Tudor Makeup & Cosmetics - The Elizabethan Era

The use of cosmetics was not common in the early tudor times under the reign of King Henry VIII.  Instead much of the inspiration for makeup in the Tudor period came around under the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. It wasn't long before society was labelling her as the 'ideal woman, her pale skin and rosy cheeks and lips were craved by women throughout society and as a result they went to extreme lengths to achieve this image.

Foundation 

The ideal face complexion was to be as pale as possible, this was associated with wealth as poorer members of society had to work outside and could not help catching the sun and gaining tanned skin. To achieve this pale look the tudors favoured a makeup called 'ceruse' - a mixture of white lead and vinegar. This provided great coverage of the skin, an especially important factor for Queen Elizabeth when covering up the scars on her face from when she had small pox. Unfortuneately this mixture concocted to provide the snowy-white complexion was poisonous and as a result, the persistent use proceeded to make the women very ill, it turned the skin grey, dry and leathery as well as causing some women to loose their hair and teeth. After some time the women realised the negative effects of the product they were applying to their face and eventually opted to make a face paint out of crushed up plants and beetles, which was much more harmless and a lot better for the skin.

Lips, Cheeks & Eyes 

 In order to achieve the rosy cheeks and lips, Tudor women used a rouge known as 'cochineal' to stain the skin. This was made by crushing certain dried insects bodies such as beetles. This provided a reddish substance that was then applied to both the cheeks as a blusher and the lips as a lipstick/lip colorant.

In some cases the Tudor women used kohl to darken their eyelashes, however this was not a factor Queen Elizabeth I used for her own make-up, choosing to remain with her light strawberry-blonde eyelashes and eyebrows.

Hair Dye 

Just as it was for makeup, Tudor women were inspired to dye their hair to be just like their Queen. Elizabeth I had strawberry-blonde/ginger hair which resulted in many going to extreme lengths to achieve the same fiery colour. This routine consisted of making a yellow hair dye from a mixture of saffron, cumin seed, celandine and oil. However just like the makeup the ingredients in the hair dye were detrimental to the health of the women's hair and often resulted in their hair thinning and falling out. This is is how wigs became so popular throughout the Elizabethan era, especially with the Queen herself who had a wide variety of wigs and hair pieces, her collection reported to exceed 80 at least.



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