Medieval Beauty & Make Up By Tayla

Foundation Studies have shown that women in England ‘Painted their faces white’ to achieve a paler-looking complexion. Women often pained their faces with wheaten flour or used led-filled cosmetics. It was assured that the root of the Madonna lily would whiten the face. Research also suggests ‘ground lily root’ made a powder for faces, although it does not specify what kind of lily was recommended.

Eyeliner & Eye shadow Many books say that eyecolours and eyeliner were available during the medieval period, and it is commonly known that since early antiquity the Egyptians and later the women of Rus at Staraya Ladoga in the 10 th century were using eyeliner and eyeshadow, but paintings and sculptures for the High Middle Ages like the Madonna, dated at 1370, show women with pale and unadorned eyes and eyebrows heavily plucked.

Lip balms and Lipsticks Lip tinctures and balms made of beeswax seem to be the lip treatments most commonly referred to. Beeswax and oil melted in a metal spoon and allowed it to cool made a semisolid balm for smoothing the lips. One recipe or a medieval lip balm described as a ‘sweet smelling grease that will keep the lips and hands from chapping and make them moist and soft’ comes from the book of secrets of Don Alessio Piemontese, published in 1557.

Rouge The ground leaves of angelica angelica archangelica were the principle ingredient for the manufacture of ‘ladies red powder’. Dried flowers of the safflower carthamum tinctorius were also used in the making of rouge.

Heian Era Hair The women of the imperial court in Heian Japan grew their hair as long as possible. They wore it straight down their backs, a shinning sheet of black tresses (called Kurokami). This fashion began as a reaction against imported Chinese fashions, which were much shorter and included pony-tails or buns. The record-holder among Heian hair – growers, according to tradition, was a women with hair 7 meters (23 feet) long!

Beautiful Faces and Makeup The typical Heian beauty was required to have a pouty mouth, narrow eyes, a thin nose, and round apple-checks. Women used a heavy rice powder to paint their faces and necks white. They also drew bright red rose-bud lips on over their natural lip lines. In a fashion that looks very odd to modern sensibilities, Japanese aristocratic women of this era shaved off their eyebrows. Then, they painted on misty new eyebrows high on their foreheads, almost at the hair-line. They achieved this effect by dipping their thumbs in black powder, and then smudging them onto their foreheads. This is known as butterfly eyebrows. Another feature that is unattractive now was the blackened teeth. Because they used to whiten their skin, so natural teeth ended up looking yellow in comparison. Therefore, Heian women painted their teeth black. Blackened teeth were supposed to be more attractive than yellow ones, and they also matched the women’s black hair.

Bound Feet For around 10 centuries, successive generations of Chinese women endured a practice as a child, their feet were systematically broken and shaped in such a way that their feet looked like hooves. The tradition is known as foot binding.

Glossary  Antiquity – the ancient past, especially the period of classical and other human civilizations before the middle ages.  Unadorned – plain  Heian – of or relating to a period of Japanese history from the late 8 th to the late 12 th century.  Aristocratic - of, belonging to, or typical of the aristocracy.

Bibliography  August 3, :29am  August 3, :40am  peculiar-history-of-foot-binding-in-china/279718/ peculiar-history-of-foot-binding-in-china/279718/ August 3, :20am