Elizabethans considered a pale complexion to be be not only a sign of wealth but also a sign of good health. This is because poor women would be tanned from working outdoors doing manual labour, whereas the richer women who didn't have to work would have very pale skin as they often stayed indoors or under shelter when in a situation that they would have to be in the sun. If richer women were not blessed with a pale skin tone then they would use various different things to make their skin look white. One of the most common ingredients used to achieve this look was Ceruse, which is a foundation type makeup that was make up of a mixture of poisonous white lead and vinegar. Some women preferred to use sulphur, tin ash or alum. Mother of pearl were used by the richest of the rich, ground up to give a luminescence and shimmer. White eggs were also used to achieve this paler complexion but mostly as a method of hiding wrinkles. Its not only today that we see wrinkles and blemishes an issue, this is something the stretches all the way to Elizabethan times meaning both women and men during the tudor period used various different concoctions to prevent these problems form occurring.
Quite like today, the amount of makeup we wear contributes to the amount of blemishes that we get, however in Elizabethan times this was taken to a different extreme. All of the makeup men and women used in order to achieve a perfect white complexion, would often be the root of all types of skin problems. The ingredients wouldn't just leave the skin dry and covered in blemishes it would often burn the skin causing lesions that were itchy and flaky which would only take more and more makeup to cover. To remove blemishes, wrinkles, spots and freckles the Elizabethans would use ingredients such as rosewater, lemon juice or mixtures of eggshells, alum, mercury and honey. The wealthy would also bathe in goats and donkeys milk.
Women used black kohl to rim their eyes and make them look darker as well as Belladonna, which enlarges pupils so that eyes look larger and sparkly. Belladonna is often called the devils berry or deadly nightshade due to the fact that Belladonna’s so toxic even eating a small quantity of its leaves or berries can be fatal to humans, particularly children, and some animals. Simply touching the leaves can irritate your skin. No pain no gain I suppose.
Eyebrows were trimmed to be thin and highly arched creating the illusion of a higher forehead. Some women wold pluck their eyebrows completely out in order to achieve this look. Cheek and lips were often altered to look rosy rouge and to achieve this women would use various plants and animal dyes. It was common for women to use madder; an Asian plant with red roots to tint the lips and crushed cochineal beetle on the cheeks. There were various other ways of achieving this look, one using a mixture of egg whites and ochres; a natural earth pigment containing hydrated iron oxide. All of the ingredients used above could be reddened further by using vermillion which is a red pigment obtained from mercury sulphide.
Having been given the task of finding and making my own Elizabethan makeup using the same ingredients that would have been used during the Tudors, I had decided after doing this research that even if I did manage to get hold of all of the ingredients to create one of my own, I definitely wouldn't be applying it. My skin is in poor enough condition on its own without me slapping white lead and vinegar all over it. I had considered for a small time bathing in goats milk, however I don't have a goat nor do I have a bath so it was out of the question, the best I could have done is semi skimmed cows milk in the shower and I didn't think it would have had the same effect. However, I have actually tried one of the Elizabethan skin care recipes before now even prior to doing this research. Egg whites are still an ingredient that is considered helpful when trying to improve the clarity of skin. Obviously we now have a lot more information that has lead to the introduction of genuinely helpful products, however they are rather a lot more expensive than a box of six free range eggs.
The ingredients I used to try and help clear my skin where egg whites, lemon juice and sugar. The original Elizabethan recipe uses egg shells rather than sugar but at the time I didn't know about this, nor am I willing to try it again with eggs shells as I don’t want to cut my face off in order to see how the Elizabethans lived. As you can imagine the mixture had a very strange consistency, its was what I imagine it would feel like if you tried to apply really watery unset jelly to your face. The sugar was for exfoliating purposes and it actually felt no different to using a store bought exfoliant. I left the mixture to set on my face and it was quite refreshing at first, not to mention it tasted delightful, however nearing the end of the time i was instructed to leave it on for the mask began to become very very sticky making my face feel quite taut.
The results of the mask never really became apparent which makes me think that it doesn't really work and that its a method that should be left in Elizabethan times. I only did this once a day for a week so maybe it works with more constant use but from what I could tell, it wasn't really having any effect on my complexion and if it was then the results were that minor that it wasn't worth the time, effort and stickiness.
No comments:
Post a Comment