Pale, Snow White skin (ceruse):
- Egg Whites
- Powdered egg shells
- Alum
- Borax
- White poppy seeds
This would have been applied to the skin up to 3 times a week, because it was bleaching the skin if they applied it anymore than 3 times a week it would harm and irritate the skin. Sometimes blue veins were drawn on top to show how thin and delicate the skin was.
Red hair dye:
- Saltpeter
- Saffron
- Sulfur powder
This is what they used to dye their hair the red colour that was popular at the time. This recipe caused them to become nauseas, get headaches and cause nosebleeds.
Red lip and cheek colour (rouge/fucus):
Red lip and cheek colour (rouge/fucus):
- Vermillion (crystalline mercuric sulphite)
- Gum Arabic
- Egg white
- milk from figs
This was a harmful recipe that was used to make the lips and cheeks red. Queen Elizabeth I used a lip salve made from cochineal (mexican beetles blood) which was harmful as this was used as a food colouring.
0 comments