This book examines the integral role of make-up in constructing and promoting female stardom during Hollywood's transitional period from 1950 to 1970, an era shaped by the rise of television, the decline of the studio system and the loosening of the Production Code. Cathy Lomax explores how make-up operated both as a practical filmmaking tool and as a key element of cinematic mise-en-scène, helping to shape ideas of beauty, race, ageing, naturalness and sexual appeal.

Through detailed case studies of Vivien Leigh, Marilyn Monroe, Natalie Wood, Dorothy Dandridge and Joan Crawford, Lomax shows how make-up helped create and transform star identities on and off screen. She considers Monroe's femme fatale image in Niagara (1953); the use of make-up to construct Wood as youthful, natural and sexually confident, as well as to alter her appearance for so-called 'ethnic' roles; the darkening of Dandridge's skin in response to anxieties around interracial relationships; and the impact of colour film and ageing on Crawford's later star persona, including her appearance in Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962).

Drawing on film and celebrity studies, feminist theories of masquerade, fashion and cultural studies, archival research, fan magazines, biographies and Lomax's own experience as a make-up artist, the book recovers an often overlooked aspect of film production. It also considers how these manufactured images circulated beyond cinema through publicity and consumption. In doing so, it highlights the labour and creative agency behind make-up and reveals its central role in the construction of femininity and individualised female stardom.