Vintage Cosmetics

The lovely Helen of Pin-Up Parade wrote about the archives of three cosmetics companies being made avaliable online, thanks to a collaboration with London College of Fashion. The photos date from 1939 to 1952.

That means lots of inspirational photos for those who are interested in vintage cosmetics!

Member of the W.A.A.F (Women's Auxiliary Air Force) shown with make up as an experiment by Reveille newspaper to see whether women in the forces should wear make up following criticism of a Red Cross nurse. Used in Reveille 1 Feb 1941.

"The archive consists of eight volumes of editorial publicity cuttings, dating from 1939 to 1952, along with three volumes of advertising and point of sale product photographs, assorted loose photographs and other ephemera. It is the photographs that have been digitised and made available in this collection.

Some of the photographs were accompanied by a Gala Publicity Department press release which has been included in the metadata, where available. The publicity cuttings show where the images were used and this information has also been included, along with the name of the photographer or photographic company, where identified.

The photographs, together with the accompanying text, will be of interest to those studying the history of cosmetics, advertising photography, fashion promotion and women in the Second World War."

Click here to read more about the photographs and search the archive.

Model posed with a selection of three Outdoor Girl presentation boxes about to wrap them up as Christmas presents. 1940.

Showcard, promotional leaflets and two compacts;
one still in the packaging and one without packaging and with the lid off.

You can find all the images in the collection here.