Beauty Spots

These beauty spots were part of a fashionable woman's beauty regime in the early twentieth century.

Beauty spots have a very long history dating back to ancient Rome and Egypt, originating as a means of hiding scars or signs of disease. They became a fashionable beauty trend during the reign of Louis XVI in the eighteenth century, when both men and women would wear patches of black velvet as a way of highlighting pale, white-powdered skin. Since then, there have been various resurgences in the popularity of the trend.

These beauty spots were made by Johnson & Johnson, a company usually focused on making health care products. Their marketing slogan was: 'There's beauty in every spot'. This product fed a particular fashion trend where women would wear small shapes on their faces - such as stars, crescents, arrows, hearts or circles - to attract attention to particular facial features, or to hide unsightly marks.

By the early twentieth century a coded language had developed and the placement of beauty spots on different parts of the face conveyed different messages. This language was known to women in New Zealand; for example in 1909 local newspapers reported that the beauty spot was back in vogue again, and that spots for coquetry, gossip, mischief-making and superior intelligence all have ‘special places upon the map of the face’ (Otago Witness, 13 January 1909). However, the article goes on, while a woman should know the language of these dots she should not be overly reliant on it, and should instead ‘place the spot on that part of the face where it will most accentuate the wearer’s charms.’

This particular packet came from Ethyl Florence Maud Richardson (b. 1892) who emigrated to New Zealand with her young family in 1923. Richardson had been a milliner in London and was remembered as a great storyteller. Her granddaughter Shirley Megget recalls: 'Grandma was nicknamed Bubbles for good reason and was great fun as well as a real beauty with her sparkling eyes, ready smile and Princess Leia-style hair do'.

Many years after these beauty spots were made, Richardson's granddaughters occasionally wore them to add 'mystique and intrigue' when going to dances or the theatre in the 1960s.