Posts
Lipstick
>> Tuesday, March 30, 2010
I can hear it now - who cares about the history of lipstick?
First, we are still in some pretty depressing and difficult economic times. Second, lipstick is a perfect way to perk up a gloomy day and add some cheap chic to our "wardrobe."Finally, a brief look at the history of lipstick will hopefully entertain as well as take you away from your daily drudgery.
Lipstick, believe it or not, has a rather formidable history. Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, Samaria, Babylonia - these are the times and places in which lipstick had its roots. I picture Elizabeth Taylor as Cleopatra - can you see her going without her lipstick? Of course, it goes without saying that the lipstick of yore is nothing like our lipstick of today.
The exact origin of luscious lips is a town called Ur which was located outside of Babylon. About 5000 years ago, to be exact, ladies would crush semi-precious stones (Yikes!), mix them with a pasty material, and smear them on their lips. Red was the color of choice.
The Egyptian women used the purplish-reddish color in iodine and bromine which led to death and disease. What price for beauty, eh Brutè? As for our friend Cleopatra, would you believe her lips were adorned with a paste of ants eggs combined with carmine beetles?
Even back then, women wanted that shine we find in shimmery, frosted shades of lipstick. Ready for this - they used fish scales to get that glow and attract those charioteers. Can you imagine putting such a thing on your lips? A more reasonable alternative then was henna.
I'll go for the henna and forgo the shine, thank you very much. Onward we go to the Elizabethan Age. This was the time, thanks to Queen Elizabeth I, where woman looked like walking corpses - faces painted white and lips - hemorrhage red.
We are approaching a more modern concoction in this age what with lipsticks made from beeswax and plants and flowers. Surprise, surprise - men weren't about to let ladies have all the fun, so they got in the act with their red lips, too. Along we trot to the 1770's and here all hell breaks loose.
In England, where we had all the fun in the previous century (albeit looking like death), a law was passed banning lipstick - or any makeup, for that matter - because it meant a woman was a seducing witch! Even Queen Victoria was a lipstick party-pooper. Jumping ahead to after World War II, lipstick experienced a big-time revival!
Yes, the movie biz was a part of lipstick's exploding popularity, but I can't help but think that the tides of the time: reunited lovers, an atmosphere of frugality, and a desire to add some "cheap chic" to otherwise tired, dull wardrobes.
First, we are still in some pretty depressing and difficult economic times. Second, lipstick is a perfect way to perk up a gloomy day and add some cheap chic to our "wardrobe."Finally, a brief look at the history of lipstick will hopefully entertain as well as take you away from your daily drudgery.
Lipstick, believe it or not, has a rather formidable history. Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, Samaria, Babylonia - these are the times and places in which lipstick had its roots. I picture Elizabeth Taylor as Cleopatra - can you see her going without her lipstick? Of course, it goes without saying that the lipstick of yore is nothing like our lipstick of today.
The exact origin of luscious lips is a town called Ur which was located outside of Babylon. About 5000 years ago, to be exact, ladies would crush semi-precious stones (Yikes!), mix them with a pasty material, and smear them on their lips. Red was the color of choice.
The Egyptian women used the purplish-reddish color in iodine and bromine which led to death and disease. What price for beauty, eh Brutè? As for our friend Cleopatra, would you believe her lips were adorned with a paste of ants eggs combined with carmine beetles?
Even back then, women wanted that shine we find in shimmery, frosted shades of lipstick. Ready for this - they used fish scales to get that glow and attract those charioteers. Can you imagine putting such a thing on your lips? A more reasonable alternative then was henna.
I'll go for the henna and forgo the shine, thank you very much. Onward we go to the Elizabethan Age. This was the time, thanks to Queen Elizabeth I, where woman looked like walking corpses - faces painted white and lips - hemorrhage red.
We are approaching a more modern concoction in this age what with lipsticks made from beeswax and plants and flowers. Surprise, surprise - men weren't about to let ladies have all the fun, so they got in the act with their red lips, too. Along we trot to the 1770's and here all hell breaks loose.
In England, where we had all the fun in the previous century (albeit looking like death), a law was passed banning lipstick - or any makeup, for that matter - because it meant a woman was a seducing witch! Even Queen Victoria was a lipstick party-pooper. Jumping ahead to after World War II, lipstick experienced a big-time revival!
Yes, the movie biz was a part of lipstick's exploding popularity, but I can't help but think that the tides of the time: reunited lovers, an atmosphere of frugality, and a desire to add some "cheap chic" to otherwise tired, dull wardrobes.
