Beauty: History lends a hand

Cire Trudon candle. Photo / Supplied

From Vicks Vapour Rub on the chest and Vaseline on the lips as a child, to teenage years experimenting with budget makeup and shampoos while eyeing up mother's or grandmother's stash of French perfume and gold-encased lipsticks, we all have deeply embedded beauty memories.

Mine run from Avon to Arpege, from catalogue to the cachet of couture, albeit a bottled version of Lanvin's Parisian elegance standing like a beacon on a Christchurch dressing table.

In the bathroom there was green apple shampoo, and the Macleans toothpaste and pink Lux soap I still find on supermarket shelves. In suburban chemist stores, prized presents - cubes of bath salts, little soaps and mini colognes - could be found.

Later, there were enticing stands of Mary Quant and Miners makeup from England and Chapstick and Coppertone from America. Then came the department store days, where the promise of glossy magazines was laid forth. At 18, I signed up for a cosmetics class with a brand I still use now.

Get them early and they'll be yours for life ... my daughter already navigates the supermarket aisles to the family's favourite brands. So far I've kept her away from my new generation of favourite cosmetics, but, as I did, she plays with the perfume bottles.

Over time, our preferences change, but be they budget or prestige, mixing a sense of history into our consumer choices makes the spending easier to savour.

Here are a few brands that have not only lasted the distance, but have a story worth sharing.

We could easily have thrown in plenty more that are worthy of the heritage beauty brand tag - Elizabeth Arden's versatile Eight Hour Cream, first launched in the 1930s, and Revlon's red-hot Fire and Ice lip and nail combination from the 1950s for starters, as well as L'Oreal's Elnet hairspray, Mason & Pearson hairbrushes, Nivea cream, Olay moisturiser (first known as Oil of Ulan) and fragrances too numerous to mention.

Maybelline Great Lash mascara would be up there and from the past couple of decades fake tanning products and cult beauty brands are likely to throw up enduring memories.

New Zealand's next generation may well look back and think of products they've grown up with as this country's heritage brands. Contenders could range from Trilogy's rosehip oil to Suzanne's Paul's Natural Glow.

We'll see if they're still in the cupboard in a decade or two.

Cire Trudon candle

This French candlemaking house dates back to 1643, when a grocer moved to Paris and made the selling of wax candles a sideline to his customers and his local parish church in St Roch. The church burns them still. His son, Jacques Trudon, was appointed to serve the Royal Court at Versailles in the reign of Louis XIV. Despite Revolution, the House of Trudon remained in favour, including as wax supplier to the Emperor Napoleon. Come the worldwide fashion influence of Dior's New Look in 1947, Trudon found a new outlet making perfumed candles for luxury houses including Dior, Guerlain, Hermes and Cartier. Appropriately, Trudon candles featured in the 2006 Sofia Coppola movie Marie Antoinette. They are still handpoured, and made wholly from natural vegetal matter with pure cotton wicks. The candles cost $139, are known for their fragrance diffusion and lengthy burning time (50-70 hours) and come housed in antique-look dark green glass. Some fragrances are available in smaller travel candles.

(From World Beauty stores)

Estee Lauder's Youth Dew

When Youth Dew was launched in 1953, it was as a bath oil which could double as a perfume. The aromatic fragrance was much more opulent than the subtle florals then in vogue with American women, but it took off and is still a strong seller. The distinctive exotic aroma was developed by Estee Lauder herself, one of the founders of 20th century cosmetics as we've come to know them, who pioneered such marketing tricks as the gift with purchase. She explained Youth Dew thus: "It suits my philosophy of fragrance: magnificent scents should not be doled out stingily, but, like love, be given abundantly". A family dynasty still steers Lauder's global company, with granddaughter Aerin now heading the fragrance development, including recently putting into production an old recipe of Estee's Private Collection Jasmine White Moss. Youth Dew is available as a bath oil ($78), an eau de parfum spray ($112) and a body lotion ($78).

(From Estee Lauder counters).

