Probably the few beauties who use Max Factory cosmetics know that the name of his favorite nonsense came from the name of its creator - Maximilian Abramovich Faktorovich. More than a century ago, he opened the first store, and today he is called the "father of modern cosmetics."
early years
Maximilian was born into the family of a Polish Jew in 1872. From early childhood, the boy had to help parents with many children and learn to earn a living. With a seven-year-old child, Maximilian carried sweets in the intermission of plays, then he first visited the theatrical backstage, which struck him. At the age of eight, he served as a pharmacist and became acquainted with the basics of chemistry and pharmaceuticals. And as a nine-year-old, being an apprentice with a stylist, he learned to make real wigs. Having barely reached fourteen, Faktorovich settled down the Moscow Bolshoi Theater. As an assistant make-up artist, he acquired skills that helped him in the future.
Carier start
The next stage of his biography was the performance of army service. After that, Faktorovich began his own business. This happened in Ryazan in 1895. All the goods in his store: powder, blush, creams, wigs, were made by himself. The theater troupe, which once visited the city, brought the news of the talented master to the capital. In addition to creating cosmetic products, Faktorovich devoted part of his time to communicating with customers, giving them advice on how to highlight the best features and hide facial flaws.
Soon Maximilian was invited to the St. Petersburg Opera House. He was in charge of costumes and work with makeup. The images of the actors created by Factorich caused delight among the noble public and even the emperor himself. Among specialists in makeup in Russian theaters and at the royal court, he was considered the best. Security guards accompanied him everywhere, even his own store, he could not visit alone. Moreover, the chance acquaintance with one of the visitors, Esther Rosa, grew into a stormy romance. Max had to secretly marry, and also secretly then visit his wife and the children who appeared. In the palace of Nicholas II, he felt like a prisoner.
Factor in Hollywood
In 1904, the famous make-up artist left for the USA. He considered his continued stay in Russia dangerous because of anti-Semitic sentiments, so he left her with his wife and children. The name of the expat turned into a short and sonorous Max Factor. The newfound American opened a business in St. Louis. With the move to Los Angeles, the products appeared on store shelves on Hollywood Boulevard. The neighborhood with the "Dream Factory" brought the institution great popularity in the acting environment, it was here that they acquired makeup and wigs. Max's store represented the products of leading theater makeup companies on the West Coast.
The rapid development of cinema has led to the fact that the requirements of the creators of paintings to the existing make-up have changed. The product was created from a mixture of fat, flour and starch. It was imposed in a thick layer, and on the screen the faces of the heroes seemed "disgusting and frightening." Makeup cracked and fell off at the slightest movement. Max’s new product met the creator’s hopes and gained unprecedented popularity. Using “screen makeup”, the performers looked more natural, the new product was liquid and had twelve shades of color. In 1914, Max learned using molten wax to create "eye drops." The ingenious comedian Charlie Chaplin and his colleagues in the workshop were delighted with the innovation and widely used it on the set. Factor himself emphasized that "successful makeup is not noticeable."
"For the stars - and for you"
The factor dreamed of making cosmetics the property of all women, without exception. New items that were shown by the actress instantly appeared on the shelves of his stores. With bated breath, the ladies watched on the screens the beautiful heart-shaped contours of the lips of Clara Bow, the charming look of Greta Garbo, which was emphasized by the shadows and make-up of Rudolfo Valentino.
In 1918, the theory of "Color Harmony" arose. Its author believed that makeup is combined with a shade of skin, eyes and hair. So the expression "make up" appeared, literally meaning "make face".
During a visit to Europe in 1922, he was not accepted at the German company Leichner. Then Factor decided to stop their many years of cooperation and sell makeup exclusively under his Max Factor brand. Convenient packaging in the form of a tube soon crowded out competitors. The sons Davis and Frank provided great assistance in matters to Max, the beauty empire turned into a family business. To promote their products, they attracted famous actors, and they kindly agreed to shoot almost for free. So they expressed their recognition to the great master. In 1926, he created waterproof makeup, and in 1928 he completed the line of cosmetics for black and white cinema. His contribution to film production was rightly appreciated by the Academy Award. The next result of creativity was cosmetics for sound cinema.
By 1935, Makeup Studio opened its doors. Four halls were intended for various types: the blue room was given to the fair-haired, the green room was for the owners of red hair, the brunettes went straight to pink, and the dark-brown ones, "the brownies, as the master called them, chose peach. The Beauty Calibrator" was located here. Using the apparatus, the face parameters of the model were determined.
The most important invention of Max was the "pancake" - makeup for color films, this happened in 1937. The creators of the picture for the first time indicated the name of the Factor in the credits.
