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"Minuet" lipstick (creyón labial), labeled shade "Café"
Object/Artifact
Swivel-type lipstick in a gilt/lacquered metal (brass) tube with a domed push-on cap, the barrel carrying the brand name "Minuet" in flowing engraved/printed cursive, a rectangular swivel slot in its lower third, a black accent band at the barrel/base join, and a gilt-metal base. The base label reads "Minuet / CREYON LABIAL / CAFE," designating a brown/coffee shade. The bullet presently loaded, however, is orange-red/coral — inconsistent with "Café" — and is therefore most likely a later replacement refill rather than the case's original product. Closed, the tube shows heavy tarnish, an irregular white abrasion/loss area on the upper barrel, and soiling; open, the barrel is extensively corroded with green verdigris, the extended bullet worn and contaminated.
2025.1.359
Belonged to Gertrudis Caraballo Gálvez
"Creyón labial" is the Cuban term for lipstick. Unlike the plastic-cased Fantasía examples previously recorded, this is an all-metal gilt tube — a styling associated with the earlier (1960s) end of the period.
The Cabrera Arús family collection
Gertrudis Caraballo Gálvez collecition
2025.1
MINIL
1960s
Cuba
Caribbean
Central America
Minuet
Manufacturer: Cuban state cosmetics industry (Ministry of Light Industry; the perfumery-cosmetics enterprises later consolidated under Suchel) — tentative as to the specific enterprise. Labeled shade: "Café" (brown/coffee). Loaded bullet: orange-red/coral — does not match the label; probable non-original refill (tentative). Date: circa 1960s; tentative (metal-tube styling suggests the earlier end of the period).
Inscription
cap side
Minuet
Label
bottom
Minuet CREYON LABIAL CAFE
Spanish
Minuet LIPSTICK COFFEE
Base label (per holder transcription; not independently imaged): "Minuet / CREYON LABIAL / CAFE." Barrel: "Minuet" in engraved/printed cursive script (gilt).
6.7 cm
1.5 cm
Cap (gilt metal); barrel with swivel slot (gilt metal), swivel mechanism (missing), black accent band, and base (gilt metal); lipstick bullet (product).
Metal
Gilt/lacquered metal — brass or copper alloy (cap, barrel, base), now heavily oxidized; black accent band (painted metal or plastic); lipstick mass (wax/oil/pigment).
Poor
Gertrudis Caraballo Gálvez
owner
Havana
Cuba
Caribbean
Central America
use
Date is tentative. The all-metal gilt tube may place this at the early (1960s) edge of the collection period; recommend confirming whether Minuet was a 1960s line or carried earlier República-era branding. If pre-1959 production were established, the date would fall at/just outside the lower bound. Minuet does not appear in the cosmetics glossary published in Isabel de Amado Blanco's Más belleza para ti (1968).
Shade mismatch: the loaded orange-red/coral bullet is inconsistent with the labeled "Café" and is most plausibly a replacement refill in a refillable metal case. Treated as one record (single object) with the mismatch stated, per cataloging convention. Tentative — confirm by checking whether the bullet sits in a separate inner cartridge and whether any second shade name appears on it.