Posts of the Week: Glamour Daze

1940s Makeover

Glamour Daze has been on point this week.  It has some of my absolute favorite posts of the week.  Two of my favorites are a fun post about WAC exercise and a cool post about a 1940's makeover.  What I love about the WAC exercise, is that it seems entirely possible to perform today by a variety of fitness levels.  I could see myself doing it today.  The makeover is intriguing, and doesn't seem completely impossible.  No matter how easy a makeup tutorial seems, I never seem to be able to do it properly.

Sheree Sits Still

Sheree North Makeup Test for How to be Very, Very Popular; Feb. 1955

Weird Wednesday - Max Factor's Machine

Modern Mechanix; January 1935

Another example of how we will go to extremes to become "perfect".  Thank goodness I never have had the "pleasure" of being put in one of these gems.

Betty Grable Goes Green

[Source:  Popular Science; January 1939]

Apparently this was only a problem with very early black and white television.  This being a black and white photo, I can't really tell what color they are painting on her.  I just wonder who figured it out.  Must have been a fun time experimenting.  And who knew Betty Grable appeared in such a cerebral publication?

Tidbit Tuesday - Betty Grable Without Makeup Maybelline Ad

If you are a brunette - Makeup tips Part 2

By far the largest number of brunettes have warm coloring. Their skin tone ranges from light olive to a deep tan.

They look best when they use dark rachel, beige, ocher, or tan powder as dark as their complexions. Lighter powder makes this type of skin look muddy.

A yellowish cast can be avoided by choosing shades livened with red. Lipstick and rouge should be orange-red, the intensity of tone depending on the vividness of the individual.

Many women of this type look best without rouge. Mascara should be black or brown and eye shadow green, gray, or brown.

Blondes: Makeup and Skin Care

Make-up is a very important part of looking put together. Today, we will look at a Blonde's ideal skin and makeup routine, according to Ruth Murrin in 1940s editions of Good Housekeeping.

Some blondes have an opaque magnolia type of skin as hardy as any brunette's. But most of them have the thin, delicate complexion that won't stand neglect. A girl with this typical blonde skin can't afford to be careless about cleansing. She must guard constantly against blackheads. It is difficult for her to prevent freckles, but she should do what she can with protective make-up bases, sunburn preventives, shade hats, and long sleeves. Crinkles and lines lie in wait for her if she doesn't watch out, so from her teens on she must use cream every day of her life.

Gossamer powders are best for the transparent-skinned blonde because they enhance her delicate air, and all her make-up should be applied with a light hand. Just enough rouge to give her cheeks a faintly rosy hue; enough mascara to make the fringe of her lashes noticeable without being prominent; vague eye shadow, soft lipstick - that's her prescription.

Overemphasis in any one of these strikes a strident note which can be quite disastrous to subtle blonde harmonies.

Flesh and natural powder look well on pink-and-white skins, and cream or light rachel on fair eggshell complexions. Soft violet-pink rouge and lipstick, blue eye shadow, and brown mascara complete the typical palette recommended for blondes.

But some blondes like their complexions to be, as they say, more "substantial." They like a darker beige or rachel powder, and with many costumes prefer to use rouge and lipstick in coral or nasturtium tones that have a slight orange cast. In either case their aim should always be to keep make-up gentle and to key it nicely with the colors that they wear.




I was curious about a few things that I was not familiar with. One of them is what "rachel powder" is. From what I could find, it appears to be face powder. The below is an example of Coty's Rachel 2 (a Medium Ivory Shade)

I was also curious about what "nasturtium" was. For what I could find, Nasturtium is a flower. It can be grown in containers or in vines. They come in several colors. From the context of the advice, I think they are referring to the orange ones.

As a side note, being a blonde sounds difficult. From the skin care bit, it sounds like blondes get wrinkly granny skin the second they hit puberty. And ya'll know my freckle policy - I love them. Curious about blue eye shadow as well. I know I couldn't pull it off. Good thing I'm a redhead!

Tomorrow's lesson for Blondes - Colors that Flatter