Restored Vintage Powder Mirrors from Vanroe Compacts

Last week I had a very exciting email from Jane at Vanroe Compacts offering to send me one of her restored vintage compacts to use. I try not to accept freebies willy nilly, because I do like to make sure that what appears here is relevant and of good quality. But I said yes immediately to Jane because I already knew her website well, and am really impressed by her enthusiasm and knowledge in this niche vintage area.

What I like about Jane’s store is that she restores the compacts before use, so you know they will be in top condition. She also has a section on the website that lists which modern powder refills will fit into her compacts – I think this is so useful, because a lot of people are put off using vintage compacts due to the fact that very often modern refills are the wrong size.

I received my parcel in the post late last week. Isn’t the packaging lovely?

Inside the compact is wrapped in tissue paper as further protection, with a little note saying which era it dates from.

Here is my stunning new Kigu compact sitting in the velvet lined box.

You can see what amazing condition it is in, and that this was an extremely high quality compact of the time. This one was made by Kigu of London, which was set up by the son of a Hungarian goldsmith in 1939. During WWII the compact factory and the owner Gustav Kiaschek’s experience were needed for the British war effort, but after 1945 he was able to restart the business and they quickly became known for their interesting designs. Members of the royal family even bought his compacts from the British Industries Fair in 1949.

A close-up of the etched design.

I have never used a powder compact before, and like a moron I bought one of the solid refills suggested on the website when this one is actually for loose powder. Der! So I need to buy some loose powder now, and just perhaps another compact for the Max Factor refill which is winging its way to me looking for a home. I am going to feel very glamorous indeed carrying this in my purse.

Here are some of the other gorgeous compacts on the Vanroe website. And they do worldwide delivery (music to my ears, always)!