Not just pretty faces: Thirties film reel reveals how make-up artists used geometry to get that Old Hollywood look
A make-up application how-to video from 1936 has been discovered, shedding light on the way experts used to apply the science of geometry to the art of applying make-up to the face.
The short newsreel film, made by British Pathe and entitled Secrets of Make-up, is narrated by a clipped English gentleman who gently pokes fun at his subject matter throughout.
'Making up whether after a tiff or as part of the toilet is an art if only one knows how,' he says.
The video features three models with different shaped faces having make-up applied to their cheeks, eyes and lips by way of a geometric set of guidelines.
A make-up artist measures the distance between the forehead and the bridge of the nose, and the nose and the chin with what looks like a large wooden compass.
The lines are then drawn across the model's naked visage. In other words, as the narrator points out: 'make-up is made to measure.'
With the measurements taken, she then determines what area of the cheek requires make-up and subsequently draws a triangle to establish the area that the narrator describes as 'the very limit of operations'.
The humourous voice refers to this cosmetic equation as a way of 'making up in make-up what the face lacks in uniformity.' After which he adds: 'It's all rather touching don't you think?'
The video then shows a model who has had her make-up done both badly and well and the two images are juxtaposed for contrast - which by today's standards of technology are hard to detect in the soft focus, black and white footage.
Now that the skin has been primed and made beautiful, the make-up artist moves on to the lips.
The storyteller introduces this chapter of the lesson by saying: 'Now the lips. This is where we get warmed up to our subject.'
He explains that if the lips are not shaped in a natural Cupid's bow or they are a bit fuller, then lipstick should be applied in a slightly exaggerated V-shape and the corners of the mouth left untouched.
For those with thin lips, he continues, the idea is to enlarge the middle of the lip and thus shorten the gap between the nose and the mouth.
The clip only lasts just over a minute but is complimented by another video also by British Pathe shot two years later.
The film, titled: Beautifying: Where to Put the Accent, instructs its audience how to shape and enhance the eyebrows to accent the eyes using the technique of beauty 'editress' of Women's Fair, Jeane Barrie.
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