1910-1919

An interesting phenomenon began to take shape at the beginning of the 1910s in the United States. The Vaudeville and theatre performances that were so popular in the 19th century were threatened with the emergence of a new medium of performance art: film. Going to see a film was a popular activity as they were often more accessible and cheaper than going to see a traditional stage production. Similarly to theatre, film companies required cosmetics for their actors and actresses of the screen. 

Before the 1910s, cosmetics were almost never used by society women, especially not during the day. Cosmetics, like rouge and eye makeup, were mostly only used by prostitutes and 'immoral' women. If a woman was considered respectable, she would never be seen in public with any face makeup. The most that was considered acceptable to use was skin smoothing products like cold cream.

As the new film industry spurred the fan culture surrounding actors and actresses that had been growing since the late nineteenth century, it created an environment that made it possible to, in historian Marlis Schweitzer's words, "democratize beauty". Many women during this time were eager to emulate their favourite stars, and cosmetics were one pathway for them to achieve their goal. This is what spurred cosmetics companies to use actress testimonials to help sell their products. 

A selection of magazine covers from are a good visual sample of what the standard for feminine beauty among actresses and society women was.

1911 is the year that marks the beginning of the relationship between Hollywood and the cosmetics industry. It was in this year that two film magazines, Picture-Play and Motion Picture Magazine, were first published. 

1911 was also the year that a probably influential advertisement was published in Vogue. Forrest D. Pullen's Créme Nerol, a face cream, boasted the properties of softening and whitening (a common property in both skincare and cosmetics of the time as whiteness was equated with beauty). The advertisement includes testimonies from ten popular actresses endorsing the product. While some were not yet film actresses, this advertisement is still relevant as it was such a success that it is likely what spurred other cosmetics companies to adopt the same methods of advertising to the masses. The celebrity culture that began with stage actresses in the late 19th century only continued to grow as actresses became more visible and accessible to women. Actresses were beloved and many women wanted to emulate their beauty and success. Cosmetics offered the middle and upper-class woman the opportunity to use the same products as her favourite star.

In the early 1910s, most cosmetics advertisements were small and relegated to the back pages of women's magazines. The advertisement for Lablache Face Powder, shown here, was published in the May issue of the Ladies' Home Journal in 1912. The market for cosmetics was still rather small, as the 19th century sentiments persisted, and most of the advertisements of the early to mid 1910s reflected that.

The most popular type of makeup for the consumer during this period was face powder or foundation. As previously stated, noticeable makeup was still frowned upon by many because of the negative connotations it still held. In 1915, for example, a legislator in Kansas proposed a law making it illegal for women under the age of forty-four to use cosmetics in order to create a 'false impression'.