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

  

A Little of This and A Little of That

Ah Spring. My favorite time of year. New buds blossom, Trees begin to get their leaves and everything comes alive. The air smells fresher, little plants peek through the ground.
Crocuses often bloom through the snow and Snow Drops soon follow and of

course the lovely Daffodils appear as soon as the ground has thawed.
The crocus is a symbol of youthfulness and cheerfulness. The snowdrop symbolizes hope - hope that winter will soon end and new warmth will enter our lives.  Daffodils symbolize rebirth and new beginnings.
Something about seeing the new spring flowers creates a happiness. The long winter is finally passing and warmer weather is on the way.
Of course, we can't forget St. Patrick's Day - a day celebrated by many with corned beef and cabbage. parades and of course drinking - sometimes green beer.
St. Patrick's Day first started to honor St. Patrick on the anniversary of his death. Christian people had a great feast for which Lenten food and alcohol restrictions were temporarily removed, which is why drinking became synonymous with the holiday. As year passed, St Patrick's Day became less about the man and more about general Irish traditions, culture, and history. *

Unfortunately, due to the Coronavirus, this year's celebrations/parades were canceled.
When will things return to normal. Every day it seems like something else is closed down. Will everything shut down eventually?
If that's what's going to happen, I wish they'd do it sooner, rather than later. How many more have to get sick or die before that happens? I say get it over with, but who am I? Already restaurants, sports, schools, and churches are closed. Even some department stores. We're told to stay in. Not an easy thing for me. Not that I went too many places anyway, church, bible study, and of course, the store. Even that's been taken away. I'm blessed to have children willing to shop for me. But I do miss it. I enjoyed shopping. Got me out of the house for a while.  Enough about that. More about spring.

Easter is celebrated in the Spring. Sometimes in March, but often in April. A special Holiday (Holy Day) for Christians around the world. The day

 we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus. I look forward to spending the day with family, making our Traditional Easter Food. I pray things will be back to normal by then.

May brings Mother's Day, celebrated the second Sunday in May and founded by Anna Jarvis, it's  a celebration honoring the mother of the family, as well as

motherhood, maternal bonds, and the influence of mothers in society.  Designated as the second Sunday in May by President Woodrow Wilson in 1914. **

And finally, Memorial Day, observed the last Monday in May finishes off our Spring Holidays and kicks off the Summer Season. I remember when it was called Decoration Day. It's a  day to remember  and honor the men and women
who died while serving the U.S. military. This year it falls on May 25th, which just happens to be my birthday.  ***

* St. Patrick's Day
** Mother's Day
*** Memorial Day

Review of Trouble Comes in Twos
5 stars - Whodunit and Another Twin
Roseanne Dowell does it again, this time adding mystery to the romance--from the kidnapping of a bride on the eve of her wedding to stumbling across a body under a bush in the local cemetery, Kate Wesley has more than just two love interests distracting her. Not to mention, the victim's identical twin. Ms. Dowell kept me guessing throughout the book both whodunit and who was gonna "do it" with Kate.
5 stars - Romantic Suspense At It's FINEST!

You can find Trouble Comes in Twos as well as my other books at BWL Publishing

Women's Rights before Suffragettes by Diane Scott Lewis

Celebrate Women's History Month

I once had a critique group where the only male member protested my female character's feminist-like qualities. She was eighteenth-century and women didn't demand their rights until the twentieth-century, so he insisted.

Suffragettes 1914

I had to explain how wrong he was.

Most people don't realize that women have been asking for rights for centuries.
I see it in book reviews all the time: the spunky heroine behaves in too modern a manner.

However, history if full of such women, if you look for them.

Aphra Behn was a writer, playwright and translator who lived in England in the 1600s. She championed the rights for women to speak their minds. She was also one of the first Englishwomen to earn a living by her own writing. She became the inspiration for future female authors. Charles II appreciated her intelligence and used her as a spy in Antwerp.
Her first play, The Forc'd Marriage, in 1670, criticized women being forced into often unhappy or cruel arranged marriages.


Behn

Mary Astell, another Englishwoman, advocated equal education for women. She's been called the first English feminist and insisted that women were just as rational as men. And deserving of a similar education. In 1694, her book Serious Proposal to the Ladies for the Advancement of their True and Greatest Interest put forth plans for an all female college where women could expand their minds. This at a time when most women weren't allowed to attend any college. She also wrote about the dangers of women being pushed into bad marriage choices.



Astell

Mary Wollstonecroft lived in the later eighteenth century, and was the mother of Mary Shelly (who wrote "Frankenstein").
Wollstonecroft advocated for equal education for women, writing two books on the subject. Her 1792 "Vindication of the Rights of Woman" put forth that women weren't naturally inferior to men, they just suffered from inadequate education. Today she's revered as a founding feminist philosopher.

Wollstonecroft

Women could also be as brave as men. Many participated in the American Revolution dressed as males. Deborah Sampson Gannet fought with Washington’s army dressed as a soldier. Sampson enlisted in 1782 with the 4th Massachusetts, as Robert Shurtleff. She achieved the rank of corporal in the battle of White Plains, and sustained injuries twice. Upon discovery of her sex, she was honorably discharged. And received a pension!

My heroine, Rowena, in "Her Vanquished Land" fights as a man during the American Revolution--but on the British side. She decodes messages for a mysterious Welshman. Soon, their relationship evolves even as the war might destroy them.

So my strong women are not anachronistic. History has kept most of them out of the history books.

Purchase Her Vanquished Land and my other novels at BWL
For more info on me and my books, check out my website: Dianescottlewis

Diane Scott Lewis lives in Western Pennsylvania with her husband and one naughty puppy.