Masterclass - History of Lipstick Trends

We need to head back 5000 years to see evidence of the first type of lipstick wore the Egyptians. This was a mixture of crushes precious stones, clay, rust, henna and seaweed. There was also a mixture of bromine mannite mixed with iodine that was commonly used, this combination of deep purple stain would get the reputation of 'Kiss of Death' due to the toxic mixture. Queen Cleopatra (51BC and 30BC) was wiser and used a mixture of beeswax and crushed ants with fish scales to add shine.

Queen Nefertiti (1370 – 1330 BC)

It wasn't until get to the Middle Ages that this cosmetics fall out of favour with Upper Classes as it was presented that only prostitutes and lower classes should be wear. It took Elizabeth I to start the trend again with her pale face and crimson lips - stained with beeswax and either rose or geranium flowers.

As we pass through 17th century the church declares make up as, "the work of the devil" and in 1770 was outlawed alongside any make-up. Any woman found wearing it would be declared a witch and burnt at the stake. Even through we eventually lose the witch burning, wearing cosmetics of any kind was still frowned upon well into Queen Victoria's reign (1837-1901), who declared that wearing make-up was vulgar and indecent. Women smuggled in cosmetics from France to fulfil the void during this time.

By the late 1890's make-up started to be declared socially acceptable and lipstick started to slowly become popular. In 1920's saw lipstick sales increase as women embraced being more independent, alongside the ease of new lipstick products coming onto the market, including the invention of the swivel motion that we see in today's lipsticks.

1920's

The first trends saw deep garnets and blacks in small delicate shapes on the centre of the lips. This developed into deep red-browns as we head into 1930's in longer elongated shapes. It was this time that Elizabeth Arden introduced a large range of different colours to the market which provided the inspiration of other companies starting ranges. Also at this time lipstick was seen as a 'womans' product and not for young girls, while the adults still saw it as an act of rebellion.

As we head into the 1940's and the World Wars women was encourage to wear brighter reds to boost moral for the troops. Women in the forces were given tubes of red lipstick and instructions on how to wear it. This also transferred onto the Hollywood stars of the time Rita Hayworth, Bette Davis and Joan Crawford with full symmetrical pouts.

1950's saw a separation of styles, Marylin Manroe with her luscious red lips and Audrey Hepburn with her softer pink colour. This was the biggest time of creativity, production and application techniques. The style extended over the natural lip line to give a bigger appearance.

Elizabeth Taylor in 1950's

The freedom of the 60's and 70's let convention go out of the window. With the focus more on the eyes, pale pearl lipsticks sticks were the trend while the focus went onto the eyes. More division came in the 70's with the glam rockers and new romantics embracing darker purple and blacks, with disco embracing crimson and burgundy glosses.

The boom of cosmetics in 1980's was the build up to 1990's, the 80's embraced bold statements in application very much like the fashion of the time. The 90's were all about taking styles and influences from fashion and models (as well as creating make up artist into celebraties - Bobbi Brown being a key figure at this time). This also starts the seasonal colour changes that we see today with brown natural tones being popular with lips being brown or taupe shades (At this time I was 16 and wearing Heather Shimmer by Rimmel - the ultimate 90's lipstick).

Jennifer Aniston at the height of her fame in 'Friends' - The pinnacle of 90's fashion



As we enter a new millennium lipstick technology becomes more advanced and the trends change every three months to go with the latest changes in fashion and consumer need. Lipstick still is an essential to any collection that is brought out with the stand alone classics that stand the test of time (5000 years to be exact).

Masterclass - How to Pick Foundation

Last week's masterclass was on foundation's purpose and the different types (You can view last weeks here). This weeks the aim is to look at the pitfalls of looking for foundation, what looks right and what looks like a disaster.

You should be prepared to pick in some hours to get the right ones (maybe even days), I found when I have rushed into buying a foundation for the sake that I was in a hurry it's turned out wrong (more on that later). Wearing a light make up that can be easily taken off or even wearing none at all will mean you can apply it to the area you will be wearing it. I do see alot of people trying it on the back of their hands, which is great if you are planning to wear it there.

