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Cosmetics: Magic for the Face Then and Now
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12787 |
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Section : |
LIFE
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| Issue
Date : |
3 / 1987 |
2,157 Words |
| Author
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Judy Wade
Judy Wade reports on adventure travel for Shape, Braniff
Destinations, and Caribbean Travel and Life, and is the
touring editor of Cyclist magazine. She packs and unpacks in
Van Nuys, California. |
Makeup has not always been used to create a charming face. In early days, it was used in creating frightening faces for religious rituals or to repel incomprehensible terrors.
As long ago as 5,000 B.C., Egyptians smeared their bodies with grease and oil from the castor plant, tattooed their faces and bodies, and wore eye makeup. By 3,500 B.C., they had developed cosmetics for sun protection. Wall paintings show young children with garish eye makeup that evidently was used as a sunscreen. In Egyptian village remains, archaeologists have discovered eye paint ground from green malachite, along with ointments and perfumes, used for trade.
Dead dignitaries were honored with gifts of eye paint, memorialized in the tomb of Khum-Hotep paintings. Mummies still bear traces of the face makeup they were adorned with. Black antimony powder was used to emphasize the eyebrows, and the typical Egyptian "Wings," extending from the eyes to the sides of the face, were executed in a type of kohl derived from lead ore.
Early Romans relied on Egypt for the cosmetics they were unable to produce, inspiring a lively trade between the two countries. Through this trade Cleopatra became renowned to the Romans, as they learned of her custom of wearing black galena (lead sulfide) on her lids and brows, and bright blues and greens on her eyelids.
The importance of cosmetics in bygone times is demonstrated in a British Museum exhibit of an upper-class Egyptian lady's makeup case dated around 1,300 B.C. It contains many contemporary looking utensils and special slippers as well as cushions to support the lady's elbows while she applied her makeup. There are eye pencils made of wood and ivory, and a liquid ointment that served as both cosmetic and sunscreen for the eyes. She used a bronze mixing dish to develop her own colors. Other pots probably held face creams that contained animal fat scented with perfumed resin.
A 5,000-year-old lipstick was found by archaeologists at Ur on the Euphrates. They also discovered what was probably the first nonsurgical face-lift technique. Ancient Egyptian women smeared egg white on their faces and left it to dry - a technique still recommended by cosmeticians today because of its ability to tighten pores temporarily.
By around 300 B.C., during the reign of the Ptolemies, the Egyptians were using the natural ores of their
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