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One of my favorite ways to find vintage style inspiration is to study vintage makeup and beauty product advertisements. With all the uncertainty in the world right now, and being stuck inside most days, I thought I’d offer a distraction and share some vintage magazine ads with you! These photos of vintage advertising are from an issue of Photoplay magazine from May 1940 that I purchased at an antique mall.

Old advertisements can be glamorous, funny and sometimes even inappropriate by today’s standards. Vintage makeup ads often had a lot of text, which might be testimonials or anecdotes warning readers of what awful things could happen if they didn’t use the products.

For example, one especially foreboding Listerine ad told the story of a newlywed woman who noticed her husband becoming more distant. The culprit? Bad breath, which could easily be avoided by gargling Listerine Antiseptic. The mouthwash could also “pay you rich dividends in friendships and popularity.”

What Is Photoplay Magazine?

Photoplay magazine was one of the first film magazines for fans, founded in 1911. It was largely popular in the 1920s and ’30s and featured celebrity gossip, interviews, fashion and beauty tips and even relationship advice. Photoplay released its final issue in 1980. You can view many of the issues online for free at mediahistoryproject.org.

While most of the pages were black and white, Photoplay magazine covers were colorfully painted celebrity portraits. The cover star on my May 1940 issue is Canadian-born actress and singer Deanna Durbin (with an adorable puppy!) who became known as “Winnipeg’s Sweetheart.” She played the girl-next-door in films in the 1930s and ’40s like First Love (1939) and Spring Parade (1940).

1940s Vintage Magazine Makeup Ads

The vintage ads in Photoplay spoke to the magazine’s readers, mostly women, with claims that the products would give them movie star looks. Some ads featured movie stars like Bette Davis and Ann Sheridan.

There were ads for everything from lipstick to fragrance to deodorant cream. Many vintage makeup ads included order forms you could clip out and mail in (with the cost of shipping) for a sample of the product.

My May 1940 issue is filled with vintage makeup and beauty product ads. Some are for brands that are still widely used today, like Max Factor, Maybelline, Pond’s and Cutex.

Let’s have a look!

Vintage Cutex Ad

This vintage Cutex Salon Polish advertisement mentions six shades and suggests outfits that would best be suited for each shade:

• GADABOUT: Vivid blue-red to go places with your dashing new exposed-midriff, hooded-head gowns.
• HIJINKS: Red-red—just what you’ll want with the new military influence—braid, cockades, “uniform” pockets.
• CEDARWOOD: Mauvy-rose flattery to feminize your sailor toppers, your man-tailored suits.
• OLD ROSE: Rich rose with a hint of blue—an added romantic touch with your innocent new off-the-face hat.
• CLOVER: Deep winy red to tone down your noisy plaids, stripes, checkerboard fabrics.
• LAUREL: Rambler pink—delicate and young. Perfect with your new pinafore frocks.

Vintage Max Factor Hollywood Ad

This print ad for Max Factor Hollywood promotes a new product, the Tru-Color Lipstick, featuring actress and singer Irene Dunne. It was only one dollar for a tube! The vintage makeup ad includes a form to mail in and receive a purse-size sample of Max Factor Hollywood Powder, Rouge and Tru-Color Lipstick in your “harmony shade” for ten cents to cover postage and handling.

Before YouTube, you would have to learn how to apply makeup from books, department stores or your friends and family. On the order form in the vintage Max Factor ad, you would check boxes indicating your complexion shade, eye color, hair color, whether your lashes were light your dark, whether your skin was dry, oily or normal, and include your age. Max Factor would then send your kit with a Color Harmony Make-Up Chart and Illustrated Instruction Book called “The New Art of Make-Up.”

Modern versions of the products in the ad would be Max Factor Creme Puff Powder Compact, Max Factor Miracle Touch Creamy Blush and Max Factor Color Elixir Lipstick.

Vintage Westmore Cosmetics Ad with Bette Davis

The Westmore family had many talented makeup artists that worked with major movie stars. This vintage makeup ad shows Bette Davis applying Westmore Cosmetics products, with an image above of Davis having her makeup done by Perc Westmore. In the caption, Westmore asks, “Why not have on YOUR dressing table the same make-up we use for the stars?”

The ad mentions Westmore Foundation Cream, Cream Rouge, Eyeshadow, Powder, Dry Rouge and Lipstick. The brand is still around today under the name Westmore Beauty. Modern versions of the products would be the Westmore Beauty Face Coverage Perfecter Foundation + Concealer, Westmore Beauty Double Feature Powder Over Cream Blush and Westmore Beauty Starlit 24k Gold In-the-Core Lipstick.

Vintage Maybelline Ad

Before the catchy tagline, “Maybe It’s Maybelline,” the cosmetics company ran ads pointing out, “What a Difference Maybelline Makes.” This vintage makeup ad shows what a woman looks like before using Maybelline, then shows us what she looks like after a healthy application of Maybelline Eye Beauty Aids: Maybelline Solid-form Mascara, Maybelline Cream-form Mascara, Maybelline Eye Shadow—which only came in six shades—and Maybelline Smooth-marking Eyebrow Pencil.

“Stop…Look…Compare these two pictures of the same girl,” the ad goes on, “It’s easy to see what Maybelline eye make-up means. The difference between blankness and beauty. Between dullness and sparkle. Between hidden charm and instant attraction!”

Today, makeup companies are better at celebrating our natural beauty and thankfully avoid language like “blank” and “dull” when talking about our pre-makeup complexions—for the most part, anyway.

I think the classic makeup look in the ad would look just as stunning today! Modern versions of the products would be Maybelline Expert Eyes Twin Brow & Eye Pencils, Maybelline New York Expert Wear Eyeshadow Singles in “Blue Blazes” and for a solid mascara, there’s Bésame Cosmetics Black Cake Mascara.

Vintage Evening in Paris by Bourjois Fragrance Ad

This vintage perfume ad for Evening in Paris by Bourjois appeals to those who desire to be noticed. It reads, “A breath of eternal spring, a lyric fragrance tender as young dreams. Eyes turn, and are captured. Once again you have woven a spell with Evening in Paris…the fragrance of romance.”

The perfume ads of today are just as cheesy, in my opinion! But if you do wish to turn heads with a “fragrance tender as young dreams,” make note that the fragrance was reformulated in 1991 and is available as Soir De Paris By Bourjois.

Vintage Pond’s Cold Cream Ad

This vintage Pond’s ad almost looks like editorial. It follows a Southern debutante and a young reporter during the December 15, 1939 premiere of Gone With the Wind in Atlanta, where the motion picture debuted at the Loew’s Grand Theatre. Stars of the film were in town and there were special events throughout the city, including the “Gone With the Wind” Ball. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has more photos from the event.

The ad reads, “Both are Southern beauties and both help keep their skin lovely with Pond’s.” It highlights Pond’s Cold Cream for Cleansing and Pond’s Vanishing Cream for Finishing and includes an order form for a trial beauty kit.

Vintage Lux Toilet Soap Ad

This 1940s ad states that “9 out of 10 Screen Stars use Lux Toilet Soap.” Actress Ann Sheridan was one of those stars, at least for the purposes of this print ad, which shows her working up a “rich active lather,” rinsing “with warm water, then a dash of cool” and patting dry to reveal silky smooth skin.

Vintage Yodora Deodorant Cream Ad

I hadn’t heard of Yodora Deodorant Cream before, but apparently you still find it online and at some drugstores. This vintage deodorant ad claims the product was tested by a woman playing tennis for three hours in 98° weather; afterward, she had no underarm odor. I’d certainly like to find a deodorant that can do that!

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