Curious about the Makeup Museum?  Hopefully this page will answer your queries! 

Does the world really need a cosmetics museum?  Why?

Of course!  Beauty is a multi-billion dollar-a-year industry.  Cosmetic history and objects need to be researched and preserved to help us understand the industry's enormous influence on society.  On a superficial note, makeup is pretty to look at!

I found an old compact/lipstick/other beauty item.  Can you identify it and/or tell me how much it's worth?

I LOVE getting inquiries and researching them.  I will do my best to identify the object and provide as much information as possible.  However, as museums do not provide valuations, I cannot appraise the object's monetary value.  Also, I reserve the right to share your inquiry (I won't use your name or any identifying information) and any pictures you might have at the Museum's website, unless you ask me not to.  Finally, please understand that since I can't devote all my time to the Museum, I'm not able to get back to you with an answer right away, but I always do respond eventually.  And if you have any other beauty-related questions I'm happy to help with those too.  I like to feel useful!

Collecting makeup is weird.  Aren't you supposed to actually USE it?  And won't it go bad after a while anyway?

Well, I don't think collecting it is so weird - no different than those who collect stamps or baseball cards.  There are people who collect staplers, teabags and pencils so having a collection of makeup, relatively speaking, isn't so strange.  I must also point out that there are museums devoted to things like water, toasters and Pez dispensers, so why not makeup?!  As for it going bad, most of the items in the collection are powder-based, which can hold up for many years  (provided you don't drop them, of course.)  If stored properly, cream and liquid-based items will last a long time as well.  Frankly, since the objects aren't being used, the issue of them going bad is moot.

So I get collecting the vintage stuff, but why contemporary makeup too? 

Current makeup items are just as important as vintage as they tell us where the beauty industry is and where it's going.  They also speak volumes on contemporary views on not just makeup, but cultural and political values as well.  If nothing else, new makeup will be vintage eventually, right?

Do you get any freebies from makeup companies?

Sadly, no.  Nearly everything in the Museum is paid for with my own hard-earned cash.  Sometimes I receive items as gifts from friends and family, and I always acknowledge them as such.  I've also been fortunate enough to receive some incredible donations from fellow makeup aficionados over the years.  When I refer to the Museum's "budget", it really just means my own personal money that I've set aside for Museum purchases.  If companies do ever want to throw free makeup at me, and I accept, I will definitely disclose it. 

I'd love to work at the Makeup Museum!  Any jobs available?

I appreciate your enthusiasm!  And there's nothing I'd like more than having a hard-working, dedicated (and ideally, well-paid) staff.  But the Museum is currently a volunteer effort/labor of love on my part.  I'm not employed or paid by the Museum - I have a completely unrelated full-time job, which I need so that I can afford to build the collection.  Thus, there are no paid employment opportunities right now.  However, if you'd like to volunteer, that would be amazing.  I would fully credit you for your work and I may even be able to scrounge up a Sephora gift card in exchange for your help. ;)

I'm interested in purchasing some of the items from the Museum.  Would you sell them to me?

No way, sorry.  I'd have to be on the verge of homelessness in order to deaccession any of the Museum's collection.

I'm blatantly plagiarizing your idea of a freestanding, independent cosmetics museum in the U.S. and presenting it as my original concept/the world's "first and only" makeup museum.  I'd love to  "collaborate" in that I don't want you involved in any way other than for you to donate items or your whole collection.  Interested?