Wellington Firm Produces Tons Of Lipstick

Greymouth Evening Star, 12 August 1947, Page 10

Wellington Firm Produces Tons Of Lipstick

One ton of lipstick a year. That is the amount manufactured at a Wellington factory according to the manager. The attractive names given to lipsticks helped to sell them, it was stated. Women were also attracted by the neat, shiny, or

coloured containers. Perfume was a minor consideration in buying a lipstick. No one colour was popular, though it- was stated there was a tendency for blue shadings in lipstick to give the lips more of their natural colour.

Some women like a hard lipstick, others liked one with a basis of more oil; but women were being catered for whatever their whims in the matter.

In the manufacturing room of the factory, the chemist and his assistant were busy “brewing” lipstick, but unlike the witch with her cauldron, they were not throwing in mysterious ingredeints ■ and breathing magic words into the mixture. The chemist had given careful calculation to using so much of this and that, and had expert knowledge of blendings of colour and perfumes. The resultant mixture was an oily, rich pink substance which had a resemblance to the finished product.

Twelve Ingredients

Twelve different, ingredients make the white ba?je for lipstick. These include several different oils, among which are castor oil, petroleum jelly, beeswax, and a small quantity- of parafin oil. The white base is melted, and after having colour added gees through a “milling” process, which relines it and takes out impurities. This process is repeated twice. After the perfume is added, the lipstick is poured into large trays, and to “harden it off” these trays are placed in a refrigerator. The slabs of lipstick can then be kept until it is desired to use them, when pieces are melted in pots set in a warm bath of oil. The liquid is poured into moulds to give the familiar pointed edge, round edge, or bul-let-shaped edge to the stick. Each lipstick has to be fitted into its container by hand, and held over the flame of a bunsen burner-to give it a glaze.

The factory does not make lipstick containers, which are made for it by an Auckland.firm. It was stated 75 operations go into the making of the most expensive lipstick cases. The colour powder used in lipstick comes from England and Switzerland. All are laboratory tested in the factory for arsenic and lead before use. ’ There are seven to eight, colour blendings used, including yellow, red, deep red, scarlet and purple. Perfumes used are expensive; one small bottle cost £B. All pet-fumes are tasted before use,- as the average woman, it was pointed out, “eats” a great deal of lipstick.

Making Of Powder In the powder room two machines powder, varying in density, it was strained through a steel mesn as tine as a silk stocking.

There were six different types of powder .varying in density, it was stated. The majority of women liked a powder light in density. > All powders were sterilised. In the North Island, it had been noticed that Auckland women used suntan powder more than in other centres.

Seated at long benches in the packing room women were boxing powder, placing on labels and stamping the. boxes. All labels were placed through a special gumming machine. Each box was marked with a code number for reference' by the factory, if desired.

At other benches women were labelling and examining bottles of a powder base. The tops of the bottles had been screwed on by a special machine. Most bottles for the firm’s products, it was stated, were filled by vacuum.