The Elizabethans- some history of beauty...

The Elizabethan woman much like us were constantly aware of an idealistic view of true beauty. In there case this consisted of extremely pale complexion, large foreheads, rouged lips, thin eyebrows, coppery red hair  and lots of jewels. However unlink us nowadays they had to create there own lotions and potions to create this idealistic view they had to face, and also unlike today they had no idea what exactly it was they were putting on there hair and skin.

An Elizabethans guide to a poisoningly pale face:
The most common thing used to whiten the face was called ceruse. This was a mix of white lead and vinegar, a mixture that was poisonous.
Once you have this mix you just slaver it onto the face, ears and neck nice and thickly.
An alternative to this mix was sulphur, alum and tin ash.
On top of this egg whites would be added to create a smooth appearance and hide wrinkles. 

Eyes and brows:
As far as eyes and eyebrows go, women would drop belladonna (another poison) into their eyes to enlarge pupils and make their eyes sparkle. Aswell as this women would pluck their eyebrows to the extreme to create and extremely think arched brow to help the forehead appear bigger. 

Lips and cheeks:
Women wanted a rouged glow to the cheeks and lips. To achieve this they would use many different sources for example plants such as madder and animal dyes such as beetles and cochineal, to then redden the effects of either of these methods women would add vermilion which is sourced from mercury yet another thing that is harmful to humans.

Skincare:
Due to the harmful products they used to make themselves up many Elizabethans would find themselves with blemished skin and scarring. To try and get rid of this they would attempt many different methods such as rose water, eggshells, honey, alum and mercury. Women would bathe their faces in these products in hope that it would rid them of their flaws.

Make-up in the classes:
As far as class was concerned it was very easy to distinguish this by make up alone.
Those of a working class would be unable to achieve the pale complexion as they had tanned skin due to having to work for hours outside to earn a living, where as those of a high class could afford not to work and were able to maintain a pale untanned complexion.

Photo found: http://www.mylearning.org/the-painted-lady--tudor-portraits-at-the-ferens/p-2281/

Viewed on: Sunday 10th November 2013

Information sources:
http://beautifulwithbrains.com/2010/05/20/beauty-history-the-elizabethan-era/