Max Factor brand history. Max Factor - Biography: Hollywood's Leading Makeup Artist
"Max Factor - the father of modern cosmetics"
Max Factor- the famous cosmetic empire named after its founder Max Factor (real name - Maximilian Abramovich Faktorovich), who was born on September 15, 1877 in the city of Zdunska Wola. This city is part of the Lodz Voivodeship, hence the confusion and incorrect indication in many articles of the birthplace of Max in the city of Lodz. Then it was the territory of tsarist Russia, and now it is modern Poland.
Max grew up in a large family (more than 10 people), and from childhood he had to go to work to help his parents feed his family. At the age of seven, he was first introduced to the world of the theater - he was sent to sell oranges and candies in the lobby. At the age of 8, Factor became a pharmacist's assistant, and at the age of nine, he became a beautician's apprentice, doing small errands.
At the age of fourteen, he moved to Moscow and joined the Bolshoi Theater as an assistant make-up artist. The skills acquired in the theater helped Factor a lot in the future.
Then he had to undergo compulsory military service in the Russian army.
After demobilization, Faktorovich opened his own shop in Ryazan in 1895, where he sold blush, creams, perfumes and wigs - mostly all of his own making. Once a theater troupe stopped in Ryazan, and a few weeks later the products of the Polish Jew were already known at court. “All my time was taken up by individual counseling, I showed them how to emphasize the advantages and hide the flaws of their faces.”
Later, he moved to St. Petersburg, where he began working at the Opera House, doing costumes and make-up.
The actors, made up by Max Factor, played in front of Nicholas II, and soon the name of the talented make-up artist became widely known among the nobility. For several years he worked as a cosmetics specialist at the court of the Russian Tsar and in the imperial theaters.
Discovery of America
In 1904, Max Factor emigrated to America with his wife, daughter and two sons, as he realized that it was not safe to remain in Russia.
With the help of his brother and uncle, Factor (Americans quickly shortened his compound first and last name) opened his own barbershop and small beauty store in St. Louis. In 1908, the family moved to Los Angeles and opened a cosmetics store near the Dream Factory on Hollywood Boulevard.
Max very well chose the location of his store and very soon became widely known among Hollywood actresses. He sold wigs and theatrical make-up. Max's store was the West Coast distributor and representative for two of the largest theatrical make-up companies, Leichner and Minor.
With the advent and rapid development of cinema, makeup specialists of that time faced a serious problem. The old theatrical grease-based makeup, which was applied in a thick layer, could not be used for filming. According to the makeup artist himself, the theatrical make-up looked "disgusting and frightening" on screen.
The solution to the problem was makeup, invented by Max specifically to create makeup for the screen. Close-ups of makeup actors now looked more natural.
The new makeup had 12 shades and was in the form of liquid cream in a jar, as opposed to the old theatrical makeup based on fat in the form of hard sticks that cracked and fell off. For the first time, the new make-up was tested during special screen tests on actor Henry B. Walthall.
In 1914, he invented the first "makeup to create drops on the eyes" - this is the very first famous discovery of Max Factor. Black wax was applied to the ends of the eyelashes, the wax was first melted. Then he created a new make-up for the cinema - in the form of a cream that was applied in a thin layer and did not dry out on the skin.
Max's talents were immediately appreciated by famous Hollywood comedians Charlie Chaplin, Fatty Arbuckle, Buster Keaton: the new make-up gave them complete freedom of facial expressions. All this very quickly made Max Factor famous in the professional circles of the film industry.
It was then that Max Factor formulated his basic rule: “Make-up cannot be considered successful if it is noticeable. It's only good if the outsider can't guess that you're wearing make-up."
All women are beautiful
And he also wanted to make beautiful not only the stars, but also ordinary women. Until the beginning of the 20s. it was considered extremely indecent to use cosmetics; it was “farewell” only to theater or film actresses, as well as women of easy virtue. Thanks to Max Factor, ordinary - "decent" - women began to use cosmetics in America.
Since 1916, all his novelties immediately appeared in retail sales. The shoppers kept a close eye on how their favorite movie stars looked. And as soon as something new appeared in their makeup, women could be sure that they would find this novelty in Max Factor stores.
For example, lipstick did not have much success until Factor used it to transform the appearance of the famous actress Clara Bow, creating for her a special lip contour "Cupid's Bow" in the shape of a heart.
