103 years of Maybelline Ads show how little has changed in beauty...The products may change, but their goals remain the same

while trends and looks superficially change, nothing has really changed fundamentally in beauty. Women still want lush lashes and brows and perfect skin 103 years later, though the way advertisers have marketed those products to women has changed.

1915-1920S

 Maybelline got its start with a lash and brow product. In 1915, a young woman named Mabel Williams mixed coal dust with Vaseline and used it to beef up her lashes after singing them off in an accident. Her brother Tom Lyle Williams took the idea and ran with it, producing a product he called it Lash-Brow-Ine, that became popular via mail order. He called his new company Maybelline (Mabel + Vaseline) and a brand was born. 

1930s

By the 1930s, "eye lash darkener," as it was called, was officially a thing, and Maybelline sold it in cake form with a separate brush. There was a scare surrounding a lash dye at the time called Lash Lure (not made by Maybelline), which blinded some women, so the company was very careful to say that no dyes were used and that the products were "safe." 

In the '30s, brow pencils and eye shadow also came into vogue. This was also the birth of the makeup tutorial's earliest ancestor. The brand produced ads of Betty Grable demonstrating a three-step application process, which ran in popular magazines. The company also notes that in the '30s, the time of the Great Depression, women couldn't afford a new dress, but they could certainly afford a new eye shadow.

1940S-1950S

In the 1940s and 1950s, Maybelline introduced iridescent eye shadow sticks and liquid liner.  In 1959, the company launched its first "automatic" mascara (after Helena Rubenstein got one to market first), featuring a spiral brush in the tube, called Magic Mascara. During this era, Maybelline began distributing overseas.

1960s

By this point, Tom Lyle Williams was the Cosmetic King and Maybelline was Number one Globally.  Then in 1971, the company cemented its hold on women's lashes for good by launching the now-iconic pink and green Great Lash Mascara. In the late '60s, the company was sold to Schering-Plough.

1970S

 In 1974, the company launched its first lip products, which included products like Kissing Sticks, Kissing Koolers, and Kissing Potion. Kissing: very big in the '70s.

1980S

The brand started offering a full complement of products, including lipstick and foundation. Lynda Carter featured prominently in many ads during this decade, ushering in the era of the actress as spokes model. 

1990S

In 1990, Maybelline changed hands again, this time to investment firm Wasserstein Perella and Co. One of the most famous ad slogans of all time was also introduced during this decade: "Maybe she's born with it. Maybe it's Maybelline." (Admit it. You just sang the jingle in your head.) Christy Turlington featured prominently in commercials during the '90s.  L'Oreal acquired the brand in 1996 and still owns it. Over the last 20 years, the brand has signed buzzy models like Jourdan Dunn, Gigi Hadid, Adriana Lima, Freja Beha Erichsen, Jessica White, Charlotte Free and Shu Pei Qin, and sponsored global fashion week.  

Maybelline changed its Logo from "Maybe it's Maybelline," to "Make it Happen." 

. 

 Gigi Hadid became the new face of Maybelline promoting her own product line under the  Maybelline  collection.

And it all started with a 19 year old boy with a good idea from his sister Mabel and a $500. loan from his brother Noel.

TAGS

   

CHRISTY TURLINGTONMAYBELLINEL'OREALVINTAGE MAKEUP ADSLYNDA CARTER

The Maybelline Story starts a century ago and takes you though the interesting life of founder Tom Lyle Williams and his fascinating family as he climbs his way to achieving the all American dream. Cross country, it will take you from Chicago to Hollywood, mingling with the who's who in each era and location.

The Maybelline Story is one that has left a lasting impression upon America, yet not many realize just how vital a role the cosmetic brand has played in shaping idealism today.  The obsession with perfection is widely seen throughout Hollywood, as it was nearly 100 years ago.  However, the obsession at that time did not reach the rest of society as it has today.  Early cosmetic developers, such as founder Tom Lyle Williams of the Maybelline Co. brought cosmetics to the everyday woman, pushing the idea that every woman, young and old, regardless of class, can obtain glamour and beauty with a simple swish of the eyes.  That’s where Maybelline got its start.  Developed in a time where women were breaking away from being modest and obedient housewives, and starting to seek their right as legal voters and equals in society.

