Machines of Perfection: Max Factor’s Beauty Lab – Lucy Jane Santos
Today I want to tell you about two gloriously odd bits of beauty technology dreamed up by the Max Factor company: the Beauty Micrometer and the rather wonderfully named Mechanical Osculator. I was lucky enough to see both in person at The Hollywood Museum in Los...
Introducing Eileen G’Sell
CHMSN member Eileen G'Sell answers our questions in advance of her forthcoming book Lipstick (Bloomsbury, 2026) What initially drew you to join the Cosmetic History and Makeup Studies Network? I was delighted to discover the CHMS Network through my Lipstick research...
Introducing the CHMSN (Part Two)
To mark the first full year of the CHMSN co founder Lucy Jane Santos reflects on the inspiration behind setting it up. What inspired you to establish an academic network group specifically focused on cosmetic history? The truth is that the reason we decided to set up...
Introducing James Bennett
In this series we will be chatting to members of CHMSN What initially drew you to join the Cosmetic History and Makeup Studies Network? In 2009, I started the Cosmetics and Skin website which brought me into contact with the wonderful Hillary Belzer who runs...
Introducing Lauren Alex O’Hagan
What initially drew you to join the Cosmetic History and Makeup Studies Network? For the past six years, I’ve been researching food marketing in nineteenth and early-twentieth century Sweden and Britain. One of my studies (with Göran Eriksson) was on radium products...
Introducing the CHMSN (Part One)
In this new series we will be chatting to members of the CHMSN- we start with our co-founder Hillary Belzer to find out what it is all about What inspired you to establish an academic network group specifically focused on cosmetic history? There are academic networks...
Vitamin F: The Latest in Skincare?
CHMSN member Dr Lauren Alex O'Hagan takes a look at vitamins in skincare In the last few years, Vitamin F has become the focus of much attention in the skincare industry. A 2019 article in fashion magazine Vogue described it as an “unsung skincare hero” that “helps to...
Oatine: The Food for the Complexion
As oat based cosmetics continue to hit the shelves CHMSN member Dr Lauren Alex O'Hagan looks at one of their historical predecessors. “Just five short minutes every day - Five minutes in the OATINE way. A little time; a pleasant duty And all may win complexion beauty”...