Lightyears Collection
Air-Spun Face Powder
L'Aimant Scented
Coty
(1935)

Click on image to enlarge L'Aimant Perfume by Coty

Although François Coty died in 1934, the company had been set on a firm foundation with a stong committment to technical innovation. Air Spun Powder arrived in stores in 1935 and was an immediate success. Advertising suggested that it could give ordinary women the matte skin of the silver screen stars. This was the standard Coty sales pitch — that the very affordable Coty products could give the "ordinary" woman the glamour of wealthy beauties.

In fact, thanks to it's technical development, "Air-Spun" was unrivaled in the fineness of the powder. Experts have noted that "Air-Spun" was of remarkably high quality for a mass market product.

1938 Ad Copy for Air-Spun
(Good House Keeping, May 1938)

How AIR turns face powder into a
Beauty Treatment

A new discovery has made face powder actually softening to skin texture! Thanks to the amazing new air technique, COTY now adds a beneficial ingredient--which has never been used successfully in face powder before. This ingredient guards against excessive drying. Therefore, "Air-Spun" never makes your complexion look dry or flaky. After powdering, your skin feels dewy fresh . . . looks vibrant and alive! Shades are warmer and younger because blended by air! Truly, COTY "Air-Spun" is more than a new face powder--it is a new cosmetic!

COTY offers "Air-Spun" Face Powder in fourteen flattering shades . . . in such beloved odeurs as L'Aimant, L'Origan, "Paris," Emeraude, Chypre. One Dollar. NEW! "AIR-SPUN" ROUGE--blended by whirling air in the same way as the Powder, it has the same exquisite smoothness and glowing, life-like colors. $0.50 "Air-Spun" A new kind of face powder by COTY

Charm Center, New York World's Fair 1939-40

For the 1939 World's Fair at the Long Island Plaza, Coty established a "Charm Center" ... "Home of all that enhances feminine beauty and glamour." There was a "Magic Fountain" surrounded by an arcade of famed Coty perfumes and Coty "Air Spun" Face Powder. Also features was a theater and laboratory museum to demonstrate the "World of Beauty of Tomorrow."

"Glorifies YOUR Type"

Coty advertising told women that "Coty 'Air-Spun' Glorified Your Type. The powder that stays on and does not cause enlarged pores."

The powder puff design on the "Air-Spun" package shown here is believed to have been the work of René Lalique. The box was printed in France by Draeger. To save on customs duty, components were shipped to the United States separately and then assembled locally. A trusted chemist-perfumer oversaw the use of the secret Coty fragrance formulas.

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• -, 04/25/2008.
  Coty registered the trademark for Airspun Face Powder in 1914. Originally it was marketed in a number of various presentations quite different than the 1935 version pictured here.