Retro Kicks: The American Cosmetic Industry 1945

The Marie Laurencin, 1934, portrait of Helena Rubenstein (Helena Rubenstein Foundation) signposts the massive US industrialisation of the cosmetic industry, which this You Tube clip documents:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62m17iJUBeA&feature=player_embedded#!

For some reason the above should be a hyperlink but it doesn't work like that, so cut and paste into your browser -

The 'scientific' approach to beauty used the contemporary technological advances but ultimately nothing changed the 'family' recipes of Rubenstein, Czasky, Lazlo, Lubatti and the ultimate rising star of Estee Lauder - European emigres who needed to make a living. What they knew was not new but they were extremely clever in the way they recast what they knew.

See the book Lipstick Wars, by Lindy Woodhead.

Teenage Kicks: Goya Aqua Manda

For the just teenage me this was the apotheosis of fragrance: the decline of Biba and Quant, the cusp of punk to come - rich and difficult compared to the crisp lemony scents also around, and more intriguing than Charlie and Smitty. It has left me with longing for I never had the money to possess it.

Now in The Green Beauty Bible Jo Wood's Amka is described as reminiscent of Aqua Manda, a long lost Goya fragrance, but I think I need to get me some.

My Essentials: Body Cream

After a scrub in the bath there is the pleasure of massaging in an ungent and my favourite to date is Goodworks' Good As Gold body cream. It smells wonderful, I think it's the orange oil and over time you will see a bit of a theme here. There's ylang ylang as well and that's another fragrance I'm partial to with its pungent, dark floral smell - the indoles I guess, I love jasmine too and that's the dominant note in the blend of essential oils I'm using in my facial oil. It also left my skin softer than I have felt it in a long time.

There are other body creams I'd use again: Aveda's Replenishing Body Moisturiser, Retro Lush's Potion, although I'm trying Lush's Creme Anglaise at the moment - this has orange in it too - and I have a pot of ELH Soaps (http://www.elhsoaps.co.uk/) body cream lined up in my bathroom cabinet.