Makeup Articles

How did we as people get to the point where we spend billions of dollars annually on cosmetics and it became the social standard for women to wear cosmetics everyday Surely a lady way back in the past did not simply wake up one morning and make the decision to apply eyelashes, lipstick, eyeliner, base, and rouge all at the same time. No, it was, like many things, a culmination of things from the past.

Who remembers the Egyptians? That was over four thousand years ago. Cleanliness and looks were very serious to the Egyptians. Egyptians believed the appearance had a direct connection with the health of the soul. They strived to constantly appear neat and smell good. And with a civilization who values their appearance, societies are assuredly going to have humans who are going to attempt to stand out. But the Egyptians, being the cutting edge culture they were, had cosmetics for reasons that were even more practical than just attempting to look good.

A combination of lead ore and copper known as Mesdemet was the earliest kind of eye shadow. The dark hues they thought would ward off evil eyes from their own. It was also a great cleaner and insect deterrent. Kohl was a dark substance that was put on around the eyes in an oval shape. The substance was a combination of lead, ash, ochre, copper, and burnt almonds. To further enhance their appearance, Egyptians would put a mixture of water and red clay to the cheek area. They would also paint their fingernails shades of orange and yellow with a chemical known as henna.

As time moved along and cultures were exposed to each other more often, the Greeks began to learn more of the multiple habits of the Egyptians use of cosmetics. Greek women would color themselves a pale shade with a base that contained lead in it. More than once this proved to be fatal. As the Romans began to adapt the make-up habits, the effort to achieve beauty became less about practicality and took a turn into much more exotic routes. They would paint their nails with a mixture of sheeps blood and cooked body fat. An old Roman man once stated, A woman without paint is like food without salt.

A light, pale skin color was also a sign of abundance. If you had enough money, then you did not have to work. So it was extremely important for some socialites to have a white complexion. To achieve this look, women (and men too) would apply a combination of hydroxide, lead oxide, and carbonate in a powder form to put on their faces and skin. Unfortunately, this caused a sometimes deadly side effect, lead poisoning.To cure this problem, chemists in the nineteenth century at last found a mixture of zinc oxide that did not block the skin from being able to breathe and kept people out of that aggravating lead poisoning death. It was so effective that it is still used today by cosmetics makers.

A light skin color was the fashion around the world after the Egyptian empire faded. A tanned, sun-dried face was associated with being a pleb who worked out in the field all day along with her spouse. The upper class women of course did not participate in manual labor like that so they were able to stay under the roof and had light complexions.

In the Edwardian era of London, around the change of the century of 1900, women with a recreational income would host lavishextravagant parties and do a bunch of entertaining to show off their wealth. It was extremely important for a woman to be the most attractive belle there, especially if they were the hostess of the soiree. Women at that time who underwent these exorbitant lifestyles did not eat well, would not exercise, and breathed in the heavily polluted air that the cities of the past produced. Anti-aging and facial creams to disguise the imperfections were heavily depended upon by women in this time. Regular ventures to the salon were also a normal part of the day. It was a bit different in the past than it is today. Women would go into the back entrance of the salons and hide their faces as they entered. One of the most famous of these discreet beauty salons was the House of Cyclax, who would sell creams and rouges to ladies. Mrs. Henning, the owner, sold and created multiple products for her frenzied consumers who did not want anybody to know that they were getting on in the years.

The modern day woman is the benefactor of years of trial and error with a practically infinite choice of products for any look they want to accomplish. The cosmetics business has become a billion dollar industry with literally thousands of competing companies. Skin Care products sell all year and even in times of financial hardship. So ladies, thank your ancestors and their concern for their personal looks for your own that you have today. There were possibly days when they woke up and didn’t really feel like going through the trouble of applying their face either.