The degeneration ...and rise, of nail polish ads

I was out searching for photos of old Cutex bottles à propos the H&M I posted about earlier today. As I remember it, the Cutex bottles of my childhood (the 80's) had a very distinct streamline look, but alas, the only photo from the time in question showed something other than I remembered. But, to my great surprise, there's a shitload of old Cutex ads available. I am a vintage ho, so I happily browsed all the images I could find, and saved them down to a folder on my harddrive, appropriately named the Swedish word for "nail porn".

As I was browsing, I could clearly see how the trends of advertising cosmetics has changed over the last hundred years. I guess you could say I managed to do a little cosmetic time travelling, steadily seated here at home, in my couch.

Already at the end of the first world war, advertising targeted women and their needs... 1918:


The most beautiful image I found was this one. Of course it was also the smallest one.


And how do you like these trendy shades?

But maaan... That gown! 'Cause we all want to look like the stars, don't we?

And sometimes that can come out pretty edgy, but also scary.

How is this one for a fall collection ad? Not that damn off in our days after all. Back in the day, ads were art!


Oh yes, they were... Red, it's still the most popular nail shade Ever! if you ask OPI.

But of course we want to be practical too, don't we?


Notice the again trendy manicure- this was back in 1937!

But we can't always be glamourous in Hollywood- let's take it with us, out to war!




Nail polish- a girl's best friend.

Or is it..?


I even found an ad in my own language. That Cutex company sure had some kind of world domination.


At some point during the 60's, someone realised they had to get playful, rather than informative.


Apparently, women were sporting skittles already back then.


And now we're very close to the bottle I thought I remembered. It's from the 70's- maybe my wicked witchy ex stepmother kept on to her older bottles? I think she actually gave me one of hers... Bet it was pink. Back in '86. But no, it didn't have that ring across the handle, and it was a little pointier. With an angled top?


And now on to the really sad part in the history of nail polish advertising. The sad decade, the time of my early upbringing. The 80's.


Seriously, would you go buy yourself a new bottle of polish after seeing this ad?

The handle i remember looked like that, but the bottle looked more like the 70's bottle. Maybe I am just senile?






Maybe things haven't changed that much after all. And one thing is for sure. After seeing the ad above, I will go out and buy nail polish.

Swedish word of the night:
utsvävning -noun digression
Because I just can't help myself.