London - When it first hit the shelves in the Sixties, it claimed to offer women a lasting glow without turning their faces “muddy”.
Now Corn Silk face powder is making a comeback, supposedly because it leaves women with a “selfie-friendly” finish.
The old-fashioned product costs just £6.72 (about R200), and is currently number two on Amazon’s list of best-selling face powders. According to make-up artist Aimee Adams, this is because it gives women a muted glow, similar to the flattering soft-focus filters on the photo-sharing website Instagram.
Adams, 47, has worked with celebrities such as Helen Mirren, Madonna, Elle Macpherson and Tess Daly. She also counts Princesses Eugenie and Beatrice and the Duchess of York among her clients. The beauty expert said: “Back when I started doing make-up 26 years ago, I remember having this one particular photographer and he used to turn to me and say ‘why do you look in sort of soft focus?’
“And it was the powder. It looks like you’ve been filtered. It’s the kind of look people now try to get by using filters on Instagram.”
Adams discovered Corn Silk in a pharmacy in Texas, where she grew up, and has been using it ever since. At the beginning of her career she had to ship it over from America.
But it is now sold in Boots – and is far cheaper than its high-end alternatives, which can cost more than £25. Adams said: “I don’t meet other make-up artists all that often but when I do they always ask me what’s your desert island product and I tell them it’s Corn Silk. And so many of them go ‘oh my God mine too’.
“It takes all the oiliness off but it gives you a real glow. It never goes cakey. If someone’s really, really sweaty I can powder their nose 50 times and it never looks like they have powder on.”
When Corn Silk came out in the 1960s, there were few face powders on the market, and what was available would often leave skin feeling cakey and smothered. Back then the new product was considered revolutionary, claiming to “keep you looking great long after ordinary pressed powder lets your make-up go all melty and muddy”. - Daily Mail