During the 16th and 17th centuries ideal beauty was seen to be a porcelain white complexion with red lips and blushing pink cheeks. A woman's appearance represented her social class; a pale complexion showed a lack of outdoor manual labour and red lips and pink cheeks showed youth and good health. Make up therefore became very popular amongst royalty and the noble classes as people tried to reinforce their social standing, but was also of great interest to poorer classes who wished to improve their appearance in an attempt to keep up with high society.
According to the 'Survey Of Historic Costume' by Tortora and Eubank, products used to whiten the skin were potentially dangerous, for example mercuric salt. The book 'The Meaning Behind The Mask' by Madeleine Ogilvie, describes how the cosmetics were created. Lead and vinegar or powdered borax were used for whitening the face, and aristocracy lipstick was created from red mercucric sulphide or cochineal, gum arabic, egg white and fig milk for the lower classes. Cheek cosmetics were created by using substances such as ochre and sulphide. According to the book, enamelling also became very popular, which meant after the application of primary face products, the skin was covered with egg white to create a porcelain finish.
On the website 'sixwives.info', hair dye is also described as becoming popular amongst rich tudor women. The main choices of colour were blondes and reds. Yellow hair dye was made from saffron, cumin seed, celandine and oil.
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