Eliza Blog!

Finally, I've gotten around to creating a blog for my company, Eliza Fragrances & Cosmetics.  See it here!  This is where I will feature fun facts, ideas, latest products, the vintage photos and advertisements that are my inspiration.  I'll also be hosting giveaways on that blog.

Got some memory boards for my good old computer and it's running so much better.  Blogger doesn't freeze up anymore, so I'm looking forward to blogging more on here, as well.  I have a few vintage style ideas I would like to share.


Hooray!  I hope I can keep up two blogs!  I leave you now with one of my favorite vintage cosmetic ads, which I just found today on myvintagevogue.com.  It's for Revlon's "Fashion Plate" powder, from 1948.  Look at that lacy bodice on the gown!  And those red lips!  Wow!

Stay glamorous!  ;)

Eliza Fragrances & Cosmetics Blog

Forget that Tumblr account I mentioned, I now have a blog here on Blogger that will be devoted to my company, Eliza Fragrances & Cosmetics.  ♥

http://elizafragrancesandcosmetics.blogspot.com/

Happy Birthday to Me

Today is my birthday!  A lady never admits her age, so you'll all just have to guess.  ;)  There is no snow here and today is quite a temperate day.  That's a lovely birthday gift to wake up to.

How busy I have been.  I'm planning out some lip palettes for the holidays!  The colors that I'm going to feature are:

1. A light coral-pink.
2. A brownish red (my 'Rita' shade, reformuated)
3. Pearly pink.
4. Cranberry red!
5. Plum.

The cranberry and plum shades are hard to pull off, as I'm using a new iron oxide that I'm still getting acquainted with.  It's amazing how just a little bit of this will make the formulation very dark.

This was the initial cranberry shade I came up with, but it was much darker on my lips and too close to another of my lip rouges, 'Paulette'.  So I'm going to try more of a cranberry juice color, rather than cranberry sauce.  That being said--have you ever noticed how many different shades of "cranberry" there are?  Cranberry sauce and dried cranberries are not the same color as cranberry juice, and fresh cranberries are a different story altogether.  Wow!  Well, it's a challenge that I'm up for.  When I finish, I plan to name this rouge after that lovely actress, Gene Tierney.

Gene Tierney

My aforementioned glosses turned out well.  I made some glittery ones for Halloween.

 

 

'Marilyn' lip gloss.  

'Empress', one of the glosses featured in the Halloween collection.  Claudette Colbert as Cleopatra is on the label. 

I also got out a book I wrote a couple of years ago, and I had wanted to try to copyright it last year--I'm so glad I didn't!  I have found tons of inconsistencies and silly things that need to be cut.  Grateful to no longer be so emotionally attached so I can finally make the necessary changes, I've been obsessing over that and working everyday on it.  It's actually helping my mood a little bit.  I mentioned in a previous post that I was feeling anxious, but it has made me feel happier, calmer, more optimistic.

What do you think of my 1950s hairstyle?  No, I did not cut my hair; this is all done with hair rolls!  I wanted to try something a little bit different from my usual '40s look.

Need to work on perfecting my "winged" eyes, I think.

Getting Glossy

Once obsessed with lip glosses in high school, I now tend to shy away from them, mainly because of the greasy-lipped look some of them give.  I don't care for clear or sheer gloss, but...opaque, highly pigmented gloss...Now, there's a thought.

Go to your local store and browse professional lip glosses.  Mineral oil...petroleum...Synthetic oils...Not to mention glitter that might come from who-knows-where!

Glitter was invented in 1930s by Max Factor, and was first available commercially in 1932.  I keep forgetting that!  Lip gloss just seems so...more like something from the 1970s.  But, take a look at the lips of some '30s actresses--glossy!

Jean Harlow with glossy lips.

I make lip glosses and lip rouges--why not lip glosses?  Well, now I've started!

'Ava' lip gloss!  Contains castor oil, shea butter, beeswax, carmine, iron oxides, titanium dioxide, kaolin clay, glycerin, essential oils of lemon and orange.  ♥

I'm also working on a Halloween collection of cosmetics; glittery lip glosses and eyeshadows.  The best spot to see these is on my Facebook page, Eliza Fragrances & Cosmetics.

As for the Tumblr I started...I think I like Blogger better than Tumblr!  :0

Keeping Busy...

...Or, trying to!  This summer wasn't exactly what I had hoped, but I'm determined to enjoy what is left of it. It was really hot, and then really cooled down, so I didn't do a lot of outdoor-sy things that I had planned.  So, I've been reading, reading...Trying to read two books per month.  I know that's not much, but it seems my attention span gets shorter with age!  :o  I would like to be able to read one book per week, but...

Anyway, what have I read?  As I mentioned in a post last autumn, I adore ghost stories.  I've been looking for more novels that are similar to Henry James' The Turn of the Screw.  Now, there are a lot of modern novels dealing with ghosts and the paranormal, but many, unfortunately, are erotica--and if there's one thing I can't stomach, it's erotica.  I just want to read about ghosts and get scared to sleep at night!  BUT!!!  I found one!  It was recommended by my library for me, as a personalized reading list I requested.  The Ghost Writer, by John Harwood.  Better than the main plot line were the Victorian ghost stories within.  John Harwood's writing really made me feel I was reading a glimpse of something from the Victorian era.  My favorite short story within the book was "Seraphina," about a man who is haunted by a painting of a beautiful lady.  Harwood can write such great Victorian-style ghost stories, I thought, that he could write a whole book of them.

And then, I found it.

The Seance, by John Harwood, is exactly what I have been looking for, for so, so long!  Wonderfully paced, expertly changing perspective, this is the ideal spooky, "gothic" ghost novel, in my eyes.  It was a book I couldn't wait to get back to when I had put it down, and one that I missed when I finished it, which only took six days (rare for me!).  And in the end of both of these novels, there is a logical explanation for everything.  They are like combination ghost/mystery/suspense novels.  Here is a great review of The Seance:  http://www.skrishnasbooks.com/2009/03/seance-john-harwood.html

***

I'm also keeping busy with my cosmetics!  I have a Halloween collection I'm working on, which I'm planning to release in late September or early October.  So please check out my Facebook page if you're interested! :)

Reviews?

I meant to write a post a few days ago, but my internet froze up to a point where I just had to shut everything down.  I'm not sure what's causing it; I reset my Firefox, and have deleted a lot off of my computer, so it must be my internet provider.  How tedious!

I was very anxious, and have been reading Dale Carnegie's How to Stop Worrying and Start Living.  It has been very helpful.  His other book, How to Win Friends and Influence People, is worth the fame it has received.  And they're both vintage, too!

Besides being really hot and drought-like here, I'm getting very antsy about my cosmetics business.  I have lots of new things--finally, that talc-free, perfumed powder I wanted to make!

It's nearly identical to the shade of Coty's Air-Spun that I use.  Triumph!

But...I'm dissatisfied.  I don't feel that business is picking up as it should.  So, I've been wondering...Would readers be interested in seeing reviews of my own vintage-inspired make up?  Are there any readers who might want to do a review of it on their own blogs?  I am very interested in as much feedback and product-exposure as possible.

Winner of the 'Bette' Lipstick!

Sound the trumpets!  

I have chosen the winner of the 'Bette' lipstick giveaway.

The winner is:

JessiB-L!

Congratulations!  Please contact me with your shipping information at: eliza.fragrances@gmail.com

Thank you to everyone who participated!  Stay tuned for more giveaways in the future.  ♥