Young Greta Garbo, having first appeared in Hollywood, shocked everyone with the beauty of her eyes. Skillfully accentuated with Factor's mascara and shadows, Garbo's "eyes" made all American women immediately follow her example.
For Rudolph Valentino, he created a special makeup that masked his too dark skin on screen.
In 1918, he voiced the idea of \u200b\u200b“Color Harmony” in makeup, which consisted in the fact that cosmetics should be combined not only in color, but also in accordance with skin tone, hair shade, eye color and body build of a woman.
It was Max Factor who in 1920 introduced into wide use (and did not invent, as many people for some reason think) the term “makeup” instead of the term “cosmetics”, based on the meanings of the verb “to make up” (literally: draw, make a face). Previously, this term meant make-up in theaters with a dubious reputation, and it was simply not used in polite society.
In 1922, while traveling in Europe with his wife, Max decided to visit the headquarters of the Leichner company in Germany, of which he was the largest distributor of theatrical make-up. The company treated him very arrogantly and made him wait a long time for an audience in the waiting room. Max was very angry about this, he left the reception and immediately sent a telegram to his sons to stop selling Leichner products and start producing theatrical makeup under their own brand. Max Factor make-up was available in liquid form in tubes and was much more convenient to use. Soon, the new make-up almost completely ousted Leichner products from the market.
In the 1920s, his sons Davis and Frank actively joined his father's business. Davis became the company's general manager, while Frank helped his father develop new beauty products.
In 1925, the company received an order for 600 gallons (2,700 liters) of light olive makeup for the film Ben-Hur. The film had many action scenes and was filmed in the US and Italy. This amount of make-up was necessary so that the American actors and their darker Italian counterparts had the same skin color.
In 1926, Max Factor pioneered waterproof theatrical makeup for the film Mare Nostrum.
Starting in 1927, the company begins to actively sell its products throughout America. For this, a new company, Sales Builders, was created, which was engaged in advertising, promotion and distribution of Max Factor products. Through his connections with the film world, Max used many of the stars of the day to advertise his productions. Celebrities starred in commercials for a symbolic $1, although the benefits were mutual. Advertising often came out on the eve of the next film in which the star starred, and the box office grew from this.
In 1928, Max Factor introduced a cosmetic line designed specifically for black and white cinema. For this work, as well as for his overall contribution to the development of cinema, Factor received an Oscar.
Platinum Blonde
The most famous example of the work of the Stylist Factor is the transformation of a young actress. Factor made her the world's first "platinum" blonde, and then developed a separate make-up line for this type of appearance. Jean Harlow became a superstar and thousands of women around the world began to copy her looks.
Panchromatic
In October 1929, Max Factor introduced a new make-up line for talkies. With the beginning of sound recording, it became impossible to use the old carbon light sources, as they made a lot of noise. The new tungsten filament bulbs gave a nice soft light, but were also a source of heat. In addition, the old orthochromatic film was replaced with a more sensitive panchromatic film called Panchromatic. It became impossible to shoot a movie with the old make-up, the faces of the actors turned out to be too dark, and it took Max six months of active development and screen tests to come up with new Panchromatic make-up.
In 1935 he opened "Max Factor Makeup Studio", where there were four cabinets of different colors according to the number of “Color Harmony” options, designed to select the right shades of makeup for women of different color types.
The blue office - for blondes - was opened by Jean Harlow; green - for redheads - the famous dancer Ginger Rogers, partner of Fred Astaire. For brunettes, a pink cabinet was intended, which was opened by Claudet Colbert, who became famous in silent films, and for brownettes, a peach one. It was opened by actress Rochelle Hudson, Factor's favorite model. Max coined the term "brownette" (from the word brown - brown) to refer to women with dark blond hair, of which there were a majority according to the stylist.
The opening ceremony of the studio was covered in all the newspapers. Particular attention of reporters was attracted by the giant "Leaf of Fame", on which all the Hollywood stars of that time left their autographs and which is considered the most complete collection of autographs of celebrities of that time.
It was in this studio that the “Beauty Calibrator” invented by Max Factor was located - an apparatus worn on the head to measure the parameters of the face and how they compare with the standards. After that, it was possible to eliminate flaws with the help of makeup.
