18th Century make up

Today we are going to look at 18th Century make up

We have already looked at Ancient Egyptians and Elizabethan make which brings us to 18th Century make up

 18th Century make up  was use because   it was not only  considered attractive, and  not to forget they could hide the effects of age, blemishes, disease, or sun. Throughout the 18th century, both men and women in England and France wore obvious cosmetics, gender was less important than class cosmetics marked one as aristocratic

Makeup was not intended to look natural  and was in fact, called “paint” which was meant to  represent  a persons aristocratic identity as clearly as possible through cosmetics.

In France, nearly all aristocratic women wore cosmetics,the painting of the face was a key part of the public toilette,  which was an  informal ceremony where an aristocratic woman applied make up did their  hair before an elect audience.  French aristocratic women wore thick layers of white paint, as well as  large streaks of rouge, and beauty patches.

Cosmetics were not limited to the upper class,anyone with any hope of being accepted into that society wore make up but perhaps not as thick. Later on in the century make up became cheaper making it easier to to get hold of and was even made at home.

The middle classes tended to wear pink tones instead of red, and rouge  was  applied in circular patterns rather than streaks. Women and men showed their respectability and class through white skin, and heavy makeup  which was considered more respectable than naturally light skin.

Looking very ill was clearly thought to be a good look back then thankfully its not now, we hope that our journey through 18th Century make up has been informative.

Tags: 18th century make up, Make up, make up through the ages, Makeup