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vintage lipstick

Polka Dot

A-List Customer
Messages
364
Location
Mass.
I ended up buying one red yesterday--one of the Limited Edition shades from the Some Like it Scarlett promotion that L'Oreal's doing. It's called Leading Lady Red and I think it looks OK. I'm going to ask my roommate the next I see her. I'm not sure I have the courage to wear it in public, though. It seems like a girl has to be pretty brave to go out with bright red lips when nearly everyone is wearing nude shades or no lipstick at all. Also, my mother tends to wear extremely bright shades of lipstick (think fuschia), and I've always thought it looks horrendous. Maybe I have a block about wearing bright colors. :)

I also bought NYC Sheer Red, but I didn't think about looking at the Rimmel section. Normally, though, I'm very satisfied with Rimmel, so I'm glad for the suggestion, Olive bleu.
 

VanillaT

One of the Regulars
Messages
105
Location
Michigan
I just wanted to say that my grandmother was a teen in the '40s and she said that her and her sisters all shared the same tube of red lipstick... They only had one color and one stick amongst the five of them! :rolleyes: It makes me feel guilty for having four different tubes of red lipstick just for myself!
 

dollfaced

Familiar Face
Messages
77
Location
orange county
I know how you feel i have way too many red lipsticks i should feel more guilty but i don't!! I just bought classic red by Estee Lauder at nordstoms i was long awaiting a red color from the all day wear lipsticks they are my favorite! I love it, the gold tube is classy and elegant to me plus i am very addicted to estee lauder even there pure pops single eye shadows are beautiful and high pigmented i cant resist i also bought onyx a deep glittery charcoal black! I actually bought a julie hewett lipstick in Femme Noir i loved it i think you would love them to Jitterbug;) ! They also make mini gold compacts that you can refill just beautiful !!!!!
 

Fancy Mouse

Familiar Face
Messages
93
Location
Australia
I'm not sure if anyone has already seen this from November's Elle magazine (USA edition):

"1955 was a banner year in beauty history: Bettie Page was crowned Miss Pin-up Girl of the World; Marilyn Monroe flashed her gams in The Seven Year Itch; and Christian Dior, fresh off the success of his New Look, presented his first cosmetic, Dior Rouge Red Lipstick, declaring, "I love red! It's the colour of life!" Fifty-one years later, the house relaunches the original blue-red tone (now called Red Premiere) worn by screen sirens such as Rita Hayworth and Ava Gardner, alongside 23 other rich hues, as part of the Rouge Dior Collection."

I know 1955 is a little late for a lot of the ladies here, but I thought it might be of interest. I'm definitely going to investigate it myself. I can't find a good representation of the colour online - the swatches never seem to be a very good indication of the real colour. :(
 

Shimmy Sally

Registered User
Messages
447
Location
Ahwatukee, Arizona, USA
olive bleu said:
my experience with long-lasting lipsticks is that they tend to be very dry.
I've noticed that too. I end up putting a little petroleum jelly on my lips to soften the feel. I wish that someone would invent a lipstick that stays on your lips, not your coffee cup.
Taking a side street here: A friend of mine used black and blue make-up for a B&W noir photo shoot, that ended up looking perfect. Her lips seemed very Femme Fatale in print. It appeared like a nice deep red would look. Ah the trickery.
 

cherry lips

Call Me a Cab
Messages
2,949
Location
sweden
When did ladies start to wear nude lipstick?

I saw the movie Bob le flambeur from 1955 and was surprised by all the nude lipstick the woman were wearing. Note: it was black and white but looked that way. I've always thought this was a 60s phenomena that maybe stretched back to 1959, but no further than that. I'm mostly in love with the 50s (and 40s) and usually feel modern/ugly/sixties/not period correct at all when I wear nude lipstick, MAC 3N to be precise, when I want to be 50s and perfect. This movie got me thinking: maybe nude lipstick (+ messy hair + youth worship/ l*litas) started earlier than I thought. It looks like Brigitte is wearing nude lippy here 1956:

510YNQ5E5ML._SL500_AA280_.jpg

Please tell me, 50s fans and others, when did woman start wearing this lipstick color (lighter than natural lips, so baby pink it hardly has any color)?
And does it have to be worn with the messy look (unkempt hair + dusty eyes)?