Subsequently, this was the name of the radio and television show Max Factor, which went on for many years. Even Frank Sinatra took part in it.
Max Factor history of man and brand
4.3 (86.67%) 3 votesMax Factor's new biography (Fred E. Basten, "Max Factor: The Man Who Changed the Faces of the World", Arcade, 2008) begins cinematically:
On a February night in 1904, twenty-seven-year-old Max Factor, with his wife and three small children, holed up in the forest, fearing more for the fate of the family, which he hid for five years, than snow and wind or even royal people shouting his name. A few days ago, Max Factor was a favorite of the royal family, highly valued at court, and now he was being hunted like a fugitive.
Not tall, less than a meter and fifty, the Polish Jew Max Factor became a favorite of high society for a reason: he was talented. He grew up in a family with ten children, his father was a worker from a textile factory in the Polish city of Lodz. At the age of seven, he was sent to sell oranges, peanuts, and hard candies in the lobby of a theater. He later called it the first encounter with the world of disguises. At the age of eight he became an apothecary's assistant and received a basic knowledge of chemistry, and at nine he was already an assistant to a leading beautician and wig specialist in Łódź. Four years later, the boy already had enough experience to go to the Berlin stylist Anton and become part of his team. At 14, Max Factor moved to Russia to work for Korpo, the leading make-up artist at the Russian Imperial Opera. At the age of 18, he was drafted and for four years thundered into the hospital building, where he worked as a nurse. “I didn’t like it, but I learned a lot,” the makeup genius will later say.
Factor and his "beauty calibrator" tries to calculate complex facial characteristics that need improvement.
At 22, Max Factor opens his own cosmetics store in Ryazan, selling creams, perfumes, lipsticks and wigs of his own making. Once a theater troupe stopped in Ryazan, and a few weeks later the products of the Polish Jew were already known at court. Working with courtiers, advising and making cosmetics to order became the main occupation of the young master. “All my time was taken up by individual counseling, I showed them how to emphasize the advantages and hide the flaws of their faces.” They paid generously, but also demanded full return. Max Factor moved with an escort, went to his store less and less, and he even had to marry in secret. In five years, he had three children. Meanwhile, anti-Semitic sentiments were growing in Russia, and Max Factor decided to emigrate after his brother and uncle, who had settled in St. Louis.
But how to escape from the supervision of "imperious" clients? Max Factor covered himself in yellowish make-up and went to see the general's doctor. The sickly complexion convinced the doctor to prescribe treatment in Carlsbad, where the Russian nobility was sent to improve their health. Security escorted the beautician there as well, but he managed to escape, meet his wife Esther and three children and walk into the Bohemian forests. There the episode described at the very beginning of the book took place. Max Factor managed to take his family out, saved the $40,000 he had accumulated in Russia, and settled in the States.
His store in St. Louis prospered, but in 1908, Max Factor's entrepreneurial flair brought him to Los Angeles, where the future movie empire was being born. Here he began to improve makeup and wigs, which he made from natural hair. Chaplin, Keaton, Roscoe (Fat Man) Arbuckle, silent film stars, were among the first to test new makeup recipes. Not only did they applaud the new, thin and multi-tonal makeup, but they also asked Factor to personally apply makeup before filming. The wigs were so naturalistic that they were rented for filming, and in order to monitor their safety, Max Factor offered to use his sons in extras, who at the end of the shooting day carefully collected them and returned them to their father for storage. One such wig could consist of more than 135,000 hand-sewn hairs.
The author of the biography of Max Factor, Fred Basten, a former PR manager of the company, describes the triumph of a brilliant, as they would now say, makeup artist. He reveals the circumstances under which false eyelashes, liquid eyeliner, lipstick and powder brushes, and the modern tube-shaped mascara case were invented. As cinema evolved, makeup changed, adapting to the new film, lighting, the needs of the director and the actors. The English word make-up, always used to refer to make-up, with the light hand of the son of Max Factor, who insisted on naming the family store "House of Make-Up", began to mean any kind of make-up in principle.
