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History of  Makeup The Evolution of Beauty Through TimeHistory of Makeup
The 1930s Era

1930s Makeup: The Screen and the Statute

A depression that emptied the salons and filled the manicure trade, a film industry that sold its stars’ faces for a dollar, and a law that finally reached the cosmetics counter.

The essayThe Screen and the Statute

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A 1930s collage: a softly hand-tinted studio portrait of a woman with close glossy waves, finely pencilled brows, shadowed lids and a defined red mouth, among a strip of colour film, a cake of foundation with a sea sponge, a bottle of red nail enamel, a gilt lipstick, an eyelash curler and a torn fan-magazine page.
Commissioned illustration
1930 – 1939Screen & Statute
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The 1930s Era: The Chronology

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In short

The 1930s hit the salon houses hard while a new trade in cream nail enamel grew from nothing, sold Hollywood’s makeup and methods to the public, and ended with the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act of 1938, which brought cosmetics under federal law for the first time.

The 1930s Era at a Glance

  • Lips and FingertipsCream nail enamel, and a mouth made to match it.
  • Made for the CameraStudio makeup and studio methods, sold to the street.
  • The Eye by DayTweezers, curlers and a little shadow for the daytime face.
  • A Law at LastCosmetics came under federal law in the United States in 1938.

In the 1930s Era

Screen & Statute

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