Elizabeth Arden and their Classic colour Plays of fall 1984

Come fall 1984, I lived in Brussels. I won’t become one of those who say that everything was better in the past, but there will be a definite rant theme in this blog, and that is that some stuff in eg beauty, crafts of all kinds, fashion, food – quality in general etc etc, often was better in the past. This was in the age before we were taken by all this consumerism, shopping of just too much and stuff being mass-produced and ending up in landfills!

But going back to Brussels 1984, we lived in the outskirts of the city centre and had to go into to town to visit the department stores when we had spare time. Saturdays mostly. That was the only way we got updates on what was happening, besides the odd magazines or ads that you saw. On occasion, you could afford to buy Vogue, French Elle or the like to get a preview of what was up and coming. In particular Mars or September issues could give you a lead on what could be available for the coming season. Notice I’m saying could, because even though it was advertised, it wasn’t necessarily available in the shops. That meant that we waited in anticipation to get something, months and seasons, not weeks or days – sound unfamiliar?

For some reason (a story for another blog post) I was stuck on Elizabeth Arden and my mother Christian Dior. We would paiteintly wait for the upcoming seasonal makeup launches and wondering what the makeup houses would create. They were just two pr year, one spring/summer and one fall/winter. This way, we could save up money to afford to by some pieces – perhaps – if it was available in the shops and imported into the country.

This particular season Elisabeth Arden came up with Colour Plays featuring the model of choice at that time – Jackie Adams. Luckily a leaflet of the colour story was made and left at the counter -albeit in French since I lived in Belgium – but still there. It played on the main themes of Arden Blush, Arden Red and Arden Pink Pink. If I’m not entirely mistaken, these shades of reds have been featured as Elizabeth Arden lipstick classics for years – and this was a nice play of them. A classic theme.

Also, colour collections would contain possibly 2 – 3 or even up to 4 colour combinations. Cool and warm being obvious ones, but even softer, darker etc. Colour Plays of 1984 had 3 colour combinations to them.

Since we were several females in the household, we would always play around ideas as to which look would fit whom as the they were clearly very different. You would buy a couple of pieces and they would last you until the next collection came – given it was a biannual affair. The fall/ winter collection would last you 6 months until the spring one arrived. And you even managed to hit pan on the most used items, so when the new one arrived, you didnt have heaps of makeup stashed away somewhere and felt guilty buying more. And one more rant; there would always be matching or colour-colour coordinated nail varnishes to go with the lipsticks – why the industry has stopped doing that, really is mind-boggling.

I remember the shades and the makeup in this collection vividly. I bought the Arden PINK PINK combination and it came in these aubergine cases that the brand used at the time. Unfortunately I threw any leftovers of old makeup away – thinking that there would always be more to come. Later years I have regretted this dearly as neither formulations, packaging, quality, colour cohesiveness can be found anymore. It seems to have become a long forgotten art.

I recently came across an instagram site called discontinuedmakeup that featured this makeup ad. Some of the comments on the post were questioning the quality of the makeup, supposing it to be inferior to todays. It might come as a surprise that the quality, colour application and texture of these formulas were far superior to what even the most expensive brands come up with today.

So what about the colour in this story?

This is not necessarily my favourite seasonal makeup production ever created from Elizabeth Arden, but it’s a good show of what a cohesive collection could look like and being diverse enough that most people with different skin tones could wear it – give or take. And despite me being too young for a full-on makeup, I could still pick, mix and sheer out colours that suited me in the lifestyle I had at the time. You may perhaps ask how do you ramp up things for xmas, evenings or special occasions without adding 10 more products? Well just add more colour, liner, gloss or a highlighter. The cool thing is that these brochures had small tips that could change things up with the slightest touch.

What I take away from the beautiful colour story is the colour Misty Mauve. It was a matte true cool mauve more on the purple side rather then grey. Decades later I would learn why it was such an easy colour on me – a neutral, but I didn’t at the time. To me, it was a colour of the season that was discreet enough for day time and I felt great wearing it!

Mauve I think is like the cool version of Camel. Camel – also a classic and safe goto for people liking warm colours.

Unlike a lot of other seasonal colours schemes that came before and after this season’s, this one is decidedly simple. Focusing on the key messages of classic colours – colours that never go out of fashion and that is very stylishly presented by Jackie Adams. If it existed, it would buy it again.

There is a story behind every inspiration – I was inspired back then in fall 1984 with my mauve eyeshadow and all!