False Eye Lashes were patented in 1911, three years before Maybelline was born in 1915
Three years before Tom Lyle Williams walked into his sister Mabel’s room and witnessed her applying ash and Vaseline to her brows, a lady Anna Taylor got her U.S. patent for false eyelashes in 1911, it’s doubtful she could see far enough into the future to know that trying to make lashes look longer and fuller would turn into a multimillion-dollar industry.
Bette Davis eyes
In the early 20th century, film director D.W. Griffith and Hollywood makeup artist Max Factor brought false lashes to the big screen. Movie stars, such as Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, Lauren Bacall and Carol Channing were regular lash wearers.
A 2007 Los Angeles Times obituary for Hollywood makeup artist Monty Westmore, who worked with the legendary Crawford, noted that she did her own face. But it was his job “to lay out her makeup supplies and curl six pairs of her false eyelashes each morning before filming began.”
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| Maybelline false lashes in the 1960’s. |
In the ’60s, model Twiggy made false lashes so popular as many as 20 million pairs were sold a year, according to Racked.
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| Maybelline false eye lashes 1976 |
“They were mystifying!” says Jenny Bailly, the executive beauty director for Allure magazine. Even though false lashes were the standard for movie stars, showgirls and models, for the laywoman they could be a bit of work.
“There was the glue, the strips — how do you get these things on and then how do you get them off,” Bailly says.
Unyi Agba, a senior manager of marketing at Maybelline, says there’s a growing demand for mascara that gives the false lash look.
“It’s always about trying to find that mascara that’s going to really transform them,” she says. “So there’s going to be an increased appetite for that. Consumers are going to want mascaras that can really deliver a false lash look. So even more lengthening, even more volume, and even more depth to the lashes — expect to see some of that.”
Coming soon · Next from Sharrie Williams
Maybe She’s Born With It
The next chapter of the Maybelline family story. Get a text the day it’s out.
Where it began: The Maybelline Story — Amazon · Ebook · Signed copy