Humans have been using some sort of cosmetics and facial decorations for eons. Ancient man not only painted his face to signify his status in a tribe, he would add permanent scarring to add to the effect. Amazon Indians still use various forms of face painting for the same reason.

During the 1700s, vanity was the name of the game. Everyone who was anyone wouldn't be seen in public without heavy doses of heavy white powder, rouged cheeks and lips, and colored eyes made possible by dried vegetable leaves and ochre. Portraits from this time period made many of these individuals look almost ridiculous by today's standards.

In the early part of the 20th century, cosmetics became popular purchases at the corner drug store. Up till then, cosmetics had never been mass produced. It took the new movie industry to make that possible. Rich, poor, beautiful, and plain all ran to the new make up counters to see and to buy. Suddenly even the average housewife had a supply of lipsticks and eyebrow pencils and eye shadows.

It wasn't until the 1940s, however, that the cosmetics industry really took off. What happened? Movies were just coming out in Technicolor! Women could now truly admire their favorite movie stars and see exactly what made them so gorgeous - the black mascaras, the blue eye shadows, red lipsticks, and pink rouge - and they ran out to buy the same things.

Suddenly, cosmetic companies were popping up all over. Major department stores rearranged their floor displays to make room - lots of room - for beautiful displays with fancy containers and lovely packaging and gorgeous sales clerks. These large companies competed heavily between each other, and even more so with the already well established drug store brands of Max Factor and Maybelline - the companies that had the original contracts with Hollywood movie studios. Everyone wanted a piece of the action, and they would fight heavily to get it.

With the newly established likes of Estee Lauder and Lancome, women quickly started to think: Is this worth the money? Should I spend $10 on a lipstick when I can go to the drugstore and buy one for $1. 50? Although the large names still were able to keep some market share, many women would reserve this type of spending for special occasions.

Although the ingredients in many of the high end expensive lines purport to be better a quality, how much better can something really be? What exactly are you paying for at the major department stores that you aren't paying for at the local mass retailer? Probably the packaging.

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