THE 1950s were all about 'flawless' beauty. Ordinary women were now able to see their favourite movie stars in all their colourful, flawless radiance; it's hardly surprising that we wanted in on the secret.

By 1954, half of the movies made were in colour. This meant that movie stars were seen in their full beauty. Women all over the world were noticing their perfect, smooth skin and wanted to know how to achieve this for themselves, but without the movie star prices.

In an answer to their prayers, Max Factor invented the 'Pan-Cake' foundation. This was applied in a thick layer to the skin, successfully masking any blemishes and imperfections, or at least making them much less obvious. Now housewives and regular hard working women could have the same glamorous complexion as Elizabeth Taylor and Marilyn Monroe. Max Factor also released a new line of brightly coloured eye shadows and lipsticks. Many women opted for turquoise eye shadow, and bright red lipstick was definitely in. The majority chose cherry red and often matched their nails with their red lips.

Make up was big business in the fifties. Women's magazines featured articles that guided women on the proper way to apply make up, causing women everywhere to experiment more with their own make up. The favoured look was a thick line of liquid eye liner drawn along the top eyelid, with a bright eye shadow, red lipstick and a bright blusher applied to the cheeks to replace some of the more natural aspects that the foundation hid.

But women weren't only experimenting with their make up. Oh no; with hair lacquers becoming available to the public, women were trying all the time to create new and outrageous styles, such as enormous back-combed bouffants, or a towering beehive. However, for those who liked to keep things simple, the hair was either simply tied up into a sweet ponytail, or hair was made soft and wavy by using rollers or curlers, which many women even went so far as to sleep in.

The women of the fifties are true inspirations. They managed to look classy and beautiful at the most desperate of times, even when they had no reason too. Some even got all dressed up from head to toe simply to perform thankless tasks such as cleaning the house. For that matter, they're more than inspirations, they're saints.