I didn't want to start a new thread so I hope you'll answer here.
 

LawnFlamingo

Familiar Face
Messages
72
Location
Boston-ish, MA
As far as when exactly pale pinky lip color became popular, I've never been able to pin it down closer than "the late 50s."

A cosmetics company called "Gala" supposedly was the first to introduce pale pearly pinks. Soon after, Max Factor introduced "Strawberry Meringue," which was another pale pink.

I've read that a big part of the reason that pale pinks/pearly colors became popular was that parents of the time frowned on their young daughters wearing bright lip color. Cosmetics companies jumped on this by introducing paler colors, which were embraced by parents because it didn't look so "brazen" on their daughters and by the daughters themselves, because they wanted at least some color.

Check out the movie "Picnic" from 1955. I believe there are some good examples of paler lip color there. (Perhaps not quite as pale as you are referring to, but getting there in terms of color trends.)
 

desi_de_lu_lu

Practically Family
Messages
871
Location
Tucson, Arizona
cherry lips said:
I saw the movie Bob le flambeur from 1955 and was surprised by all the nude lipstick the woman were wearing. Note: it was black and white but looked that way. I've always thought this was a 60s phenomena that maybe stretched back to 1959, but no further than that. I'm mostly in love with the 50s (and 40s) and usually feel modern/ugly/sixties/not period correct at all when I wear nude lipstick, MAC 3N to be precise, when I want to be 50s and perfect. This movie got me thinking: maybe nude lipstick (+ messy hair + youth worship/ l*litas) started earlier than I thought. It looks like Brigitte is wearing nude lippy here 1956:

510YNQ5E5ML._SL500_AA280_.jpg

Please tell me, 50s fans and others, when did woman start wearing this lipstick color (lighter than natural lips, so baby pink it hardly has any color)?
And does it have to be worn with the messy look (unkempt hair + dusty eyes)?

I didn't want to start a new thread so I hope you'll answer here.

I think Brigitte Bardo was the first to glamourize the nude color lipstick...and to set the trend for Hollywood and thus the cosmetic industry.

Nonetheless, she was very much an influence on beauty at the time.

But the 50's did see their fair share of Corals, Pinks, Orangy Reds and Pale Pinks.
 

Miss Neecerie

I'll Lock Up
Messages
6,616
Location
The land of Sinatra, Hoboken

Martini Slayer

New in Town
Messages
48
Location
NYC
Hey Ladies, I was just passing by here, and this thread caught my eye. Do you ladies want to see a vintage lipstick? This lipstick was bought by my grandma after my mom was born in 1947!

My grandma gave it to me in 1987 when she was cleaning out an old makeup case. The casing, I can't figure out what it is, but it has not lost it's original gold tone and is really heavy! There is no plastic on this piece of jewelry whatsoever! Even the inner twist pin is solid whatever.

You also will not see intricate engravings like this on any lipstick case today. It has a very definite waxy smell, and it stains EVERYTHING it comes into contact with! LOL Just ask my friend Fredo about that. *oops* :D

I love this lipstick! In over 60 years it has not even gone bad. I still wear it on special vintage occasions.

2594009674_45e3f4fd46.jpg
 

ShrinkingViolet

A-List Customer
Messages
420
Location
Denmark
cherry lips said:
Please tell me, 50s fans and others, when did woman start wearing this lipstick color (lighter than natural lips, so baby pink it hardly has any color)?
And does it have to be worn with the messy look (unkempt hair + dusty eyes)?

