French lady getting ready to go out in her boudoir - she check the powder on her nose - " Yes, that is just perfect!" Date: circa 1910s
Olive Borden applies lipstick in the mirrorActress Olive Borden putting the finishing touches to her face in a scene from The Monkey Talks, a film adaptation of the stage play produced in London and New York. Date: 1927
Strip tease card game - Theatre suit - Dresser. A game which features characters involved in performing (and subsequently prosecuting and defending) a striptease
Wartime Snowfire AdvertisementA wartime advertisement promoting Snowfire Beauty Preparations, who provide essential creams and makeup for women. He's on leave, you can have off duty beauty. Date: circa 1940s
La MaquillageA portrait painting of a woman applying her makeup in her dressing room, in front of a mirror, with all her equipment laid out. Date: circa 1919
Advertorial showing women's fashions and cosmetics. Elizabeth Arden cosmetics, and service kit, Marshall and Snelgrove tweeds and tartan, and Lilywhites pyjama suit
Wartime advert for Tangee Lipstick. Date: 1943
Wartime advert for Yardley Cosmetics, featuring the face of a woman in Auxiliary Territorial Service uniform. Date: 1943
The front cover of Britannia and Eve from October 1943. Date: 1943
The front cover of Britannia and Eve from November 1943. Date: 1943
Wartime advert for Yardley Complexion Powder, featuring the face of a nurse. Date: 1943
The front cover of Britannia and Eve from September 1943. Date: 1943
The front cover of Britannia and Eve from August 1943. Date: 1943
The front cover of Britannia and Eve from July 1943. Date: 1943
A wartime advert for Yardley Complexion Powder. Date: 1943
Advert, Yardley cosmetics, WW2Advert, Yardley cosmetics, encouraging women to keep their standards up during WW2 - put your best face forward. Date: 1942
A page of adverts from - February 1954Three fashion adverts for women's permanent hair styles at Vasco's Hair Bubbles, tailored lingerie at and Supalese early spring tailored suits at Swan & Edgar. Date: 1954
Maggie Smith, renowned English actressMaggie Smith (Dame Margaret Natalie Smith Cross, b 1934), renowned English actress of stage, television and film. Date: circa 1960s
Map of Africa, 1820. Showing Morocco, Barbary and the Sahara in the north, Soudan and Guinea in the west, Khoikhoi (Hottentots) and Bantu (Caffres) in the south, and Abyssinia and Sennaar in the east
Woman applying makeup at her dressing tableBefore the Dance - woman applying makeup at her dressing table. 1920s
Comic postcard, Woman at her dressing table, improving her appearance with makeup Date: early 20th century
1860s Japan - portrait of a young woman putting on make-up at a mirror Felice or Felix Beato (1832 - 29 January 1909), Italian-British photographer working mostly in India, Japan, China
Portrait of a young Japanese woman, JapanVintage 19th century photograph of Japan - well-known portrait of a young Japanese woman, possibly of mixed race, variously described as An Officers Daughter or Girl with a European Hairstyle
Comic postcard, Two women and a man at the seaside - too fresh! Date: 20th century
Advert for Max Factors makeup featuring the Albertina Rasch dancers, 1930 in MGMs The Rogue Song Date: 1930
Advert for Max Factors makeup featuring the Sisters G, 1930. They had appeared in the Universal Pictures film King of Jazz Date: 1930
Beauty on Duty, 1939. Hairstyles and make-up for women in the services. Home front, Britain. Date: 1939
Actress in dressing room preparing her makeup. 1926
Marceline the Droll, Spanish-born clown. He became famous at the newly-opened Hippodrome in the early twentieth century and then went to New York to perform at the hippodrome there
Dressing room at New York Theatre 1905Behind the scenes in the mens dressing room in New York Theatre. 1905
Silver Street Boys School fancy dress groupSilver Street Boys School advanced class fancy dress group, most of them with blacked-up faces and hands. Their names are: Harold Blanchard, Philip Wilson, Arthur Thorne, Ernest Trafford
Two pretty maids helping to dress two old cronesLa toilette: Two young women help older women with baby bonnets and false bosoms - while giving knowing looks to the viewer. Women of 19 and 20 are in open war with women of a certain age (30)
A Parisian woman getting dressed in the Chinese style. Our artist has turned three magots (grotesque porcelain figures) into makeup artists eager to transform a beautiful Parisienne into a Chinese
Woman applying makeupGerman woman wearing hat with veil retouching lipstick. Date: 1936
Advert, Make up to Yourself. 1936
Ellen Terry visiting Sarah Bernhardt in her dressing room at the Royal Opera House. 1892
The Bystander, Arming for the Fray by Barribal 1930Front cover illustration for The Bystander by William Barribal featuring a woman with flame red hair using a hand mirror to apply lipstick. Date: 1930
Cartoon advert for Shuck Maclean and Co Ltd, makers of printing inks. The winner of a beauty competition writes: I ascribe my success entirely to the use of your charming inks. 20th century
Painted in Lipstick - The Lipstick by Kees van DongenSketch by the Danish artist Kees van Dongen, famous for painting the ultra-modern woman of the 1920s. The artist used lipstick to draw a picture of a woman applying lipstick. Date: 1929
Huntley Wright and Gracie Leigh in The Cingalee, or Sunny Ceylon, a musical play about tea planters in Ceylon (Sri Lanka), which opened at Dalys Theatre, London, in 1904. circa 1904
Bertram W. Mills Circus at Olympia, London 1928Show at Olympia, London twice daily over the Christmas season the Bertram Mills Circus with a bear performing, classical Gladiators, trapeze, clowns and much more Date: 1928
Baiting-Up, by A. K. MacDonaldA colour illustration of a lady applying lipstick in preparation to woo a gentleman. Date: 30th July 1924
FEMALE TYPE / MIRROR 1929An elegant woman looks at her reflection in the mirror to check that her makeup is in good order. Date: 1929
Choctaw Indian Princess, Oklahoma, USAChoctaw Indian Princess in traditional costume, Oklahoma, USA. Date: 1946
Woman sitting at a mirror while her hairdresser combs her hair.. Handcolored copperplate engraving by Francis Eginton from Christopher Ansteys The New Bath Guide, John Browne, Bath, 1807
White gangster hat by Edward MannModel wearing a white gabardine " gangster" hat with red, white and blue striped band by Edward Mann. Worn with make-up by Richard Hudnut using bright pink bloom cream rouge for the hearts
Straw stetson hat by Peter ShepherdModel wearing a navy straw stetson with blue, pink and white band by Peter Shepherd. Worn with make-up by Max Factor. Date: 1966
Straw hats by Otto Lucas Junior and Chez ElleOn the left: model wearing a plum straw hat with versatile brim by Otto Lucas Junior. To give her that natural, glowing look
