History and Fun Trivia
Since our history from Atlantis are still a little fizzy, ancient Babylon figures as the beginning of our story about makeup.
The origin of our use of cosmetics can be traced back 5,000 years to ancient Babylon in which it seems that they frequently painted their faces with lead, used henna to colour their nails, and for lipstick used semi-precious stones that were crushed and smeared on their lips.
The Romans and ancient Egyptians used cosmetics that contained mercury and often lead. Cleopatra had lipstick made from ground up cochineal beetles added to ant’s eggs as a base. Also used by the Egyptians was a purple-red colour that was squeezed from Iodine used to redden lips, this eventually became known as “the kiss of death”.
When King Tut’s tomb was opened in 1922, cosmetics were found inside that were still fragrant and perfectly usable.
During the era of Queen Elizabeth 1st, it was popular to paint the face white and the lips red. When acting in Shakespeare’s plays no women were allowed to work as actors. Female roles were taken by young lads who wore women’s clothes and elaborate makeup. The lead content in the white makeup led to many early deaths by boy actors.
With the rise of Christianity, the heavy use of makeup gradually diminished in many cultures. Eventually makeup became seen as the art of the devil.
In fact, in 1770, the English parliament passed a law stating that any woman who seduced a man into marriage by wearing makeup could be tried as witch!
In fact the use of makeup was frowned upon at many points in western history. In the 19th century prostitutes were the main users of makeup and Queen Victoria publically declared makeup improper, vulgar and acceptable only for use by actresses.
During the 1920’s, the flapper style came into fashion, which embraced dark eyes, red lipstick, red nail varnish and the suntan by Coco Channel.
Makeup became very popular during world war 11 with the popularity of its use in the movie industry. And by the middle of the 20th century, cosmetics were wildly used by women in nearly all industrial societies around the world.
In the 1950’s colour films made an enormous impact on cosmetics. The huge cinema screens illuminated the unblemished appearance of stars and caused the makeup artist Max Factor to invent the ‘pan cake’, which covered any blemishes and evened out skin tone.
We still have to watch out for the detractors of makeup though. For example: Adolf Hitler told women “that face painting was for clowns and not for women of the master race”.
More trivia:
The origin of our use of cosmetics can be traced back 5,000 years to ancient Babylon in which it seems that they frequently painted their faces with lead, used henna to colour their nails, and for lipstick used semi-precious stones that were crushed and smeared on their lips.
The Romans and ancient Egyptians used cosmetics that contained mercury and often lead. Cleopatra had lipstick made from ground up cochineal beetles added to ant’s eggs as a base. Also used by the Egyptians was a purple-red colour that was squeezed from Iodine used to redden lips, this eventually became known as “the kiss of death”.
When King Tut’s tomb was opened in 1922, cosmetics were found inside that were still fragrant and perfectly usable.
During the era of Queen Elizabeth 1st, it was popular to paint the face white and the lips red. When acting in Shakespeare’s plays no women were allowed to work as actors. Female roles were taken by young lads who wore women’s clothes and elaborate makeup. The lead content in the white makeup led to many early deaths by boy actors.
With the rise of Christianity, the heavy use of makeup gradually diminished in many cultures. Eventually makeup became seen as the art of the devil.
In fact, in 1770, the English parliament passed a law stating that any woman who seduced a man into marriage by wearing makeup could be tried as witch!
In fact the use of makeup was frowned upon at many points in western history. In the 19th century prostitutes were the main users of makeup and Queen Victoria publically declared makeup improper, vulgar and acceptable only for use by actresses.
During the 1920’s, the flapper style came into fashion, which embraced dark eyes, red lipstick, red nail varnish and the suntan by Coco Channel.
Makeup became very popular during world war 11 with the popularity of its use in the movie industry. And by the middle of the 20th century, cosmetics were wildly used by women in nearly all industrial societies around the world.
In the 1950’s colour films made an enormous impact on cosmetics. The huge cinema screens illuminated the unblemished appearance of stars and caused the makeup artist Max Factor to invent the ‘pan cake’, which covered any blemishes and evened out skin tone.
We still have to watch out for the detractors of makeup though. For example: Adolf Hitler told women “that face painting was for clowns and not for women of the master race”.
More trivia:
- In 1884, the first modern lipstick was introduced by perfumers in Paris. It was wrapped in silk paper and made with deer tallow, castor oil and beeswax.
- In 1904, a perfumed lip salve would have cost you 25 cents.
- By 1908, it was okay for women to apply lipstick at the table during lunch at a restaurant. It was not okay to apply lipstick at dinner.
- Did you know that according to a 1996 survey by Shiseido cosmetics; 87% of American women admit to having left traces of lipstick in unwanted places.
- The average woman uses 4 – 9 lb. of lipsticks in a lifetime.
- Guano (bat droppings) is used in some cosmetics such as mascara.
- Modern mascara was created in 1913 by T.L.Williams. He mixed coal dust with petroleum jelly for his sister Mabel, and later grew the invention of Maybelline.
