Actually Wearing Vintage Makeup?

LizzieMaine said:

A great book to dig up and read is "100,000,000 Guinea Pigs: Dangers in Everyday Foods, Drugs and Cosmetics" by Arthur Kallet and F. J. Schlink, published in 1932. It's an indictment of lax enforcement of the pure-food laws, with case histories of really horrible things that happened to people as a result of unsafe drug-store goods.

Among the examples, a nationally-advertised, very popular toothpaste (Pebeco) which had the deadly poison potassium chlorate as one of its active ingredients. Swallow enough of it, and you were done for. And then there's several depilatory products made from thallium, which not only causes hair to fall out but also teeth and fingernails. And then there's -- well, you get the idea. Some very dangerous products were out there, especially in the teens and twenties, which seemed to be a golden era for this kind of quackery.

Arsenic Complexion Wafers come in for some discussion as well -- according to analysis such products were made up of arsenic and starch, and nothing else. Best not to try any if you come across them...

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Serena said:

While I would not want to put it on my face, I might consider taking vintage makeup with me to a department store and applying a small amount to the back of my hand so I could match up the colour to a nice new one.

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