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HOPE IN A JAR

By Kathy Peiss

Metropolitan Books, 334 pages, $25

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You don’t have to wear mascara to enjoy this fascinating account of the cosmetics industry and the women who pioneered it such as Elizabeth Arden and Madame C.J. Walker. Some makeup companies passed moral judgments on their customers, according to author Kathy Peiss, by promoting products with telling names such as two 1938 lipsticks called Lady and Hussy.