just using the world radium as a way of emphasising the quality of the product as actual radium was very expensive.

Products I have found include radioactive digestive mixtures, radium based contraceptive jelly, special radium wool to keep babies warm, lotions, potions, tablets, injections, suppositories, pads, belts and atomic sodas.


Anyone for condoms with the "strength of Iron, the energy of radium" ?

One area that continues to fascinate me is its use in Cosmetics and Toiletries and one brand that  really represents this use is Tho-Radia, a French company that was started in 1933 and disappears in 1962-3. 

Tho Radia was launched in March 1933 in Paris to great acclaim and was patented by Dr Alexis Moussali and Dr Alfred Curie.

Dr Curie’s association seems to be due to his famous namesakes, Marie & Pierre Curie, although they were not related. This was a common marketing practice at the time which served to strengthen the scientific claims of the product which was being sold as “Méthod Scientific de Beauté”

Tho-Radia proudly claims its radium content and, in 1935, produces an associated booklet “Dictionnaire Medical et Pratique des Soins de Beaute” which provides a list of common beauty and health issues along with details of the benefits of using the product. This beautiful book also contains a wealth of illustrations and advertisements for the products as well as prices.

According to their marketing the  use of Tho-Radia:

"Stimulates cellular vitality, activates circulation, firms skin, eliminates fats, stops enlarged pores forming, stops and cures boils, pimples, redness, pigmentation, protects from the elements, stops ageing and gets rid of wrinkles, conserves the freshness and brightens of the complexion. "

The line initially consists of products such as powder, creams, soap and toothpaste but soon expands to include rouge, lipsticks and perfumes.

Poudre Tho-Radia original formulation contained thorium, radium and titanium and was marketed  for the prevention of, amongst other things, sunburn, herpes and as a deodorant. It also promised to help you recover your youthful bloom and came in eight colours (Moorish, Ochre, Tan Pink, Rachel 1 or 2, Natural or White). 

There are lots of other brands that I have found reference to via adverts but, especially the British ones, they are proving to be elusive to find in the actual flesh. However Tho-Radia products come to market on a fairly regular basis and I have tried to buy them where I can but they are remarkably expensive.

I don't like to beg but I wanted to end this on a plea. If any of you ever see any adverts with products containing Radium please let me know.  I am looking for products in the UK and the US from around 1909 - 1960.