The History of Make-Up

Make-Up has been used all around the world for thousands of years & defines numerous eras & cultures. A particular era that interests me is the Ancient Egyptians.

The Egyptians were renowned for their thickly lined eyes, & are apparently the creaters of khol eyeliner. Make-up had no limits in Egypt, both men & women lined their eyes to create the appearance of the Pharoes they worshipped & believed that their eye make-up would deter evil spirits. They were very particular about their eye make-up & popular shades of eye make-up colours were black & green. Henna was also used to color hair, lips and nails.


Egyptians believed strongly in cleanliness & considered facial or body hair a sign of neglect and uncleanliness. Tweezers with blunt or sharp edges were used to remove hair. Various oils & perfumes were used to protect their skin from the hot climate & prevent body odor. They were fond of strong scents & made perfume by extracting scents from flower, fruits and seeds.


Human hair wigs were also popular amongst the Egyptians. They would shave their hair & replace their natural hair with wigs. These wigs were precious to them & they kept them clean by washing them & keeping them in a box with cinnamon to keep them smelling nice.

The Egyptians used many different materials as make-up. Saffron & burnt almond were used as eyeshadows, chalk was used to whiten the face & wine was used to stain the lips like a lipstick. Cleopatra would also bathe in milk to keep her skin soft, many which could argue created the original 'body milk' moisturiser.


Although modern make-up contains different materials & there is many more different products available, Ancient Egypt created the fundamental make-up products which have been developed & redesigned through to the modern age - something that they should be eternally thanked for! :)