However, it was makeup that was the passion of the founder of the empire. He came up with breathable makeup to keep the actors from sweating underneath, and "artificial sweat" that looked good on screen. And how many different types of lipstick have been developed, sometimes under the individual image of individual actors! The biography of Max Factor, presented by The New Yorker, focuses on the personality of this versatile person, who was a chemist, a makeup artist, an aesthete, and a father. His contribution to the emancipation of the makeup industry, which allows every woman to feel like a star (the company's slogan became the words "For the stars - and for you"), was huge. But Max Factor made his revolution not through the consumer market, but through the cinema he adored, creating the images of the great actresses of the 30s. And already fashion historians will tell in more detail in their research what exactly happened in the minds of millions when liquid cream powder or pink lipstick developed for Twiggy appeared, or the classification of cosmetics by type: for blondes, brunettes, redheads and brownettes.
Max Factor died at the age of 61, in 1938, without surviving an embarrassing incident in Europe when some criminals threatened to kill him if he did not pay the modest sum of $200. The eldest son Frank, taking his father's name and becoming Max Factor Jr., continued his work. The rest can be read in millions of publications about the company. The biography of "little Hercules", as Max Factor was called in Hollywood, is about how it was all done, a look from the inside.
Booknik recalled that Ilf and Petrov very caustically described their impressions of meeting with this name:
Our room overlooked Hollywood Boulevard. There was a pharmacy on one corner of the intersection, and a bank on the other. Behind the bank was a brand new building. The whole façade was occupied by electric letters: "Max Factor". Many years ago, Max Factor, a young man in torn pants, came from the south of Russia to America. Without much thought, Max began to do theatrical makeup and perfumery. Soon, all forty-eight united states noticed that Mr. Factor's products were beginning to take over the market. From all sides, money flowed to Max. Now Max is incredibly rich and loves to tell visitors the magical story of his life. And if by chance the visitor comes from Elisavetgrad, Nikolaev or Kherson, then he can be sure that the happy owner will make him take a large jar of face cream or a set of artificial eyelashes, which have the best reviews of Marlena Dietrich or Marion Davis. Recently, the Factor celebrated some kind of anniversary - either the twenty years of his fruitful activity on the make-up front, or the next anniversary of his successful landing on the American coast. The invitations were a complex and rich construction of vellum paper, fine Bristol cardboard, high-quality cellophane and steel springs. These were thick albums, the pompous text of which informed the addressee that they had the honor to invite him and that he had the honor to be invited. But at the last minute, the hospitable Factor seemed to doubt whether he would be understood. Therefore, on the cover printed in large letters: "Invitation".
Name: Max Factor St (Max Factor Sr)
Age: 65 years old
Place of Birth: Zdunskaya Volya, Russia
A place of death: Beverly Hills, USA
Activity: American businessman
Family status: was married
Max Factor - Biography
If not for him, perhaps women would still consider makeup something shameful. Fortunately, Max Factor was born - a man of incredible talent and skill.
If Maximilian Faktorovich had been born into a wealthy family, the history of makeup would have turned out differently. But he had many brothers and sisters to feed. The family lived on the territory of the then tsarist Russia, in the town of Zdunska Wola, where it was not easy to find work. However, this did not bother the boy: already at the age of seven he earned his first money.
Maximilian did not shy away from any work. At first he worked in the theater - before the performance he sold sweets in the lobby. The most striking impression of that time was the beautiful, decorated actresses who let the boy look behind the scenes. At the age of eight, he became a pharmacist's assistant. He introduced him to chemistry, which the boy was very interested in. And a year later he worked for a well-known cosmetologist. Then - at the stylist, where he was taught how to handle wigs.
The young man opened his first shop in Ryazan in 1895. Creams, wigs, perfumes were sold there - everything was made by him with his own hands. One day a famous theater troupe came to town. While the tour was going on, the actors kept running into Faktorovich's store not only for shopping, but also for advice. The news of a talented cosmetologist quickly spread, and he was invited to St. Petersburg. Work at the Opera House - what else can you dream of? But ahead of Maximilian was waiting for a much higher step. The actors, who performed in Faktorovich's make-up and wigs, pleased Nicholas II so much that he invited him to work at the court.
Faktorovich quickly realized: he was caught, albeit in a golden, but cage. They did not take their eyes off the talented cosmetologist - they were afraid that he would run away. He even had to marry in secret, and he saw the children who soon appeared only occasionally, when they were released. In addition, anti-Semitic sentiments reigned in Russia, and relatives who settled in America called to them. It was decided to use cunning.