I believe Brigitte Bardot more or less introduced this look. Nude lips, smudged eye makeup and unruly hair suggested wild, sleepless nights and made red lips seem very conservative, prim and proper. Pastel pinks were probably around earlier but didn't have the same outrageous connotations.

I'm not really into the 50s generally speaking, but I absolutely love the late 50s to early 60s look that Bardot, Jean Seberg etc represent!

I think Simone de Beauvoir wrote an essay on BB, has anyone read it? Could be interesting to hear what she had to say.
 

Lillemor

One Too Many
Messages
1,137
Location
Denmark
cherry lips said:
:eek:fftopic: ShrinkingViolet, that sounds interesting! I found this link that has a few excerpts from the essay:
http://www.geraldpeary.com/essays/abc/bardot.html
but my library doesn't have the book :(

Not a Bardot fan myself even though I love the 50s (I'm the neat/sweet type:) ) but can't your library check with other libraries and order it home for you? That sort of look is popular (at least here it is) so you can argue that you probably won't be the only one who's interested in loaning that book. When you return it, they just need to place it so that people see the cover. I'm sure many will be interested.
 

ShrinkingViolet

A-List Customer
Messages
420
Location
Denmark
I just checked bibliotek.dk and it seems they can reserve it from other libraries in other cities. If everything else fails I can have it reserved and copy it for you? I'd quite like to read it myself.
Or maybe abebooks.com has it. I order books from there all the time from all over the world, they don't charge duties since the books are used (or something like that).
Oh and by the way, the title is "Brigitte Bardot and the Lolita Syndrome".
 

Tigerlily

One of the Regulars
Messages
110
Location
San Diego
i bought l'oreal's 350 british red lastweek at target and i love it very much. it's a bit brighter than i'm used to but it looks great, especially for daytime! :)

britishredun3.jpg
 

Lillemor

One Too Many
Messages
1,137
Location
Denmark
Typical! My Maybelline Moisture Extreme Coral Sunrise 420 and MAC Lustre Vivacious (pink) A37 have been discontinued! I also used to love Revlon's lipsticks but of course Revlon was taken completely off the Danish market just to irritate me! I'm convinced of that:rolleyes: I need a deep coral and a bright pink because they're safe choices and go with most of my wardrobe. They also set me apart in crowds of nude lips. Red possibly would too but that's not a problem...right now.

I would actually prefer a deep coral red without gold flecks in them. I just haven't found one yet. I think I want it to be my signature shade that I'll wear on most days.
 

olive bleu

One Too Many
Messages
1,667
Location
Nova Scotia
Martini Slayer said:
Hey Ladies, I was just passing by here, and this thread caught my eye. Do you ladies want to see a vintage lipstick? This lipstick was bought by my grandma after my mom was born in 1947!

My grandma gave it to me in 1987 when she was cleaning out an old makeup case. The casing, I can't figure out what it is, but it has not lost it's original gold tone and is really heavy! There is no plastic on this piece of jewelry whatsoever! Even the inner twist pin is solid whatever.

You also will not see intricate engravings like this on any lipstick case today. It has a very definite waxy smell, and it stains EVERYTHING it comes into contact with! LOL Just ask my friend Fredo about that. *oops* :D

I love this lipstick! In over 60 years it has not even gone bad. I still wear it on special vintage occasions.

2594009674_45e3f4fd46.jpg


that is beautiful, and so neat that it belonged to your Grandma!
 

Inky

One Too Many
Messages
1,743
Location
State of Confusion AKA California
Coming soon - a new red from Lancome

I just read on BellaSugar that Lancome is launching a "new" red lipstick, L'Absolu Rouge that pays homage to a 1957 shade -

http://bellasugar.com/1789880

It sounds like it could be worth checking out for it's spf benefits and "unbelievably hydrating formula" claim. The color looks very pretty on my monitor, hopefully I can find it locally out here in the "sticks" where I live!
 

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