Nutrimetics Nutri-Rich Oil

This product is considered the "crown jewel" of direct selling company Nutrimetics, which was founded on America's West Coast, but soon became based out of Australia, with a strong following in New Zealand. The company claims to have 200,000 consultants worldwide.

Although Avon is the big global player that many associate with catalogue cosmetics sales, Nutrimetics, over its 45-odd years, has developed a particularly close association with this country. Its naturally-derived skincare ranges are made here. One of their enduring ingredients is apricot kernel oil, known these days as Nutri-Rich Oil, a moisturising mix of apricot and carrot oils with vitamin E supplements ($35 for 25ml, $76 for 60ml). Apricot oil inspired the beginnings of Nutrimetics and is included in a host of its items. It was said to be the secret behind the youthful skin of Himalayan tribespeople.

As well as skin and bodycare, Nutrimetics also sells gift items and nutritional supplements. The company now has an internet site where would-be customers can be hooked up with a consultant in their area.

(See nutrimetics.com.au)

Shiseido Eudermine

Serums are considered a modern cosmetic development, but it was in 1897 that Shiseido came up with Eudermine, a revitalising essence designed to leave skin feeling smooth, soft and hydrated. The fluid takes its name from the Greek word eu (meaning good) and derma (meaning skin) and is housed in a bottle that harks back to the house's establishment as a pharmacy by Arinobu Fukuhara in 1872. First it sold lozenges, toothpastes and vitamin pills, before branching into skincare. Along the way, in 1902, there was time to import a soda machine and open an ice-cream parlour in Tokyo's Ginza district. In 1916, the company set up a separate research division and in 1932 it began exporting. The creation of Zen perfume in 1965 was a milestone. New Zealand has a special place in Shiseido's history, with its Australasian arm being run from Auckland and its Moisture Mist brand being unique to this country. Eudermine is used like a toner and retails at $125 for a 125ml bottle.

(From Shiseido counters).

Rimmel eyeshadows

Rimmel typifies swinging London high street style. It's inexpensive cosmetics are top-sellers in England. With Kate Moss and Lily Cole among its models the brand is back in focus, but its origins go way back beyond the pop-culture decades. It was established in 1834 when a French perfumer set up shop in London with his 14-year-old son, Eugene Rimmel. The apprentice became the master and a fan of personal hygiene and developed innovative products including mouth washes. He was an early fan of advertising and mail order catalogues and won a number of Royal warrants. His sons took the company into the 20th century and made it known for eye-enhancing products, including mascaras, and when their use became widespread post-World War II, Rimmel led the way. Moss says she has been using the brand since she was a teenager. A new range of eyeshadows crowned with the brand's logo are now available in six bright shades for $11.99.

(From KMart and selected The Warehouses stores).

I Coloniali Velveting Hand Cream

Despite the name, this is an English company, founded in 1799 by J & E Atkinson. James became a perfume maker to George IV and the company moved to Old Bond St and later created products for the Tsarina of Russia and French actress Sarah Bernhardt. It now draws on many Eastern (colonial) extracts such as Bamboo and the citrus fruit Yuzu. It makes men's shave products, and bath and skincare items. Colognes include a classic English Lavender.

Packaging is suitably old world, with solid glass bottles, but there are also new world touches like recycled cardboard wrappings. This hand cream with rice-bran oil is priced at $23 and is a nice introduction to the range.

(From selected pharmacies, gift and department stores. Ph 0508 734 466).

Alberto V05 Hot Oil

VO5 has a been a family favourite shampoo and haircare brand for decades. It's just had a makeover, but one thing that hasn't changed is the product that got the ball rolling back in the 1950s. Hot Oil was developed to help condition the fried hair of Hollywood stars whose peroxided locks were falling apart under the intense heat of studio lights. A special mix of Five Vital Oils (the VO5), apricot and almond among them, was formulated by a young hairstylist called Alberto to nourish and protect them.

Hot Oils have inspired many other conditioning treatments, but the originals are still available at a price ($6.49 for a pack of five) way below most competitors. Despite the product name, there is no messy heating process, the oils can be warmed by simply leaving a pack on the shower floor where warm water stimulates the flow. The oil is worked into the hair and shampooed out.

(From supermarkets).