Maximilian turned to a doctor he knew to help him imitate the disease. With the help of yellowish makeup, they achieved the result. The doctor assured everyone that the beautician needed a rest and offered to send him to Karlovy Vary. Faktorovich was released, but with guards. He later managed to escape from her and - long live freedom!
The long Jewish name was immediately abbreviated in the American manner - Max Factor. And relatives helped to open their own store in 1904 in America, in the city of St. Louis.
in 1908 Factor moved to Los Angeles with his family. The new store is located on Hollywood Boulevard. Once Max, walking, noticed a flock of girls hurrying somewhere. What caught his attention was how badly they were made up. Following them, Factor was on the set.
The make-up of those times was far from perfect. A wild mixture of flour, lard, vaseline and starch dried up on the face, and cracked with any movement of the muscles. It looked disgusting on the screen. But Max knew he could do otherwise.
The makeup artist came up with makeup in the form of a liquid cream. He not only lay down perfectly on the skin, but also had 12 shades. On the set, the innovation was accepted with a bang. After makeup, in 1914, the prototype of modern mascara appeared, which Factor called "cosmetics for creating drops on the eyes." He melted black wax and applied it to models' eyelashes.
In 1918, the makeup artist proposed a sensational approach: he said that when choosing cosmetics, you need to focus on the color of your hair and eyes, on the proportions of your face. Never even thought about it before!
Until the 1920s, walking around with makeup on your face was considered bad manners. It was used only by ladies of easy virtue and actresses. But the Factor understood that cosmetics make a woman more beautiful and expressive, and he really wanted the fair sex to understand this.
In 1916, his products entered the retail market. The ladies became bolder and began to buy it with pleasure.
Meanwhile, there was no end to buyers. They learned about cosmetic novelties from the movies, having seen the make-up of one or another star, and immediately ran for blush or lipstick to the Factor. Meanwhile, he continued to work for the benefit of cinema. So, in 1926, Max invented a special waterproof make-up, and two years later he created a line for black and white films. In 1929, when sound appeared in films, the requirements for filming changed. We needed a make-up that was resistant to heat - Max Factor created it too.
He was a great experimenter. For example, one day I decided to check how resistant a new lipstick is. Initially, she was tested by employees, but soon the girls got tired. And then Max came up with a "kissing machine." She represented the male and female lips, which merged in a kiss. The ladies wore lipstick. The result was determined by the number of prints, after which the lipstick was washed off.
Factor was friends with many stars who were happy to appear in advertising for his products for a nominal fee of $ 1. They did not disappoint in 1935, when Factor invited them to the opening of his Makeup Studio. It was interesting because the space inside was divided into four halls. Blondes were invited in blue, red-haired young ladies were waiting in green, brunettes were welcome in pink, and dark blond in peach. It was impossible to pass by an amazing design called "Beauty Calibrator". It was put on the head of the girls and the parameters of the face were measured. So it was possible to most accurately choose makeup that would mask the flaws in appearance.
The last high-profile invention of Max Factor was the famous "pancake", which appeared in 1937. It was make-up for color films, presented in a compressed form in a jar. Max worked on its creation together with his sons. The high point of the "pancake" came during the filming of the film Vogues of 1938 ("Wok 1938"). In the credits for the picture for the first time it was indicated: "Makeup by Max Factor."
How many more discoveries would have been waiting for us, if not for a stupid accident that ended the life of a great makeup artist and businessman ... In 1938, Factor and his son traveled around Europe. In Paris, Max received an anonymous letter demanding $200. Otherwise, death. The amount was scanty for him, moreover, this story had no continuation - the extortionist no longer reminded of himself. But the 65-year-old Factor was so frightened that he soon fell seriously ill. The illness ended in death.
After his father's death, his son Frank took on a pseudonym and became Max Factor Jr. He did not want the famous name to sink into oblivion.
In 1973, Max Factor Jr. sold the company to pharmaceutical giant Procter and Gannble. The reason is simple - there was no one to transfer the business to. Alas, not all descendants of the "Hollywood Wizard" turned out to be worthy successors of the family. And his great-grandson was even sentenced to a huge prison term for drug use and a series of rapes.
However, the brand is still thriving, because women all over the world want to be beautiful.
