Cuba Material collection · Colección Cuba Material
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Catalog
Cake mascara (máscara para pestañas, en pastilla), black
Object/Artifact
Round black cake ("block") mascara in a small two-part molded-plastic pot of yellow/amber-cream plastic. The lid (Image 1) is a shallow translucent disc, interior cloudy/frosted and empty. The base (Image 2) holds a black pressed mascara cake set within the translucent rim; the cake surface shows brush striations and wear from use. No applicator brush is present. No brand, label, shade, or country marking is visible on either component.
2025.1.368
Belonged to Gertrudis Caraballo Gálvez
Cake (or "block") mascara is applied by loading a wetted brush against a hard pressed cake — the dominant mascara format from the early-to-mid 20th century, before automatic wand tubes became standard. Cuba's state cosmetics industry did produce mascara (Cuba Material's catalog lists a máscara para pestañas Realce), so a Cuban origin is plausible for this object, but nothing on it confirms brand or manufacture; it could equally be an import or Repúblican-era item. Recorded here without attribution.
The Cabrera Arús family collection
Gertrudis Caraballo Gálvez collecition
2025.1
Manufacturer: undetermined — no brand, monogram, or country mark visible on either part. Date: undetermined from available evidence; the cake-mascara format is broadly mid-20th-century and consistent with the collection period, but cannot be fixed without markings. Place: undetermined (possible Cuban state production — e.g., the Realce mascara line — but unconfirmed; could be an import).
1.1 cm
4.5 cm
Lid (translucent yellow plastic); base pot (translucent yellow plastic); black pressed mascara cake.
Plastic
Translucent molded plastic (lid and base); pressed cake mascara (traditionally a soap/wax base with carbon-black pigment).
Fair
Gertrudis Caraballo Gálvez
owner
Havana
Cuba
Caribbean
Central America
use
A Cuban origin is possible given the state industry's máscara para pestañas Realce (per cubamaterial.com/blog/productos-de-belleza/), but this object bears no Realce or other branding; do not assert Cuban manufacture on present evidence.