Compacts and Cosmetics is, as the title suggests, about the history of beauty and cosmetics, all in relation to the material culture of the beauty industry: advertisements, product packaging, art and design as well as promotion of products through celebrities.
I use information from this book for my teaching and for writing in The Lipstick Papers!
The volume is lovely visually -- quality paper, attractive design and, most of all, excellent photographic material: Advertisements, photographs and cosmetics, vintage at first, closer to our own era as the chapters progress.
A drawback for this book is that it does not avoid misogyny. Maybe it was unintentional but, for example, mockery of women who used cosmetics (in the 18th century) is laid out in annoying detail without critical comment. Also, the name "Jezebel", applied up until the early 20th century to criticize women who used cosmetics, is used over and over, as if it is a brilliant descriptive term. I completely disagree with this. "Jezebel" is a patriarchal, misogynist term. A book may mention it to explain what it was, but not employ it afterwards itself.
Other than that, I recommend Compacts and Cosmetics to anyone interested in beauty and beauty's history!
Have a great Sunday afternoon, always with beauty and a book! xxx
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