Max Factor is a world famous cosmetic brand. His products are used by singers and film stars, and make-up artists use them for makeup at fashion shows and red carpets. It was Max Factor cosmetics that made up the actors in the films Titanic, Forest Gump, Pretty Woman.
And the history of Max Factor began at the end of the 19th century - they would never have thought - far from the western gloss and glamor of the Russian Empire!
Max Factor: brand history
The founder of the company, Maximilian Abramovich Faktorovich, was one of 10 children in a typical working-class Jewish family. Having no chance to get a decent education due to extreme poverty, he starts working at the age of 7 - he sells sweets in the theater lobby. Who would have guessed what a huge contribution this boy would make to the field of theater and cinema in the future!
At the age of 8, he becomes an apprentice to a pharmacist, where, with direct childish curiosity, he tries to mix the contents of numerous jars. And at the age of 9, having become an assistant to a cosmetologist, with his help he already creates various creams. By the age of 14, having gained experience, he moved to Moscow, where he got a job as an assistant make-up artist at the Bolshoi Theater.
Rumors about an unusually talented and enterprising young man are rapidly spreading in high society and reach the emperor himself. At the age of 22, Max was appointed the chief make-up artist of the Imperial Theater in St. Petersburg and, moreover, a personal consultant to the royal family in matters of cosmetology. There he makes good money, he manages to save up a sufficient amount, and soon he opens the first store in Ryazan, where he sells his handmade cosmetics. Natural and easy to use, it quickly becomes popular. Boxes with his creams and lipsticks appear on the dressing table of every noble girl.
Shop on Hollywood Boulevard
However, true success comes to him much later. Maximilian emigrates to America with his family. There, his complex name is simplified, and from now on he is simply Max Factor. It was under this name that in 1908 in Los Angeles he opened a small shop in the heart of the creative life of the city - on Hollywood Boulevard, where he sells theatrical makeup and wigs. The best Hollywood actresses become his regular customers. They not only buy cosmetics, but also consult with a friendly master about what hairstyles and types of makeup suit them.
Word of mouth is great advertising. The factor is quickly becoming known in the acting environment. He makes many friends from the world of cinema, now artists even ask him to personally apply their makeup. And he often hears complaints that theatrical makeup is not suitable for filming. Too dense, it cracks and crumbles.
And this is where Mr. Factor makes a real revolution in the world of cosmetics ... He is the first to create a special liquid make-up designed specifically for the screen. The palette included 12 different shades, which made it possible to choose the color of the corrector to match the skin tone. It was easy to apply and lay down in a thin layer, the actors looked much more natural.
Queues are already lining up in the shop to the brilliant makeup artist. In particular, his makeup was also appreciated by comedians, because the new makeup gave them complete freedom of facial expressions. The services of the maestro are used by Charlie Chaplin himself.
"Makeup for the stars - and for you"
An interesting fact: it turns out that at that time in America, makeup was considered something obscene, its use was allowed only in the work of actors, in ordinary life, makeup was applied only by ladies of easy virtue.
Once again, Max Factor breaks stereotypes! Thanks to him, even ordinary American women began to use cosmetics. Looking beautiful was no longer considered indecent. Working a lot as a make-up artist, Max comes to the “idea of color harmony”: cosmetics should not only be combined with each other, but also approach eye and hair color, skin tone and type, and even complexion.
Any girl could fill out a simple questionnaire right in the store and determine her type of appearance, according to which she was selected the appropriate color range of cosmetics.
Since 1916, all cosmetic novelties have appeared on free sale in the Factor shop. The main motto becomes: "Makeup for the stars - and for you."
All this is happening for the first time, and, of course, customers enthusiastically purchase creams, lipsticks, powders, blush: it would be nice if in everyday life you can try on the images of your favorite movie heroines. By the way, it was Max Factor who coined and coined the term “make up”, which literally means “make a face”. In 1922, Max and his sons officially began selling their products under the Max Factor brand.
Movie make-up
The twenties are the era of rapid development of the film industry. Film technology is being improved, color cinema is emerging, and silent films are being replaced by films with sound. New shooting features are much more demanding on the appearance of the actors - now all the smallest skin imperfections are visible on the screen.
Once again, the inventive Max Factor comes to the rescue! In collaboration with his sons, he creates two special make-up collections: one for black and white, the other for color films.
