Tudor Cosmetics

In the 16th & 17th century, Queen Elizabeth I set the fashion trends and as she aged, she had to change the trend with the condition of her skin which meant she had to wear more elaborate make-up. When she was 28 years old, Elizabeth contracted small pox which left her left scarring on her face which made her insecure. To do this, she used heavy white make-up, however, in the Elizabethan era, it was called facepaint. 

The ideal Tudor women was meant to be a view of pure beauty. This image was a women with light coloured hair & a snow white complexion which was complimented with red cheeks & red lips. This was all a sign of wealth due to the fact that poorer women were expected to work outside which would give them a natural tan, which is the complete different dynamic to today's way of looking at skin tones! This was achieved by putting ceruse, which is made up of white lead & vinegar. This was actually poisonous to the skin, which is what aged Queen Elizabeth alot. To get the colouring in the lips & cheeks, they used something called cochineal which is food colouring that is used in all sorts of make-up, foods, drinks & red meat. This is made up of crushed beetles which has been used for colouring make-up for centuries which date back to the Egyptians. Another thing they used for colouring was coal. This was used to darken the eyelashes as mascara wasn't around then. However, this was a luxury item from the East so not many could afford to have this. The light coloured hair was a must for Tudor women due to the fact that Queen Elizabeth had light coloured hair, also because it was meant to show a sign of wisdom. If you were lucky enough to already have fair hair, then brilliant you didn't need to do anything about it!, but if you weren't, you would have to dye the hair. To do this, they would use a mixture of cumin seeds, saffron, celandine & oil. Coating the hair in all this wasn't any good for it though! This lead to the hair thinning and the development of alopecia, which meant that a lot of women, including Queen Elizabeth, had to wear wigs & hair pieces. Queen Elizabeth had a stock pile of over 80 hair pieces & wigs to herself! 

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