Hair and make-up

Pouting Perfection

Inspirational Images, Make-up, seventies fashion, Vogue, yves saint laurent
Blouse by YSL. From Vogue, June 1971. Photo by Peter Knapp

Makes me want to shave my already-quite-skimpy eyebrows off…. Those eyes and lips are just perfection to me. The story behind this spread (and I will show more soon…because they’re all just lush.) is all about fashion and beauty etiquette. This photo is captioned “A lady never makes up her face in public”.

It reminds me of an occasion the other week, when a woman got on the train at the same time as me – and we ended up sitting across the table from each other. She flung her Easyjet ticket on the table, and started doing her make-up. She had about three make-up bags, which had all been poking out from various pockets on her suitcase (which clearly couldn’t be done up properly). I soon realised she was starting completely from scratch, intended to do a full job and also that she only had the time between Clapham Junction and Gatwick Airport in which to do it all. I tried not to stare, but I could almost hear the Countdown music going in my head and it was utterly fascinating.

The most I will do in public, usually, is a bit of a powder buffing and perhaps lipstick. Anything else, I would feel far too self-conscious. I wouldn’t dream of leaving the house without the make-up I needed to be wearing, unless I knew I could nip into the ladies somewhere en route. And that brings me back to this woman. Because she kept glaring at me. As though I shouldn’t be looking at her piling the slap on. Seriously? If you’re going to apply your maquillage on a crowded train, then you can’t expect everyone to demurely look away to protect your modesty.

She managed it, though, and I came very close to giving her a round of applause. Except she was still glaring at me and she looked a bit like Catherine Tate, which scared me as well. Ah well. Well done, random train make-up lady. Hope you enjoyed your weekend in Dublin!

Peel-off eyeliner?

1960s, eyeliner, Make-up, Vintage Adverts

I am so there!

19 Magazine, April 1969

Random Picture Spam: Eyeliner

amanda lear, eyeliner, Françoise Hardy, Make-up, marianne faithfull, maureen starkey, natalie wood, pamela des barres, peggy moffitt, penelope tree, sandie shaw, sixties

I’m far too tired, achy and discombobulated to post anything too long and rambly tonight, so here’s a random picture post so I can attempt to maintain my unusual prolificacy at the moment….

I wish it were profligacy though; I love how I have to really think about which word I want to use. Ah well, that will come soon enough when I’ve recovered from the multitude of stresses which are upon me at the moment. And when it does, I will be wearing lots of eyeliner and lashes and drinking a lot of brandy. So just you watch out!

Well there you go, I was a bit rambly. Ha!













Strange Fashion Collaborations: Bill Gibb Nail Polish

1970s, bill gibb, Make-up, Vintage Adverts

 

I’ve seen variations of this advert across several Vogues I own, and it always baffles me. I mean, I don’t see why Gibb shouldn’t have done such a thing, but it also seems at odds with the ‘crap businessman’ label usually attached to him. It does make one wonder. He might easily have ventured down the road marked ‘mediocrity through licensing’, so well trodden by so many.

Perhaps there simply wasn’t much call for nail polish to match your Gibb frock. Perhaps they didn’t really match very well, they certainly don’t in the advert. Perhaps this is actually an example of his crap businessmanship? Very curious indeed….

 

Random Ossies in Adverts: Part III

1970s, Make-up, ossie clark, Random Ossies in Adverts, Vintage Adverts

Vintage Hair Inspiration: Veronica Lake

hair, Inspirational Images, veronica lake

My hair mood changes daily (last week I had an Austrian milkmaid moment) so my hair inspirations have to be quite varied in general. I was sorting through some of my books the other day and realised that a photo of Veronica Lake in a ‘Film Goddesses’ book I was given many moons ago, with her hair draped over a bearskin rug, must have been quite influential for me. She’s like the proto-Roxy Music girl, non? I have no intention of going blonde any time soon, unless I can magically get this nasty L’Oreal stuff out, but I do enjoy occasionally waving and side parting my hair….




Random Ossies in Adverts: Part II

1970s, Make-up, ossie clark, Random Ossies in Adverts, Vintage Adverts

I think that printed dress turns up in several adverts spanning several years. I’m assuming one photographer or stylist had the dress and just plonked every model in it when they needed a ‘floaty’ look. I shall scan further examples in when I can!

Random Ossies in Adverts: Part I

Make-up, ossie clark, Random Ossies in Adverts
Jenny is 17 and lives in Cheam, Surrey.
 
Jenny is 17, has perfect skin and is wearing a Celia print Ossie. For these reasons, I doth growl at her.

Voting and Edwardian Hair….

hair

I’m not one to plead for votes, but I’m chuffed to have even been nominated for the LuLu’s Vintage Blog People’s Choice Award again. You don’t have to vote for me if you don’t want to. It’s not like the Suffragettes did what they did so that we ladies could vote for vintage websites, but if you feel like voting for me, I’d be ever so delighted…. 😉

Speaking of Edwardian ladies, I find I’m rather obsessed with puffed and padded hair today after seeing A Doll’s House last night (highly recommended if you’re in town, and it has the delicious Toby Stephens and Christopher Eccleston in it, as well as Gillian Anderson being generally fabulous and padded in the hair department). Sadly, it is unavoidable for me to sit and stare at costumes and hair when I go to the theatre. Sometimes in squirmy fury if they’ve got it hideously wrong. Thankfully last night was superb in both departments.

Not sure it would suit me, but it would be entertaining to try and achieve. Images pilfered from flickr.










More Make-Up: Who’d you like to be today?

barbarella, emma peel, Make-up, tara king, Vintage Adverts

I seem to be looking at a lot of make-up ads and features in my magazines at the moment. I overkilled a bit on the liquid liner a few weeks back for a New Romantic night (I should really post a full size photo of the end result some time) and have been smudging kohl on ever since, just to be different. So I’m ready to be re-inspired.

I love this Boots 17 advert, particularly the Barbarella one. I remember seeing an illustration of checkerboard effect eye make-up, but doubted whether it was really feasible (especially since my lids aren’t the largest in the world). Now I might try it on my brow bone instead, since that seems to be a better canvas for such doodlings.

I’m also appreciating the Tara King reference. I’ve always been a die hard Emma Peel girl [you don’t say???] but having seen a few of the Tara King episodes recently, I’m a bit of a convert. She might have had a bit of bum deal (sometimes literally) in the wardrobe department, but her make-up was always rather lovely.