The story captivates all audiences by its incredible survival through economic, social, and personal turmoil.  The Maybelline Story takes you on a journey through 20^th century America, and into the 21^st century, where Maybelline thrives as a billion-dollar Icon, the world’s largest cosmetic brand.  For Tom Lyle, the journey was not easy, as the brand tears his family and their world apart, yet brings them together to re-discover what they had before they had millions.....each other. 

For 100 years, Maybelline has helped Women everywhere to find the power of transformation

...gain confidence to pursue dreams

...develop optimism in the face of doubt
...be inspired to pursue what can be
...and build the strength to make it happen, wherever life’s passion takes her.

RAISING AWARENESS Maybelline New York

To raise awareness in-stores and online, we’ve also taken our most iconic products – Great Lash, Baby Lips and Unstoppable Liner - and re-imagined the packaging so that young women everywhere can purchase their favorite Maybelline New York products, for a cause. These limited edition products will be in mass market retailers nationwide now until supplies last. https://www.maybelline.com/thegirlproject

Woman can't be truly independent and free without being financially independent.....

When Women gained the power of Financial Freedom they chose the right to be noticed with MAYBELLINE..

In the 1920's the American frontier had been explored, and cities were now the epicenters of discovery. New technology demanded an expanded workforce. Women defied their stay-at-home roles. With the freedom of their own money, they behaved differently. They even started smoking.

Massive advertising campaigns by Lucky Strike Tobacco Company lured women as well as men into smoking with the slogan “It’s toasted!” After all, what could be more pure and aromatic than toasted, golden leaves.

The public fell for it. With product placement in the first self-serve grocery stores—the Piggly Wiggly chain—it was easy to develop a smoking and Maybelline habit overnight.

No one could stop their little purchases, which included beauty-products. The era when only performers and prostitutes wore make-up had passed.

The age of cosmetics had begun with Lash-Brow-Ine in 1915, which became Maybelline in 1916.....

Irene Rich worked for Will Rogers, John Wayne, John Ford, Ward Bond, Gale Gordon, George M. Cohan.

  She was a Maybelline Model in 1925 . 

Financial empowerment.....is about knowledge and education! 

Read all about it in my book, The Maybelline Story and the Spirited Family Dynasty Behind It..... 

The Maybelline Story opens the doors to a fascinating era in America's history during the 20th Century.

1943 - Executive Secretary to Noel and Tom Lyle Williams, Dorothy Mullander, stands in front of the Maybelline Company's famous Maybelline logo on the double doors leading into the Maybelline building.  The Maybelline building was two stories with a basement and three apartments for family members who just got married and were getting on their feet.  The packaging and distribution center was also located in the basement.  The first floor held offices for various secretaries and other workers and the walls were filled with pictures of movie stars who modeled for Maybelline in the pages of world wind magazines.  The second floor contained the executive offices for Noel, Tom Lyle, Tom Jr and Rags Ragland.  The Maybelline Building was located at 5900 Ridge Ave, at Ridge and Clark, in the heart of down town Chicago where much of  The Maybelline Story takes place during the gangster ridden era of prohibition.

Outside the Maybelline Building 1934.

When Maybelline was sold, each employee was given $1,000 for each year they worked at Maybelline. Even those who hadn't been there a full year got $1,000. Uncle Lyle's secretary Dorothy (aka Ducky) ended up with something like $35,000 as did another secretary called Jimmie. Jimmie called Mable to ask her to relay to TL how grateful was that she could retire after she got her $30,000 check. At the time my parents had a bookstore and a former employee came in and told them he was bowled over to receive $8,000.

Tom Lyle, Jr. inherited his father's shyness. Mable's daughter Shirley worked summers at Maybelline and she said every morning TL Jr. walked briskly to his private office, said a brief hello to everyone and no one saw him again until the end of the day. On the other hand, Noel kept up with all the employees' and their families. The women who worked there loved him dearly and called him Unky.

