This undated photo shows actress Marilyn Monroe. Image: AP
The obsession over multi-step skincare routines is not a recent fad — Hollywood’s Golden Age had it too.
Iconic blonde bombshell Marilyn Monroe took care of her skin with a prescription from Hungarian dermatologist Dr. Erno Laszlo, who catered solely to the rich and famous.
The Makeup Museum in New York has unveiled Monroe’s detailed routine, dated March 17, 1959, in an Instagram post on Sunday, May 3.
Erno Laszlo’s chief historian and branding officer Patricia Schuffenhauer presented the artifact in a video, stating that Monroe had skin on the “drier side.”
Monroe’s prescription had routines for morning, evening before dressing, on formal occasions and evening before retiring. It also advised her not to eat nuts, chocolate, olives, oysters and clams.
In the morning, Monroe was told to use warm water to wash her face and neck with Active Phelityl Soap, after which she used the Erno Laszlo Normalizer Shake-It. The tinted toner had to be applied to her face “except around the eyes, with a large piece of cotton saturated to the dripping point.”
She was also directed to use the Shake-It for formal occasions, after which she applied the Phelitone eye cream on her face, eyes, neck and decollete. She topped this with a Duo-Phase face powder.
Laszlo’s own products were obviously prescribed, and though some have been phased out, the Normalizer Shake-It is back on the market to celebrate what would have been the opening of the museum.
The museum’s exhibit “Pink Jungle: 1950s Makeup in America” was set to open this May and run until October. It has been indefinitely postponed amid the coronavirus pandemic. JB
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