Compacts and eye shadows, 1920s–30s. Art Deco. USA, Europe, Argentina.
The signature look of the 1920s combined red lips, pale powdered skin, and dark, smoldering eyes. Early Hollywood actresses helped popularize cosmetics. Prior to this period, bold makeup was discouraged; only stage actresses wore such daring looks. By the 1920s, cosmetics counters proliferated in drug and department stores. Compact cases and the swivel lipstick tube became available.
Retailers also offered colored nail polish by the end of the 1920s. Moon manicures, in which women painted only the middle of their long nails, while leaving the crescent tips untouched, were fashionable throughout the 1920s and ’30s. Mascara, still in its infancy, came in a cake form that was combined with water and applied with a flat bristle brush. Via flysfo.com
