For many people who grew up around an Avon representative, these tiny lipsticks are instantly familiar. They are best known as Avon mini lipstick samples or Avon lipstick sampler tubes. The ones in the photo appear to be the small sample-size lipsticks Avon representatives handed out so customers could try a shade before buying a full-size tube.
Avon’s story goes back to 1886, when David H. McConnell started the California Perfume Company, which later became Avon. According to Avon’s own company history, McConnell first noticed that women were more interested in his perfume samples than the books he was selling door to door, so beauty products became the heart of the business.
These tiny lipstick tubes are especially associated with the Avon Lady era of the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, when Avon representatives visited homes, showed catalogs, and gave customers samples. Exact dates vary by style, but vintage listings still commonly identify these small Avon lipstick samples as late-20th-century collectibles, including examples from the 1980s and 1990s.
