Coty | 1939

1939 French magazine ad for Coty Rouge Nervic lipstick, in grey tones. A lipstick case labelled “Coty Rouge Nervic Cyclamen” floats in a geometric room; dotted lines project it onto a pair of lips on a white wall and onto the word COTY on the floor. Headline “Pour la pureté du dessin de vos lèvres”.

“Pour la pureté du dessin de vos lèvres”: for the purity of the line of your lips. In July 1939, Coty presented its Rouge Nervic lipstick in a drawing worthy of a geometry lesson: dotted lines project the lipstick onto a pair of lips and onto the name COTY on the floor.

François Coty, a Corsican, founded his perfume house in Paris in 1904 and became one of the first to sell luxury scents in well-designed bottles at more accessible prices. By the 1930s the brand also sold make-up.

The tagline, “Le Rouge Nervic illumine toutes les lèvres”, and the shade on the case, Cyclamen, speak to women who wore lipstick every day, a habit that had spread only since the 1920s.

Coty still exists as a large beauty group.

Text in the ad

POUR LA PURETÉ DU DESSIN DE VOS LÈVRES
(Étui :) Coty · Rouge Nervic · Cyclamen
LE ROUGE NERVIC illumine TOUTES LES LÈVRES
COTY

Translation:
FOR THE PURITY OF THE LINE OF YOUR LIPS
(Case:) Coty · Rouge Nervic · Cyclamen
ROUGE NERVIC lights up EVERY PAIR OF LIPS
COTY

Brand: Coty
Year: 1939
Decade: 1930s
Country: France
Medium: Magazine
Themes: Cosmetics
Original publication: Plaisir de France, juillet 1939

Coty | 1939 · Vintage Ad Museum

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