Chapter 12

MEMORABLE MAKEUP MOMENTS & LEGENDS

the HISTORY of MAKEUP

c. 500,000 B.C.E. Cave dwellers in Africa and South America cover their bodies with mud applied in decorative patterns. The mud also functions as an insect
repellent.

c. 3000 B.C.E. Egyptians use more than thirty different types of cosmetic balms and ointments made from ingredients such as beeswax, vegetable oil, and animal
fat. Moisturizers are considered so essential, they are routinely distributed to workers and farmers.

Egyptian women have elaborate makeup chests, equipment, and products. They give themselves egg white facials, use complexion cream, and apply perfumed oils.
Women paint their faces with a (deadly) powder made from lead carbonate and water. Nails are painted with henna, and lipsticks are available in several orange-
based shades. The use of red is banned, as it is considered magical. To outline the eyes, they use either powdered kohl or crushed ant’s eggs. Eye shadows in red or
green are created using plant stems. Other makeup tools include stone pestles for grinding, bronze or silver mirrors, ivory or alabaster spoons, bronze jars for
holding face cream, linen, razors, ivory combs, and pumice.

c. 2000 B.C.E. An Egyptian papyrus includes formulas for removing wrinkles, pimples, age spots, and other blemishes. One mixture includes bullock’s bile.
Egyptians who want to get rid of wrinkles are told to apply a mixture of incense, olive oil, crushed cyperus, and wax to the face and to leave it on for six days.

Overseers stop all work on the pyramids until makeup supplies (kohl, green malachite, and galena) that help to protect the eyes of workers from the sun are
delivered.

c. 2500 B.C.E. Sumerians invent the first tweezers to get rid of unwanted hair and use a flat bone to push back cuticles.

c. 1800 B.C.E. Gold dust is used by Babylonian men to powder their hair.

c. 1500 B.C.E. Egyptian women use body oils scented with frankincense and myrrh to moisturize and protect their skin from the dry, dusty climate.

Mesopotamian soldiers are paid in bottles of oil and perfume, which are more highly valued than cash.

c. 1200 B.C.E. Egyptians of this era are wearing a full face of cosmetics. They create eye shadows out of malachite, a copper ore that has a greenish tone, to line
their bottom lids. Eyelashes and upper lids are darkened with powder made from lead ore.

c. 600 B.C.E. Makeup and lavish clothing is worn by all Babylonians of rank. An ambitious warrior named Parsondes was said to have complained to King
Nebuchadnezzar about the governor Nanarus’s focus on beauty rather than on government. When word got back to the governor, Nanarus ordered that the warrior
shave all his hair and wear makeup and perfumed oils.

c. 400 B.C.E. Women from various cultures use powders made from crushed minerals, such as ocher, hematite, and white lead, to color their skin.

FIRST CENTURY B.C.E. Roman women use saffron or wood ash as eye shadow and antimony to darken their lids, lashes, and brows. Fucus, a purple pigment,
is mixed with saliva and used for rouge and lip color. Blue paint is used to outline veins, which are seen as a sign of beauty. Nails are buffed with sheep’s fat.
Pumice is used to whiten teeth.

SECOND CENTURY A.D. Women in Palestine apply a mixture of starch, white lead, and crimson dye to their faces as an early form of blush.

THIRD CENTURY A.D. Talmudic law forbids Jewish women from applying makeup on the Sabbath.

636 The first glass mirror is invented. Women hang them, placed in elaborate cases, on a chain from their girdles, and men keep theirs under their hats.

1370 Charles V of France receives a gift of Hungary water, a body rub made of an alcohol base with rosemary, cedar, and turpentine. Soap is a luxury, but the use