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 →
It was a very busy summer indeed! I blinked and it was basically over. Let's try to catch up, shall we? - Lots of beauty history bits and bobs, including Sephora celebrating its 25th anniversary, Guerlain unveiling a company archive... Read more →
On this day 15 years ago the Makeup Museum published its very first blog post. Hopefully before the end of the calendar year there will be a small exhibition to continue the celebration, but for now I just wanted to... Read more →
(image from soundingsonline.com) I was doing some digging on Ultra Sheen cosmetics after purchasing a great vintage display for it and stumbled across the name Bill Pinkney, who had a brief stint as a marketing executive for the company. As... Read more →
A long-time Makeup Museum supporter invited me to speak at her organization's Pride festivities! I'm so incredibly honored! I'll be at the Old State House at Delaware State Parks on Saturday, June 10 at 1pm. Details here (and yes, it's... Read more →
Lots going on behind the scenes! Not necessarily a bad thing, but doesn't leave much time for blogging and social media. Realistically Curator's Corner will have to be cut down even further so that it's on a quarterly basis instead... Read more →
I admit I purchased this object without fully understanding what it was. I couldn't unearth any ads for Opaline1 and very little exists about the company. There were a couple calls for De Baranta-Windsor salespeople in 1898 for totally different... Read more →
I am so honored to present at the Art Deco Society UK's winter event series! On Tuesday, March 14 at 7pm BST (3pm EST) join the Museum for "Makeup Moderne: Art Deco Influence in Cosmetics Design". Admittedly I knew very... Read more →
I'm delighted to share a guest post by new Makeup Museum volunteer Shannon Mendola, who will be discussing the licensing deal trend in makeup. These sorts of collaborations are different than other partnerships in that they are usually the result... Read more →
Plus links from...oh, the past 6 months. It's been a while. - Signing up for this online makeup history course at the Victoria and Albert Museum as soon as it's open to the general public! Also hoping they hire me... Read more →
2022 was the year I realized that I shouldn't try to stick to any kind of schedule in terms of blogging or even exhibition openings. I need to assign target dates, but also try not to beat myself up too... Read more →
Reiji Himatsu, Winter Journey, n.d. IBY Beauty, Ocean Awakening palette, spring 2019. Read more →
Not entirely sure how to write one of these, but I did my best. Feedback is appreciated. :) The annual report can also be found on the Museum's information page. Download Makeup Museum FY 2022 annual report Read more →
Discussing various styles of face paint1 worn by different Indigenous peoples is critical for a better understanding of the history of cosmetics and recognizing that makeup outside of the modern industry exists. For many people across the globe, cosmetics beyond... 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 →