Add unique touches to your boudoir with vintage beauty items. Just don’t use the powder.
I’m a sucker for charming product design from the 1960s and 70s so I’m particularly fond of vintage cosmetics and bathroom items. Back then, it seems like beauty companies spent as much time and energy on package design as they did on the actual product. And I’m not just talking about spendy department store brands — even lower-end drug store brands knew the importance of boss packaging. (Just compare Avon products from today with those from the 70s — when it comes to the pretty, there is no question which era prevails.)
Vintage beauty and grooming items work so well as decorative touches, too. So, if you’re looking to add some unique personal flair to a bathroom or boudoir, then why not skip Pier 1 (though we adore thee) and toss a few old school beauty items onto your counter top instead? Not only can, say, an original Caboodles hair-dryer add a bit of pop to the room (and if it works, it’s also functional), but it can also elicit the all-important ‘Oh my god, where did you find that? I remember those!!!‘ from friends. Just one note: a forty-year-old powder puff set may be lovely to look at, but you should probably not actually use the stuff. Because, well, it’s old. Instead, dump the original stuff and refill the box with some fresh, new baby powder. Problem, and germs, solved.
1) 1980s/90s Caboodles hair dryer set, found at the Columbus Farmers Market ($3)
2) Mary Quant beauty ad from 1972, found in Seventeen magazine
3) 1960s-70s light-up hand held mirror, from Village Thrift ($4)
4) Avon ‘Unforgettable’ talc powder, from Pennsey Market (50 cents)
5) Okay, these arent’ vintage. I hand-dyed them for this photo shoot. But vintage wigs and wig-heads can be cheeky display items.
6) 1970s Jontue powder and puff set