Vintage Mascara advertising

From the Sharrie Williams Maybelline family archives.

Mabel Williams and the original Lash-Brow-Ine advertisement placed in Popular Mechanics magazine in 1915, featuring silent-film star Viola Dana.

Read The Maybelline Story and the Spirited Family Dynasty Behind It, by original Maybelline family descendant Sharrie Williams.

A century of mascara advertising

These advertisements trace the development of mascara and eye cosmetics from Maybell Laboratories’ early Lash-Brow-Ine and Color-ine products through cake mascara, automatic mascara, Ultra Lash, and later innovations.

One early marketing claim for Lash-Brow-Ine was that it “nourished and promoted the growth of eyelashes and eyebrows.” The pamphlet supplied with the mascara also suggested that it could be used for baldness. At the time, petroleum jelly was believed to stimulate hair growth.

Take a little “Lash-Brow-Ine” on the tip of the finger and rub gently over the brows and lashes, always rubbing in the direction in which the hair grows. Be sure to rub well into the roots, then take a soft cloth and wipe around the brows and lashes, leaving the product only where you wish the hair to grow.

In 1920, the founder was sent to court to dispute the Lash-Brow-Ine name with the founder of Lashbrow Laboratories. Williams was ordered to remove the name, and he then changed it to Maybelline in honor of his sister Mabel.

Historical advertising chronology

The imported archive identified the following advertisements. The original external image files are no longer available from their source website, so their dates and descriptions are preserved here.

• 1919 Maybell Laboratories Color ine
• 1920 Maybell Laboratories Lash Brow Ine
• 1920 Winks waterproof 1920
• 1920 Winks waterproof May 1920
• 1923 Maybelline 1923
• 1925 maybeline 1925
• 1926 Actress Viola Dana endorsing Maybelline
• 1929 Maybelline Eyelash Beautifier
• 1931 Kurlash Lashpac
• 1933 Maybelline Eyelash Darkener
• 1934 Maybelline
• 1935 Klytiacil cake mascara
• 1936 Maybelline Cream Mascara
• 1937 National Cosmetics Modern Eyes Mascara
• 1947 february 1947
• 1957 Helena Rubinstein Mascara Matic.
• 1958 November 1958
• 1958 Revlon Roll On Mascara the company%E2%80%99s first automatic mascara.
• 1959 Azizamatique Mascara
• 1959 Dorothy Gray Beauti Lash Automatic Mascara
• 1959 Industry advertisement for Maybelline Magic Mascara. Released in 1958 it was the first automatic mascara that used a spiral wire brush
• 1959 Maybelline Magic Mascara
• 1960 Maybelline
• 1960s mascara advertisement.
• 1961 Revlon Brush On Mascara
• 1963 Max Factor
• 1964 Maybelline Ultra Lash Mascara
• 1965 Germaine Monteil French Formula Cake Mascara
• 1966 Maybelline
• 1967
• 1968 Maybelline
• 1969 Helena Rubinstein Long Lash Mascara with nylon fibres to lengthen the lashes.
• 1972 Aziza Double CremeCake Mascara.
• 1975 Max Factor Super LashMaker Mascara
• 1976 Maybelline Comb on Mascara.
• 80s 1
• 1981 Maybelline Dial a Lash Waterproof Mascara
• 2015 cosmopolitan May 2015