Happy birthday Maybelline

Your eyes will be beautiful

Ad from 1922 with Ethel Clayton

We’ve talked about the history of notable vintage beauty products before, but perhaps Maybelline is the vintage brand with the most prominent staying power. From a tag line that’s ingrained into our collective conscience (“Maybe she’s born with it. Maybe it’s Maybelline.”) to a little pink and green tube of magic that is found in nearly every woman’s bathroom, Maybelline is just as relevant today as it was when it began as a family-run company in the early 1900s. Did you know that from these humble origins Maybelline went on to become the number one cosmetics company in America? Not too shabby for a brother and sister duo.

In 2015 this “little cosmetics company that could” celebrates 100 years of making women feel beautiful. So let’s investigate how those last ten decades have been as we say happy birthday Maybelline. Its history starts with a dash of ingenuity and one very observant brother. I’ll channel Sophia from Golden Girls for my intro. Picture it: a time of turmoil with WWI underway and people are craving hope during this war to end all wars. In the midst of this global conflict a young Mabel Williams of Chicago has a more personal quest: fuller eyelashes. Some say she embarked on this journey due to an unfortunate kitchen accident, but while the reason isn’t clear we do know that since the time of the Egyptians, people have been interested in drawing attention to their eyes. Mabel would achieve her signature look by combining Vaseline with a bit of coal dust and then coating the mixture onto her lashes. Her brother Tom admired her creativity and figured other gals like his sister would enjoy some lash enhancement. A few chemistry experiments later, Maybell Laboratories was born and Maybelline’s first product was launched: Lash-Brow-Ine. This determined 19 year old entrepreneur put his sister’s smiling face on the tin and soon women everywhere were clamoring to know “the secret of beautiful eyes.” (You can see where the desire for catchy taglines started.) If you’re curious about the name, Maybelline is a clever mash-up of Tom’s sister’s name and the always versatile Vaseline.

Fast forward a couple years, and with their mail order business thriving, Tom and Mabel renamed their lovely lash creation (thank goodness, because I must admit that Lash-Brow-Ine isn’t very exotic sounding). In 1917 the product officially took on a more familiar tone with the moniker Maybelline Cake Mascara. For less than a dollar’s worth of investment, ladies were enjoying more defined lashes for their nights on the town. Fast forward a few decades and this name evolved into Ultra Lash in the 1960s, becoming our beloved Great Lash about ten years later. Even though the Maybelline brand continued to expand into other beauty products during this time, it never strayed far from its mascara origins.

Thanks to Maybelline!

Lynda Carter, looking fab

With Great Lash’s launch in the 1970s, Maybelline kick started a highly successful celebrity ad campaign starring none other than Lynda Carter herself. That’s right – Wonder Woman also wanted to draw attention to her baby blues while fighting crime and kicking butt! With Lynda’s powerful presence leading the way, Great Lash couldn’t help but become iconic. Yet this wasn’t Maybelline’s first time to partner with an actress. In the early 1920s Clara Bow graced many an ad campaign. And as you probably know Bow was the original Hollywood “it girl” and famous for her big, beautiful eyes!

A couple decades after Lynda’s debut as a Maybelline spokeswoman and the now famous tag line debuted, shoring up the strong foundation Tom and Mabel established during the Progressive Era. I want to leave you with a vintage beauty brand connection I find interesting: the case of observant men with an inclination for chemistry and the women who inspired them. Consider this, Almay was established in the early 1930s because May had delicate skin and her husband Al created cosmetics that worked with her sensitivities. (Isn’t that just the sweetest story?) So we have two brands that started out in a similar fashion – dare we call it a theme? Does anyone else out there know of a vintage or retro cosmetics line that shares this connection? Let me know in the comments…


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