When Tom Lyle died, his niece Shirley got a phone call from TL, Jr.'s lawyer.  He said Tom Lyle Jr. was too shy to go downtown to meet with the executor and lawyers and asked Shirley to do it. She went downtown to explain all the family members and their relationships to the family. Good thing she had and still has an excellent memory.  (Memories from Mable's daughters, Shirley and Joyce, and her granddaughters, Donna and Linda, who still live in Chicago.

Tom Lyle Williams at his home in Bel Air, after the sale of his Maybelline Company in 1968

 


TL left a big portion of his estate to the Salvation Army. For many years he rented them space in the Maybelline building for $1 annually.


If you enjoyed HBO's Mildred Pierce with it's Hollywood era of the 1930's and 1940's, you will go nuts over The Maybelline Story.

Eye Makeup Trends by Decade: The Shadow, Mascara, and More That Ruled the Last 100 Years And the chic women who wore them.

Elle Magazine, Article by Jane Brown, September 1

• 
  

The Icons: Mary Pickford, Bette Davis, and the Gibson Girl

Maybelline's namesake, Mabel 

Williams, 1915

The 1910s: A Sheer Wash of Color or Totally Bare  

Backstory: Makeup had its challenges at the turn of the century. It wasn't widely available:

 Mascara wasn't even invented until 1915, when Maybelline debuted a dry cake version that required water to turn into a paste-like consistency. The women who dared to wear it had to covertly shop at the equivalent of a speakeasy or go to one of the few apothecaries that custom-blended concoctions. It was far from convenient, and the only women wearing it regularly were screen stars and ladies of the night.

This was a decade of demure fashion and behavior, one in which ladies avoided even the slightest bit of sun (tans were considered as trashy as obvious makeup). Women who wore any color usually stuck with just a bit of blush on the cheeks and lips, and the bold few who put makeup on their eyes dabbed just a sheer wash of gray, brown, or yellow-colored paste on their lids.

click on the link below for the entire article in Elle Magazine by Jane Brown

 A lot changes in 100 years, including the space on and around women's eyes. From the first part of the 20th century to now, trends have ping-ponged between extremes ('80s makeup is still inspiring Halloween costumes, while the more demure decades were characterized by an almost nonexistent application). Not a centenarian yourself? See what you missed by clicking through.

http://www.elle.com/beauty/makeup-skin-care/g28604/best-eye-makeup-trends-every-decade/

GETTY

The Maybelline Story...Fascinating, Stimulating, Gripping makes you wanting for more!,

The Maybelline Story starts a century ago and takes you though the interesting life of founder Tom Lyle Williams and his fascinating family as he climbs his way to achieving the all American dream. Cross country it will take you from Chicago to Hollywood, mingling with the who's who in each era and location. Read how a fluke turned into a simple product, and how it turned into an international sensation and empire. Follow their families lives for One Hundred years.        

The Maybelline Story is one that has left a lasting impression upon America, yet not many realize just how vital a role the cosmetic brand has played in shaping idealism today.  The obsession with perfection is widely seen throughout Hollywood, as it was nearly 100 years ago.  However, the obsession at that time did not reach the rest of society as it has today.  Early cosmetic developers, such as founder Tom Lyle Williams of the Maybelline Co. brought cosmetics to the everyday woman, pushing the idea that every woman, young and old, regardless of class, can obtain glamour and beauty with a simple swish of the eyes.  That’s where Maybelline got its start.  Developed in a time where women were breaking away from being modest and obedient housewives, and starting to seek their right as legal voters and equals in society.

The story captivates all audiences by its incredible survival through economic, social, and personal turmoil.  The Maybelline Story takes you on a journey through 20^th century America, and into the 21^st centurywhere Maybelline thrives as a billion-dollar Icon, the world’s largest cosmetic brand.  For Tom Lyle, the journey was not easy, as the brand tears his family and their world apart, yet brings them together to re-discover what they had before they had millions.....each other.