Beauty in a Jar

Very Informative! A Must-See!
You might not think that a documentary about the make-up industry would be interesting, but it really was. The work goes from saying how women in the 1890s would have associated wearing make-up with evening ladies, to women in the 1950s not walking around the house without being made up, to 1970s feminists condemning makeup, to its future in this century. The work is inclusive of Black women, not only post-Civil Rights, but a century ago when Madame C.J. Walker became a millionaire. The work even interviews Lypsinka, a drag artist, touching upon how issues of makeup and femininity may be of importance to biological males too. An essential undercurrent of the work is how female makeup creators really used their products as a stepping stone to bring women into the business arena. This work was a fascinating glimpse at how history, advertising, and gender politics interact with each other. It also speaks about makeup preferences between the generations: I could see grandmothers,...

Documentary Make-Up Autobiography
This DVD left me with an understanding on why and how the Beauty Industry got its start and its lasting impact on women. The narrators Debi Mazar, Kathy Peiss, Helen Gurly Brown, A'lelia Bundles, Iman, Linda Wells, Naomi Wolf, and others moved this autobiography along many avenues such as marketing, distribution, and cultural dynamics.

educational and entertaining
As a beauty school teacher, I love this movie. It isn't a boring documentary, and even my students live it! Sure, some of it is old fashioned like the editor of Vogue, but it actually adds to the comedy value.

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