Makeup Articles

With all the billions of dollars spent annually worldwide on make-up, sometimes we might catch ourselves asking, How did it get to this point? When did this become the rule for me to have to wake up every morning and before I even leave feel obligated to paint my face from completely? It is certain a female way back in the past did not simply wake up one morning and decide to apply eyelashes, lipstick, eyeliner, foundation, and blush all at the same time. No, it was, like many things, a building up of events from history.

Who remembers the Egyptians? That was four millenia ago. Cleanliness and looks were terribly critical to the Egyptians. Egyptians had faith that the appearance had a direct juncture with the well being of the spirit. They tried to always appear neat and smell good. And with a civilization who values their appearance, you are assuredly going to have humans who are going to make themselves stand out. But the Egyptians, being the innovative society they were, implemented cosmetics for reasons that were even more intelligent than just trying to look good.

Mesdemet was the earliest type of eye shadow- a mixture of copper and lead ore. The dark colors they believed would avert evil eyes from their own. It was also a great sterilizer and insect deterrent. Kohl was a dark combination that was also applied around the eyes in an oval shape. It was a combination of lead, ash, ochre, copper, and burnt almonds. A combination of red clay and water was added to the cheekbone area to further enhance their appearance. They would also paint their nails colors of orange and yellow with a chemical named henna.

As time moved on and societies were exposed to each other more and more, the Grecian people began to pick up on the multiple practices of the Egyptians way with cosmetics. Greek women would give themselves a pale hue with a foundation that contained lead inside. On more than one occasion this proved to be fatal. As the Romans started to adapt the make-up habits, the effort to achieve beauty became less about functionability and took a turn into much more peculiar routes. They would paint their nails with a mixture of sheeps blood and heated body fat. An old Roman citizen once said, A woman without paint is like food without salt.

Success was often measured by a person's pale complexion. If families had enough riches, then you did not have to do anything. So a white skin color was extremely critical to some members of society. To get this look, ladies (and men as well) would use a combination of hydroxide, lead oxide, and carbonate in a powder form to paint their faces and bodies. Unfortunately, this caused a sometimes lethal side effect, lead poisoning.To cure this problem, chemists in the nineteenth century finally created a mixture of zinc oxide that made the skin able to breathe and kept people out of that annoying lead poisoning sickness. It was so effective that it is still used today by cosmetics makers.

Many years after the Egyptian empire crumbled, the fashion norm across the world was a pale complexion. A tanned, rough face was associated with being a peasant who labored in the field all day with her man. The upper echelon women of course did not have to endure physical work like that therefore they remained under the roof and had pale complexions.

In the era of King Edward of London, about the time of the turn of the century of 1900, urban women with a recreational income would have swanky get togethers and do a bunch of entertaining to exhibit their wealth. It was extremely important for a woman to be the most attractive belle there, especially if they were the hostess of the party. City and ritzy lifestyles with factors like polluted air produced by the cities at that time, unhealthy diets, and very little or no exercise aged the women fast. Anti-aging and facial creams to mask the wrinkles were heavily depended upon by women in this time. They would also go to the beauty salon. It was a little different back then than it is today. Ladies would sneak into the back of the salons and cover their faces as they went in. One of the most famous of these discreet beauty salons was the House of Cyclax, who would sell foams and rouges to ladies. Mrs. Henning, who was the owner, sold and created many products for her desperate consumers who did not want anyone to know that they were getting old.

Today's woman is the benefactor of years of experience with a practically infinite choice of products for any look they want to get. The cosmetics business has become a billion dollar industry with literally thousands of competing companies. Cosmetic products sell year round and even in times of depression. Therefore ladies, give thanks to your ancestors and their concern for their own appearance for yours that you have today. They probably didn't feel like putting on their face some mornings either.