Second Picture; Rouge
Third Picture: Revlon Advert
Fourth Picture; Debenhams Commercial Road Portsmouth
Make up
Being a bloke I have very little knowledge of the world of ladies make-up perfumes and fragrances. I think for most of us males we did not discover make up that the girls wore until we suddenly discovered that after a date or two we rather liked the taste of lipstick and the smell of Tweed.
The adult ladies in my close family, my mother and my grandmother were never very keen on using much make up. Neither of them ever wore eye liner or eye shadow and they would never have entertained using false eye lashes and definitely no nail polish and it was only in the later years of her life that my mother even entertained using hair spray. However my godmother was a country lass from the wild’s of Essex where her father was squire of the village of Great Totham, she remained a spinster all her life and never ever wore any make up, even when she moved south into Bedhampton.
The only things make up related that I remember from that period of time is that my mother always used a foundation called Max Factor Creme Puff. This was always a quick and easy birthday gift for her and could be bought in one of the local chemists in Drayton. Whilst my grandmother always used powder and rouge on her cheeks. I seem to remember that the rouge came in a small round navy blue and gold box. She also always used one of two fragrances either Lily of the Valley or 4711 eau de cologne. Both ladies also used Ponds Cold Cream as a face cleanser. One other thing that I do remember is that most ladies had powder compact in their handbags, the most sought after was a Stratton powder compact and powder puff.
For us fellahs the nearest we got to cosmetics or fragrances were the highly scented deodorants and hair products for men produced in the early 1960s. I remember Old Spice, Brute, Hi Karate and the like and occasionally on a visit to the barber’s shop which was situated in the back of Jarmans tobacconist the barber would apply Bay Rhum to your hair after having it cut.
We blokes did not hang around the make-up counter in Woolworth or follow the products on the Rimmels Beauty on a Budget Tray that was not for us. I am reliably informed that Revlon did a range of lipsticks which were very popular with the 1960s, teenage girl. I think that most blokes were totally confused by the number of make-up counters that were situated on the ground floor near the doors of local stores such as LDB, Handleys and Knight and Lee.
Although I have to say that we all did enjoy the results of the hours of application you girls spent on your appearances although personally I never did similar the white or very light-coloured lipstick which was popular in the early 1960’s.
So much for memories!!
Stay in touch
Peter
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