Hello! It's been so quiet on the blog because I've been prepping the Makeup Museum's latest exhibition. I am incredibly pleased and honored to announce that I was asked to organize an exhibition in conjunction with an academic conference! "I’m... Read more →
The general process for this post was to try to write something, immediately get overwhelmed and move on to something else. Hence why it took me 5 years to come up with anything on NARS's holiday 2017 collection, which featured... Read more →
Consumers have come to expect a good measure of dishonesty in makeup marketing. But given the lack of strict regulations for cosmetics labeling in the U.S. ("clean" beauty, anyone?), companies have considerably more freedom to concoct some rather outlandish claims,... Read more →
Multimedia artist Sylvie Fleury (b. 1961; Switzerland) is truly speaking my language. While her works involving fashion, rockets, and neon signs are certainly thought-provoking, it's Fleury's larger-than-life reproductions of makeup products that will be the focus of this post. Fleury... Read more →
Between being distracted by the nonstop avalanche of particularly horrible current events and my inability to realistically estimate how long it takes for me to write anything, two months' worth of links had to be condensed into one post. Sigh.... Read more →
I forget what I was looking for when I stumbled across beautician and stylist Eddie (Eadward) B. Deason (1921-1976). Like Blanche Hunter, Deason's story is incomplete. But the few things I could find are definitely worth highlighting. Deason opened several... Read more →
Over the past 4 years or so there has be... Read more →
CW/TW: racist imagery and slurs for Indigenous, Asian, Latinx, and Black populations as well as those of Middle Eastern descent. It's been nearly a decade since I discussed one of the many ugly parts of the beauty industry: cultural appropriation... Read more →
Belated April links. - I was saddened to hear of the very untimely death of makeup artist A. J. Crimson. I hope someone will publish a biography and catalogue of his work. - Interested to check out this new documentary... Read more →
Vilhelm Hammershøi, Interior with Ida Playing the Piano, 1910 NARS, NARSissist eyeshadow palette, spring 2014 Read more →
Today the Museum is featuring a flash-in-the-pan brand from the 1940s. Shem el Nessim was a very short-lived line, lasting only about 6 months during the second half of 1946. I couldn't find much info, but one thing I can... Read more →
Get ready for some cute overload this Easter! I'm pleased to finally highlight 5 bunny-themed collections, 3 of which were released in spring 2019 (when I was preoccupied with other things) one from 2018 and one from 2016. Interestingly, all... Read more →
Links for one of my least favorite months. - In beauty history, Lucy Jane Santos discusses both the historic dangers and scientification of beauty, while Minsooky takes a look at the rather sordid history of Dr. Palmer's skin whitener. If... Read more →
Curator's note: For several years now I've been wanting to discuss the trend of non-makeup merch being sold by beauty brands but was having a difficult time getting around to it. Fortunately, another wonderful MM volunteer and aspiring beauty editor,... Read more →
It's another incomplete history, but I wanted to highlight the few bits I was able to locate about the makeup line founded by supermodel Naomi Sims, born on this day in 1948.1 (This post will not cover her collection of... Read more →
Took a while, but I'm pleased to finally talk about Mikimoto's gorgeous collection from holiday 2020. As with the holiday 2018 and 2019 collections, the company enlisted an artist to create the packaging. For the Twinkle Pearls lineup, Mikimoto collaborated... Read more →