Red lipstick palette – A glimpse into a 1940s Hollywood makeup artist’s tool kit

This is a wonderful, brief glimpse into the makeup case of a movie makeup artist in the 40’s. The image is from a sequence in the 1944 classic Covergirl starring Rita Hayworth.

The scene involves Hayworth’s character being “made up” for a photo-shoot by makeup artist Clay Campbell, one of Columbia Picture’s most important makeup artists who worked with her on a regular basis.

The lipstick pallet he is working with shows us exactly how important and common a red lip was at the time. Other than one or two pink colors, the entire pallet is variations of red. The purple and white along the right side are undoubtedly there as mixers to alter the reds and for use in black and white films which were still being produced at the time.

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1 Comment

  1. That sure looks handy–I can never find a perfect red & end up mixing red lipstick with brown gloss, and clear gloss, and whatever else I can find. Then I end up taking lip gloss tubes apart & cramming the mess down into them. *off to Google lip palettes* I guess they probably sell them at Sally’s???

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Welcome to the Bobby Pin Blog! I am Lauren Rennells and as a hairstylist, makeup artist, writer, and generally artistic over-achiever, the Bobby Pin Blog is my outlet for thoughts and research about vintage hair and makeup trends and how to recreate them today. Thank you for stopping by!

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