Au Natural with nothing on

When I was consulting on foundation there was the key questions we asked and these are worth keeping in mind:

• What do I want my foundation to do? - Illuminate, cover, mattify? It'll give you your basis to start from.
• How will it fit in my routine? - No use buying one that needs to be applied carefully when you only have minutes to get ready.
• Are you being it as a one off event or for everyday use? Your skin will change colour when you're on holiday and you might find your foundation will look whiter/chalkier when your skin gets tanned
• Budget? - No good looking at ones that are £20-£30 and you only have £10.
• Where am I going to be wearing it? - In artificial light I find that you can get away with a tone darker foundation (as long as it is blended in), if I wore a pale one under fluorescent light I found that it made me look ill.

Next to consider is the colour of the skin, everyone has a tone to their skin. Tones are much of yellow or pink exist in the skin, this is when consultants also talk about cool tones (they have more pink, keys colour word to look for would be rose) and warm tones (they have more yellow tones, key word to look for is beige). Bobbi Brown once wrote that 90% of people in the world would suit yellow tone foundations, as the it would suit warmer toned skins but also tone down any pink in the cooler tones.

I have slightly olive skin and once I got put into a cool tone foundation (must to my protest), took a picture and it was like I had a pink glow around my face with a tanned neck. Wrong just wrong. The two pictures below are an example of foundation gone wrong, the colour on the left was the one I brought in a hurry thinking that will be fine, while the right is my MUA Cosmetics BB Cream.

There are also two different coverages in these photos, the left side is a thicker foundation while the BB Cream on the right provides a more lighter. The left one would be perfect for nights out or photos are it gives more colour, while the right is perfect for everyday as it is more my natural skin tone.

My foundations that I have got in the past are on recommendations from friends and other bloggers. I would then go into store have a play with testers or if possible speak to a consultant. Don't be scared to speak to them, they are the experts on their ranges (and sometimes on other peoples. When I worked at Lauder nearly half of the department wore Double Wear!).

Also a lot more brands are introducing a sampling system, letting you have a consult and then taking the recommendation home for trail. With these I never buy without trying the sample for a few days to play with.

I wish there is a quick way to fall in love with the right foundation, but there isn't. Hopefully this will give you more of a short cut round the bad foundation choices.

Next Week - The first vlog attempt and how to apply foundation.

A quick note here: I felt like Two-Faced from Batman doing these photos!

Could Your Bargain Be Costing You Your Life?

Imitation is suppose to be the highest form of flattery, I would not think that high end make up brands would agree. In the never ending saga of fake make being sold to the public, Leanne Wertheim was sentenced to 8 month suspended sentence, £2,000 costs and 160 hours of community service. She took £40,000 from the public over four eBay accounts, the "brands" she was selling included Bobbi Brown, M.A.C, Benefit, Lancome and Max Factor.

Unsuspecting customers, who were thinking they were getting huge discounts with some products selling at £3.99, were actually buying toxic make up. When customers complained about the quality of products, she claimed that they were genuine. When initial tests were carried out on the products, the results showed that they had 3 times the normal levels of lead in them. Lead contamination can lead to side effects as brain damage, a lowering of IQ in unborn babies and behaviour problems.

In one instance, a Max Factor mascara was showed to be having 68 mg/kg of lead, where the legal amount is 20 mg/kg.

So how you spot a fake?

Knowledge is power, look at the stores to see how the product feels and how its packaged. Chanel and MAC are the most common copies that are sold. Chanel is always dressed in glossy packaging, with very simple writing. Fakes have little touches, logos in the wrong places, lower grade cardboard and lower grade pigments.

With MAC eye shadows and pigments, real items have the bar code as a sticker on the box, as well as having the colour name and finish on a sticker on the top of the box. MAC also do not have mirrors and applicators in with their products, the logo will always be centre (apart from mascaras which is on the left hand side). Sizes on genuine items will be given in grams and ounces - fakes tend to be in millilitres.

The best way to avoid fakes?

Save your pennies and buy only from authorised retailers and manufactures.

For more information on spotting all fakes, try: http://www.spotcounterfeits.co.uk/
Another brilliant entry on Fakes by BritishBeautyBlogger