What cosmetics did your mother use?

Perfume was something by Dior usually. She went mad when I was eight and my father brought me home a bottle of Miss Dior as my present from the flight! He thought little girls must wear it too!

Cyclax - I had forgotten all about it until I saw this thread, and had to google it. It had a royal warrant - the then Princess Elizabeth used it, and that is probably why my mother wanted to! Loose powder, and a sort of foundation cream, and Lentheric "Tweed" perfume completed the set.

Yes, red lipstick, and red fingernails to match. But she wouldn't even try eye make up because it was "common". (Those of you who have been on GN a while will remember my mother's very idiosyncratic and peculiar ideas about what was "common"!)

That made me smile, Ariadne. My mum thought fringes were common - you can guess what I did as soon as I was in control of my hair!

Mine thought red shoes were common so I did what you did when!

Home perm, which she also did for her friends and relatives. The house often stank of perming lotion.

Pierced ears were common, so I paid to have mine done with my first full time wage packet. Her face was a picture

Oh yes Nina, my mother thought pierced ears were common, despite the Queen having them. I had mine done as soon after I married. She still went on about them for years! x

Lona I think the solid powder I referred to must have been Creme Puff,the name rings a bell.I think it was Max Factor.

Senior moment .I can now see you said it was

Sometimes a beauty spot carefully drawn with an eyebrow pencil. Note. It was never used for eyebrows because that looked cheap.

ann

I think Mum used Max Factor pancake makeup. It was slightly coloured.
She didn't wear much makeup though, she was a natural beauty, with thick wavy chestnut hair. Men used to look at her as she walked along the street, and I developed quite a complex about it as I'm just ordinary.

Ponds vanishing cream, Max Factor crème puff and red lipstick. I don't remember her having perfume, she would not spend money on herself and her make up was probably gifts from her sisters.

Ponds cold cream
Bourjois rouge
Yardley face powder
Evening in Paris or Yardley English Lavender perfume
Lipstick but I can't remember what make - probably Yardley

DM had her hair shampooed and set each week by a male hairdresser - a style similar to the Queen's - and like the Queen's, it never varied.

Ponds cream
Rouge
Creme Puff
Red lipstick (she was a blonde, but it was of her time)
Cake mascara (I actually saw people spitting on this but never my mum! Too undignified for her)
Je Reviens perfume (Worth??)

Oh yes, the shampoo and set! She used to try and make it last as long as possible. Was it Amami setting lotion that they used?

It would have been Ponds vanishing cream!
Cold cream was a night-time moisturiser

Pierced ears were common, perfume was common, nail varnish meant your house must be dirty.

I'd forgotten the hairspray though! How could I, there was tons of it!

I have a friend, only slightly older than me, who still has a perm and a weekly shampoo and set, and never washes it in between. It is very ageing and she looks MUCH older than me

Amami rings a bell!

I used to use Je Reviens - shows my age
I bought some mascara with a little brush when I was 15 and going to an inter-school dance. DP were horrified - you're not going out wearing that?

Evening in Paris and Californian Poppy. The Evening in Paris was in a dark blue bottle with a little dabber stick in the lid - the perfume itself was more of a cream than a liquid. I remember lots of talc tins - hyacinth and fresia...and imperial leather soap as a luxury...oh and bath cubes. When we went on holiday we had dentifrice toothpaste in a little tin. I wanted bright red lipstick like mum so I used a liquorice torpedo (red of course). Worked quite well till you licked your lips.

Oil of Ulay
Powder puff
Red lipstick ( and DM had strawberry blonde hair)
Perfume of unknown variety in a plain spray bottle.

Mother went to the hairdresser once every eight weeks for a trim and shampoo and set. In between she did it herself. She had a perm, as and when needed.

Evening in Paris and Californian Poppy rockgran I couldn't remember before!
This is making me feel very nostalgic now.

My mother had lovely thick auburn hair. I always regarded it as very special in the days before people dyed their hair any colour they want.
This thread has made me feel quite sad. Just the thought of the scent of that powder, and the thrill when she 'went out' dressed up.
She played cards with Prisoners of War at her friends house- my father away on the afternoon shift. Looking back it was surely not so innocent as she made it out to be.

Definitely Ponds Cold Cream, Bourjois blusher in a little pot with a little powder puff and Apple Blossom perfume (was it by Helena Rubenstein?) perfume. Pink lipstick.
I don't think my mother ever used eye shadow, liner or mascara...