Pan-Cake Makeup

Saturday 14 August 2025 - Filed under General Knowledge-Research-Reading

Did you know?

Max Factor was originally from Poland?

In the 19th century he became a purveyor of cremes and cosmetics to the Russian court.

Then in 1904 he immigrated to Los Angeles California where he started creating and selling theatrical makeup. Besides selling his own make-up products he soon became the West Coast distributor of Leichner and Minor, two leading theatrical make-up manufacturers.

One of his major innovations was Pan-Cake Makeup that was developed for actors. Pancake makeup didn’t sweat off as easily.

The development of Technicolor film required the company to develop a new line of products as its existing Panchromatic make-up left a slight sheen on the skin which reflected surrounding colours. As a result of how bad they looked in colour many actors and actresses refused to appear in colour films.

By 1914 he had perfected the first cosmetic specifically created for motion picture use — a thinner greasepaint in cream form, packaged in a jar, and created in 12 precisely-graduated shades. Unlike theatrical cosmetics, it would not crack or cake.

Pancake makeup became the fastest and largest selling single make-up item to date, as well as the standard make-up used in all Technicolor films.

references: Wikipedia.com, Glamoursplash.com (Blogger)

I wish you a great weekend!

Alenka

2025-08-14  »  admin