schoolgirl complexion

Idioms

Fresh, glowing, unblemished skin, as in She's fifty but she still has her schoolgirl complexion. This expression, alluding to the beauty of young skin, was invented for an advertising campaign for Palmolive Soap, which ran from about 1923 through the 1930s and claimed to preserve one's schoolgirl complexion.

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

An entertaining if perhaps excessively appreciative biography of Pioneer Adman Albert Lasker, the genius personally responsible for tattooing such blather as "That Schoolgirl Complexion" on the American consciousness.

From Time Magazine Archive

An entertaining, if perhaps excessively appreciative biography of Pioneer Adman Albert Lasker, the genius personally responsible for tattooing such blather as "That Schoolgirl Complexion" on the American consciousness.

From Time Magazine Archive

Women are urged to "keep that schoolgirl complexion."

From Time Magazine Archive

It cost C-P-P alone a good $8,000,000 to remind its Palmolive Soap buyers to "Keep That Schoolgirl Complexion," buy its 432 additional toilet items.

From Time Magazine Archive

He has a "perfect schoolgirl complexion," plus an "air of perfect boredom."

From Time Magazine Archive

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023