On the first day of Christmas, my true love sent to me — a partridge in a pear tree . To open our Christmas story, a golden brown soft look, with hair dressed on one side with real partridge feathers. Feathers in the hair were applied either with eyelash glue around the temple and ear area or just by fixing them actually into the hair with the quills like slides and lacquered to set into place.
The Twelve Days of Christmas… inspired us to create for you an exciting and dazzling face for each one of the 12 days in the hope that your ‘True Love’ will shower you with gifts, ancient and modern.
Make-up by Barbara Daly.
Photographed by John Bishop.
Scanned from 19 Magazine, December 1973
On the second day of Christmas, my true love sent to me —two turtle doves… Dovesevoke romantic images and, in keeping with this theme, we created a delicate and totally feminine look.
On the third day of Christmas, my true love sent to me — three French hens… Here the look is bright, speckly and lots of fun —rather like something out of the French ‘Naughty ‘Nineties’, and very Christmasy… to set the whole look off, we tied a bright pink chiffon scarf into a French bow at the neck. Hair was set in tight curls and fluffed out.
On the fourth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me — four colly birds .. . Colly birds are blackbirds, for those who don’t know, so we created this glittery Christmas face for dark birds, with the help of Estee Lauder make-up. Clothes from a selection at Nostalgia. Necklace from a selection by Adrien Mann.
On the fifth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me — five gold rings . . . What better time of the year than Christmas is there to really experiment? With this in mind, we created our gold face. Hair was tightly curled with wooden perm rollers, brushed out into curls at the front, while the back was wrapped into a glamorous turban of gold lurex.
On the sixth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me — six geese a-laying .. . There are many species.of geese, but we were thinking of the browny, speckled variety when we created this look. The theme is brown and gold. Hair was set in tight little curls. We then brushed it out and ran fingers through it for a natural looking mop. Jacket from a selection by Samm.
On the seventh day of Christmas, my true love sent to me —seven swans a-swimming .. . Here we created the look of a swan—fluffy white feathers surrounding a delicately made-up face—perfect for all blondes. We swirled the hair back in a classic ballerina bun, and added a small false plait. Maribou feathers from a selection at John Lewis.
On the eighth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me — eight maids a-milking .. . To create a real Christmas milkmaid, begin by setting hair on wooden permanent-wave rods (tiny rollers will do) and then fluff out with fingers. Then take velvet ribbons and plait into two rosettes and secure with pins.
On the ninth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me — nine drummers drumming… In the old days drummers wore your colours and we thought that if we’d had colours, then, surely, silver, gold, pink and black would have been among them. Hair was drawn back into a classic knot at the nape of the neck and decorated with a single sequined strand over the forehead. Sequined top from Nostalgia.
On the tenth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me —ten pipers piping… We piped the neck with a multi-coloured bead necklace from Biba to set off this Christmas look. The semi-shingle hair was first dressed into a side parting. Then we pin curled into large snail curls pointing towards the face. Set the back by means of tape or tissue to keep it flat. Comb sides forward.
On the eleventh day of Christmas, my true love sent to me — eleven ladies dancing… Christmas is a time for parties, so here is a super party-time look. Our model’s hair was set in loose curls to gently frame the face and we set it off with a gold sequined Juliet cap from an antique market stall.
On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me —twelve lords a-leaping .. . We interpreted this last Christmas gift by giving our face masses of movement and colour. Focal point is the eyes where the theme is different shadow shades dabbed on like patchwork. Hair was dressed with a side parting with the thicker side pin curled to sit towards the face. Flatten the other side when setting with tape so that it lies smooth, and then jazz it up with coloured tinsel.