The company's success is growing. In 1926, Max Factor launches the world's first waterproof cosmetics. By the mid-thirties, all Hollywood stars use the cosmetics and services of the Max Factor salon. They willingly act in advertisements for their friend "Papa Factor" and advise everyone around this particular cosmetics. She is associated with the most beautiful film stars of the 20th century. Sophia Loren, Audrey Hepburn, Brigitte Bardot, Elizabeth Taylor preferred her.
The next cosmetic novelty often came out right before the premiere of a new film, and the leading lady shone in the advertising campaign. Such cooperation went into the hands of everyone: it presented new products to the public, and contributed to the advertising of the picture, and the popularity of the actress. Glamor magazine wrote in the 1930s: Max Factor's name symbolizes beauty both on and off the screen, in America and in hundreds of other countries around the world.».
Hollywood beauty studio
Full of new ideas and energy, Max Factor strives to be the first in his business and delight customers. He continues to work and in 1935 opens the unique and luxurious "Max Factor Hollywood Beauty Studio". Its highlight was 4 “colored” cabinets - according to the number of color types of appearance: blue was intended for blondes, green for redheads, pink for brunettes, and peach for “brownettes” (as the maestro came up with to call girls with a dark blond shade of hair).
Each visitor received an individual consultation on creating an image that takes into account exactly her appearance.
The entire color of the Hollywood elite is present at the opening. Each of the guests left an autograph on the huge "Sheet of Fame", which to this day is considered the most complete collection of signatures of celebrities of that time! The news about the opening of the salon receives stormy coverage in the press and thunders throughout America. Enrollment in the salon to "the very Factor" is carried out months in advance. The Max Factor brand is a resounding success and completely overshadows all competitors.
Long before Marilyn
The image of a pretty blonde is invariably associated with Marilyn Monroe. It is generally accepted that it was with her that the fashion for blond beauties with lush curls began. No matter how! The first platinum blonde "created" ... of course, Max Factor! He fabulously transformed aspiring actress Jean Harlow by bleaching and curling her hair. She immediately gained tremendous popularity, and thousands of women began to copy her image.
pan-cake
The company continues to develop. The color palette is constantly expanding and improving. For more than two years, Factor and his sons have been working on a special make-up line for color films, which is becoming simply indispensable for working in the frame. The new pan-cake makeup (“pancake”) was released in 1937 in a pressed round form, it does not crumble, it is sold in a convenient box. Moreover, it is available in all colors.
"Pancake" enjoys tremendous popularity, and film critics even dedicate separate articles to it, comparing the complexion obtained when using it, with the color of "peach and cream".
Alas, on the rise of his career, in 1938, the "Hollywood Wizard", who transformed thousands of women, dies. He leaves his cosmetic empire, one of the largest in the history of cosmetics, to his sons. For his services to cinema, Max Factor was awarded the Oscar. In honor of this great man, a star was laid on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Creating trends
"The king is dead - long live the king!" The brand, passed into the hands of Max's sons, one of whom, Frank, even changed his name, becoming Max Factor Jr., continues its victorious march.
The 50s of the 20th century is the era of fashion magazines and models. Very slender girls with a boyish figure are becoming popular. The icon of that time is the incomparable Twiggy with a childishly naive face and an open look. Her image is a barely noticeable, translucent gloss on the lips and an emphasis on the eyes, huge, wide-open, clearly defined by black eyeliner, which become a “trick” in the make-up of their time. Of course, it was the Max Factor company that introduced the fashion for this look. And in the free "hippie" 70s, Max Factor offers the principle "Back to nature!" Now juicy natural colors and naturalness are popular. And Max Factor - the first company in the cosmetics industry - uses the components of natural herbs and fruits in the creation of cosmetics and perfumes. Another brainchild of the company - golden, warm "California look" - once again conquered the whole world.
From name to brand
Now brand history Max Factor is about a century old. And the beginning of this majestic cosmetic empire was laid by a simple young man who, with his perseverance, made his way "from name to brand." Max Factor sincerely believed that any girl can look luxurious, she just needs good cosmetics. It was this unique, talented person who gave the world this natural, easy-to-use and accessible to everyone, leaving us a kind of testament: “ Luxurious women are not born. Luxurious women create themselves» Max Factor.