Yipstick and Barbie

 

 

 

Commercials have changed gradually, neither good or bad.  It is hard to explain, but health and beauty are huge on the commercial market. Women + kept home to work or whatever + overeating + looking in the mirror is generally 

unhealthy for all. 

My gr-daughters have taken me to Ulta, a store that is a cornucopia for all sorts of make-up with all its enticement. They had a list and some $$ from Dad. I followed along, mentally tallying how much they needed when Dad's $$ ran out. Not much $$ at all, but it thrilled me.

Lipstick is marked as being an instigator of make-up history. Fruit dyes (no cost) for lips then. Now lipsticks are chemical magic, expensive magic at that. 

Who likes lipstick? Besides teen age girls at ULTA, little girls who have found Mommy's lipstick in her purse really love lipstick. 

Home Depot

If I have discovered this major cuteness by myself, think how many videos there might be of lipstick fans? Or finger nail polish?

Barbies

Just a note, I am not a make-up collector. My gr-daughters do that for me.

This is a repost of 2020,  I know many have read this post from back then. My wrist is a cruel task master.This has been a hard experience. Gotta keep taking care.Gotta plow the row.

Father-Daughter Dance

The Father-Daughter Dance: who could talk about anything else?! 

This Friday, it is this Friday!...OMG!  What are you going to wear?...and I get to wear make-up, Mom said.  REAL make-up…My dress is gonna have sequins and tiny straps, you know, like they wear on “iCarly”….and new shoes with tall heels, just like on “Monster High”…

The bell rang and the cluster of eight year-olds broke up.  Parents listened to the excited girls rage on about what the friends were wearing.  All of them sighed.

Mommy took “Lisa” to Burlington Coat Factory to peruse the dresses for the dance.  The eight year old Lisa was bouncing all the way to the racks where her size dresses awaited.

She was now a size 8 in girls; life was much simpler when it size 4-6X.  Now the rack would hold sizes 7 to 16.  Damn.

source

Mixed together were dresses of all types, styles, quality, and value.  The battle lines were quickly drawn.  Neither side was going to budge.

From same source as above.  

Dress after dress was pulled out.  Lisa grasped the strapless glitzy 'hooker' dress (note: a hooker dress is any dress designed to be worn by a 16+ teenager, not by an 8 year old) to her baby chest, claiming that she had to have this dress.  Mommy held out a sleeveless dress of floral blue and purple voile, tied with a bow.  Yes. No. Yes. No.  Both were in tears.

Same source as above

What will happen?  Will the hooker dress (note: a dress like this looks terribly terribly wrong on an 8 year old; disturbingly wrong) be worn to the dance?  Will Mommy lock Lisa in a convent until she is 18? 

On Wednesday, the battle of the Father-Daughter Dance continues…

A is for Avon

A is for…Avon.

No, not the Stratford-on-Avon, although that would also be a good choice for the April 1^st post.

I am talking about Avon, the maker of women’s cosmetics.

At least, it used to sell  only women’s cosmetics. That was back in the 1960s, when I was a

child. Living in a rural community where cornfields surrounded our farm on all sides,

and shopping was something we did on Saturdays at the local grocery store in our small

Thank you, Toulouse!

town, cosmetics were a rarity in our house.

Then the Avon Lady came on the scene. She visited our house, with her catalog of lipsticks, lotions, perfumes, facial cream, and whatever. She carried a sharp briefcase that opened out to display the rainbow selection of everything. I stood behind my mother, looking over her shoulder, and audibly gasped whenever Mom took a minute tube of lipstick and streaked it across the back of her hand. It only took two or three streaks before she selected a color, and placed her order. Mom always chose a vivid red.

Then we kept the sample miniature lipsticks.

To some this may seem a “So what?” But, in 1960 in a remote rural setting, cosmetics

were not widely available or commonly used. Grocery stores sold groceries, meats, and

the personal items like shampoo and Kotex. (The Kotex boxes were wrapped in brown paper bags, for discreet purchases.) Drug stores sold health items and some make-up. 

Cosmetics didn’t have a big following.

The Avon Lady knocked at doors, and transformed the lives of farm women and small town housewives nationwide. They looked forward to the Avon Lady’s visit, and a chance to sit down with someone else besides the farmer husband. With coffee and pie

on the table, ladies of the house (and their daughters) saw how they could look, and it was a touch of glamour.

I salute you, Avon Ladies of the World.

Many thanks to Arlee Bird and your amazing crew, for having such a great idea, and being the instigators!
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