Lipstick, Powder, and Paint by Victoria Chatham

 AVAILABLE HERE

Jesse Stone wrote and released this song title back in 1956, but the lipstick, powder, and paint used by our historical heroines were often injurious to their health, if not downright deadly. Far from being a modern invention, cosmetics have been around for centuries. So just what did our heroines of yesteryear put on their faces?

To ancient Egyptians, circa 4,000 BC, cosmetics was big business for men and women. The green eye

makeup depicted on many a tomb wall was produced from the copper ore, malachite, and was applied over the eyelid up to the brows. It not only made the eyes look bigger but also was considered to protect those who wore it. Even today malachite is reputed to protect the wearer.

The eyes were then outlined with kohl, a thick black paint produced from galena, the natural mineral form of lead sulphide. Kohl shielded the eyes from the sun, helped keep away flies and with chlorine added to the lead sulphide, may have acted as a disinfectant. Both the powder and paint were applied with sticks made from wood, metal or ivory, depending on where you were on the social ladder. Cheeks and lips were stained with red ochre and henna were used to stain and colour the fingertips and toes.

To protect their skins from the climate, our savvy Egyptians made moisturizing creams so, to your bullock bile, add whipped ostrich eggs, olive oil, plant resins, fresh milk, and a dash of sea salt. To make it smell nice, add a few drops of scented oil like frankincense, myrrh, thyme, or marjoram. Fruit essences added a sweeter aroma, especially that from almonds. Anti-wrinkle cream? No problem. To a measure of wax add olive oil, incense, milk, juniper leaves and the secret ingredient – crocodile dung which, when dried, did double duty as a contraceptive but that’s another story.

In addition to malachite ancient Roman women also used azurite for blue eye powder. Their kohl came from soot, ashes, or antimony. Pink cheeks were considered a sign of good health and to enhance the skin colour a variety of flower petals, mulberry juice and red wine dregs, cinnabar and red lead were also used. Unfortunately for our Roman gals, the latter was highly toxic with red lead compounds probably causing abdominal pains, constipation, and memory loss. 

Chinese ladies used face powder made from rice flour, Japanese ladies embraced red lip colour, white faces and black brows with teeth blackening or ohaguro being considered especially beautifying. Queen Elizabeth I suffered from smallpox and to cover her scarred face resorted to using a paste called Venetian Ceruse made from vinegar and lead. White skin was especially favoured as this indicated youthfulness and was a clear sign the woman had no need to work out of doors.

White also indicated pureness and anyone who has ever read a Regency romance will undoubtedly know that our heroines should have soft, white skin and present a ‘fine complexion.’ Applications of Pimpernel Water, Eau de Veau (first boil a calf’s foot in four quarts of river water), or Virgin Milk which will ‘call the purple stream of the blood to the external fibres of the epidermis’ and, if left on the face to dry, ‘will render it clear and brilliant.’ Over this perfect complexion a young lady might be permitted to use a light dusting of pearl powder, a tinge of carmine powder on the cheeks and touch of rouge, lead-free of course, on the lips should  ‘only be resorted to in cases of absolute necessity.’

In late Victorian times, Bloom of Youth’s lead content could induce radial nerve palsy, or wrist drop, while Swan Down powder, supposedly safe, was found to contain not only zinc but a large quotient of lead. While the use of cosmetics was mostly the prerogative of the upper classes through history, Queen Victoria’s opinion was that the use of makeup was vulgar and impolite. Even today we are not entirely safe from the cosmetics we use. Lead, surprisingly, can still be found in some lipsticks while Botox is derived from one of the most lethal known toxins.  

Today more and more women of note are choosing to appear 'bare-faced', think Demi Lovato, Drew Barrymore, Cara Delavingne, and Cameron Diaz. However, if we can't all be that gorgeous sans makeup, we can always explore the safer option of mineral-based makeup. Whatever, beauty is still in the eye of the beholder, with or without that layer of lippy or slick of mascara.

Victoria Chatham

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Images: courtesy of various internet sources

Quotes: The Mirror of the Graces by A Lady of Distinction

  

The Villain in the Story by Victoria Chatham

AVAILABLE HERE

I write historical fiction and was so pleased to co-author with Anita Davison on Envy the Wind, Book #11 in the Canadian Historical Brides collection. My preferred genre is mostly-sweet Regency romance but even in a sweet romance, there needs to be some issue to create conflict for the characters because, without it, there really is no story. Think of a piece of string. If it is laid out flat, it is boring, uninteresting. Nothing is happening. Now imagine there are several knots in it. Who tied that knot and why? Why did they choose to tie the knot in that particular place in the string? The whole picture changes.

In the same way that we construct three-dimensional characters for our heroes and heroines, our villains,

if they are to be credible, need to be three-dimensional too. It isn’t always the guy with half-shut left eye or scarred cheek who is a villain, nor the woman with perfect make-up and too-white smile. Just as our H/H’s come in all shapes and sizes, so too do our villains. Making them credible comes from creating their backstory just as you have

done with your H/H.

What happened in your villain’s life to make him/her the way they are? Just as the branches on a bonsai tree are formed and shaped with wire, so a villain’s character is formed and shaped by the circumstances he/she grows up in or by what happens to them. You only have to look at some of Disney’s villains to get the idea. Think Maleficent, who is betrayed by her lover Stefan’s ambitions to become king. To reach that end, he sets out to kill her, but at the last minute can’t do it so instead cuts off her wings. Easy to see why Maleficent became ticked off by that.  And then there’s Captain Hook, bent on revenge after Peter Pan cuts off his hand and feeds it to the crocodile. What about Scar in The Lion King? All the elements in those Disney villains are examples of how you can build your bad guys.

Villains walk like us and talk like us, for the most part. They can be intelligent and likable, the veritable good guy. People (your readers) quite like him when he’s on the page, maybe mirroring some of the better characteristics of your hero. He’s often kind, except that behind the kindness is the determination to get what he wants – usually at the hero’s expense.

While I have no problem creating a villain’s back story and showing some human element in them, I’m think I’m much better at making them more twisted than terrible, even though they might do terrible things. And the villain in Envy the Wind? I'm not telling. You'll have to read the book to find out!