Underneath it all- a few words about panties

After girdles and bras I think it’s time to talk a bit about underpants. Or panties, knickers, briefs, drawers- there’s a Swedish idiom that say that a beloved child has many names, and that’s seems to be true for the most intimate of all undergarments. It’s also a rather new one. Knickers have been worn under gowns earlier, but not until the 19th century it became more common. At the beginning of the 20th century, underpants were voluminous things that reached at least to the knees.

A review on Revlon lipstick

I know, know, I really didn’t need more lipsticks. And I also try to not but things just because, but the idea of trying a lipstick shade that have actually been around since forever, appealed to me so much that I just had to try. Unfortunately the shade I most wanted to try from Revlon, Raven Red, who was launched in 1945, was discontinued some ten years ago. It is still around here and there, but I haven’t found any who ships to Sweden. Oh well. I did buy three other shades, though.

Quality
Really good actually, for the price you pay, even excellent. All my lipsticks Revlon’s Super Lustrous Lipcolor and they go on very creamily and don’t feel drying at all. I thought all the lipsticks covered well on the first application, but I think it looks better if you do two layers. Staying powered, however, differed a bit between colours. To me it doesn’t smell anything at all, which I think some appreciate, even if I don’t mind a discreetly scented lipstick. They are not completely matte, but not at all shiny- just shiny enough, if you ask me.

Price
Revlon is a budget brand and my three lipsticks; with shipping from the UK I paid less then £14. Compared that to buying a Became lipstick from What Katie Did cost £22 + shipping and a Rockalilly lipstick is £14 + shipping. Don’t get me wrong, I think both Became and Rockalilly are worth the money, but I think that on a slim budget, Revlon is a very good option, but they are worth a try even if you can afford bigger brands.


Certainly Red, 1951
Really nice true red shade, not too dark. I think it’s a great daytime red, but that is, of course, a matter of opinion. It also has good staying power, and lasts easily six-eight hours with one meal thrown in. A second meal and it will fade noticeably. Of all lipsticks I have tried, it’s the one I have found that is closest to MAC’s Ruby Woo, though not as matte and much, much nicer to use.

More reviews and swatches: Platinum Blonde Life, with a swatch compare to Ruby Woo.
Power Femme


Fire and Ice, 1952
Fire and Ice was very successfully launched with the help of model Dorian Leigh. She had been used by Revlon before and was by the time 36 years old. Do you check out if you are made for Fire and Ice;



I haven’t really used this one yet, because it’s a really bright red and the bleak winter light makes it look a bit too stark on my lips. I suspect this colour will look a lot better in summertime, so I will return to it then.

More reviews and swatches: Vampy Varnish
Vintage or Tacky
Pink Sith


Love That Pink, 1955
I do love this pink. It’s the pink I have wanted for years. I don’t always want to have red lips, but pink so often feels to bright and bubbly for me. Love That Pink is a rather reddish pink with a hint of coral. Not in your face, but not too discreet either. I find it very wearable and flattering and have used it a lot lately. The staying power is not great, though, so you need to re-apply it, but it fades evenly so it doesn’t look too horrid. Funnily enough this colour is often called a dupe for MAC’s Impassioned, but given that Love That Pink have been around for a bit longer, I rather think that it’s the other way around.
More reviews and swatches: Shopping Intervention
Clever Endeavor

Conclusion
I think these lipsticks good ones, especially as the price is so low. They may not be as good as more expensive brands, but they are definitely good enough to use. If you want to try a colour you haven’t used before, then I think it would be a good idea to buy a Revlon lipstick to try it out, instead of buying something more expensive. I also think it’s really, really neat that you can but shades that really were in use 50-60 years ago and I’m sure I will try more of them eventually. Who knows, I might even get my hands on Raven Red.

(Picture sources: http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/search?q=revlon
http://www.muncom.com/kikimimi/revlon-super-lustrous-lipstick-certainly-red-740-380984.html
http://vintageortacky.com/2011/06/12/revlon-fire-ice/
http://www.britishbeautyblogger.com/2010/10/revlon-fire-ice-its-back.html
http://shoppingintervention.blogspot.com/2011/05/shopping-my-stash-revlon-luxurious.html)

Briefly about bras

I talked about bras in the corset and girdles posts, but it’s a garment that deserves a post on its own. Breast supports of some kind have probably been around since people started to wear clothes. There is a Roman mosaic that depicts exercising girls clad in something that looks quite a lot like a modern bikini.

Girdles and corsets and the right shape, oh my

Let’s stay in the same time frame as in the post about fashionable figures, the early 20th century to the 1950’s, but remove the clothes and see what was worn underneath. The origins of corsets or stays are very hazy, the first known examples dates to around 1600, but those are already fully developed garments, two layers of fabric stiffened with reeds or whalebone. A piece of clothing designed to change the female body so it conforms to the ideals of the time. And ideals change- just during the first decades of the 20th century it went from super curvy, to super straight.

50 years of fashionable female figures

Even if this blog is about the 1940’s you may have notice that I sometimes go outside the decade. Nothing exists in a vacuum and sometimes I feel the need to reach outside to give a little perspective. Something it’s much too easy to look at something and isolate it from the before and after, but I think it’s important to see the larger picture. The forties isn’t my sole interest either, even if it’s a big one. This post began as a tie in after my posts on the ideal body shape, found here and here , but if grow to include 50 years of body ideal. I hope you will find it interesting and not distracting.




Consider these two pictures, taken about 50 years apart and still, the figures of the both women are not that different. Granted, both Camille Clifford and Jayne Mansfield had exaggerated figures, even for their times, but even so they represent the ideal of the time. The Edwardians beauty is all curves, a youthful, but mature woman with ample, but rather low bosom, a narrow waist and wide hips. Miss Mansfield’s breasts are placed higher, but she is also very curvy. If you didn’t know more about the fashion changes of the 20th century, it would be easy enough to think that this body ideal went on interrupted for 50 years. I think we all know that this is not the case.