The smokey eye makeup look isn’t a modern invention. Ancient Egyptians painted their lips, applied eyeshadow, and lined their eyes more than four thousand years ago. Ancient Egyptians were masters of cosmetics. Both men & women wore makeup. The ancient Egyptians regarded beauty as a sign of holiness. Everything they used had a spiritual aspect to it, including cosmetics.
Our love affair with cosmetics is almost as old as humanity itself. From the various looks we have sported across the centuries, the Ancient Egyptian look stands out as one of the more memorable ones in the history of makeup. This is not a surprise, for the Ancient Egyptians were avid lovers of cosmetics.
Cosmetics were produced by professionals who were highly praised in society. The cosmetics industry was very developed and makeup, balms and other cosmetic items were regularly traded. They even buried makeup in tombs. Elite Egyptians included makeup among their funerary objects. Egyptian hair and makeup accessories from the predynastic period to the Ptolemaic period demonstrate the spiritual, aesthetic, and practical importance of beauty.
When archaeologists excavated the tomb of Kemeni, royal butler to ancient Egyptian pharaoh Amenemhat IV, they found an elaborate cedar and ivory box. The drawer held cutouts that archaeologists deduced were meant for ointment jars. The box had a compartment in the shape of a hand mirror. Archaeologists commonly find cosmetics vessels, makeup containers, and hair ornaments in ancient Egyptian tombs.
Ancient Egyptians used makeup and hair accessories to beautify themselves according to standards of the day. But cosmetics were also practical. Cosmetics also served a spiritual function. Ancient Egyptians decorated cosmetics vessels with symbols of fertility and regeneration.
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Applying cosmetics to their faces, the oiling of the limbs and hair, was as important to ancient Egyptians as their clothes. In their sculpture also, in which slight deviations from nature were allowed, the Egyptians liked to represent the marks of paint adorning the eyes. It was customary also to paint other parts of the body as well. There is one image of a woman applying rouge while looking at herself in a metal mirror which she holds with the rouge pot in her left hand.
The Purpose of Makeup in Ancient Egypt
Cosmetics were believed to be imbued with magical powers. Even in death cosmetics were regarded as a key to maintaining a youthful appearance. and the deceased were not happy without seven sorts of salve and two sorts of rouge.
In the beginning, cosmetics served a practical purpose: to protect the wearer from the harsh rays of the sun. Dark eye-make up, known as mesdemet, was particularly common. It was considered attractive and pleasing to the gods although it was also thought necessary for health reasons: repelling the small flies that carried disease and infections, and also blocking the sun's glare.
Cosmetic lines extending the eyebrows and the outer eye corners can indicate elevated or other-worldly status in art, being applied, for instance, to the king, the gods, and the transfigured dead. Skin color also had symbolic aspects in art: reddish brown paint was typically used to represent men, and light red or yellow for women, although there are a number of exceptions to these general observations.
However, the use of cosmetics for women went beyond practicality. There is strong evidence to suggest that, as most women today, Egyptian women enjoyed applying makeup purely for beautification. Judging by the evidence, it appears that women wore more makeup than men which, I suspect, has its roots in their biological difference. Beautification was an important part of a woman’s life, and it proves that we are not so dissimilar after all.
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Ancient Egyptian men and women of all social classes took body care very seriously. One of the first things they would do after waking up is to take a bath, followed by applying face cream as sun protection and moisturizer. The Egyptians loved sweet & spicy perfumes that filled the air with their heady, long-lasting aroma. The most popular one was kyphi. Wearing perfume was a sign of wealth and success. Peasants and common folks who couldn’t afford kyphi would mix their perfumes from flowers and herbs.
Eye Makeup
The ancient Egyptians that beauty began with the eyes and, more precisely, the eyelids. They saw them as windows to the soul. Makeup was a religion in ancient Egypt. They would mostly focus on the area around the eyes. Green and black were used to emphasize the size of their eyes.
The Egyptians are credited with inventing eye makeup and were wearing it as far back as 4000 B.C. Both men and women wore eye make up; believing it could cure eye diseases and keep them from falling victim to the evil eye. The most common type, a black ointment known as kohl, was made with soot combined with a lead mineral called galena.
Ancient Egyptians wore black eyeliner - known as “mesdemet” of kohl, from Arabic, the world's first mascara - in a circle or oval around their eyes, in part to ward off the evil eye but mainly it seems for the same reason women do it today: to accentuate their eyes and make their beauty pop out.
Two colors were chiefly used - green, with which under the Old Kingdom they put a line under the eyes; and black, with which they painted the eyebrows and eyelids, in order to make the eyes appear larger and more brilliant. As a cosmetic antimony was chiefly used. It was imported from the East. Eye shadow was worn on the upper eyelids and lower eyelids. It was usually black or green. Green eye shadow was made of powdered malachite (copper ore). Black came from galena (a dark sulfide of lead); gray was made from calcium carbonate. Goose fat was used as a binder.
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Sarcophagi depict faces with heavy eye-liner. Kohl, which the ancient Egyptians applied like eye-liner, is thought to have used as both a beauty and means of screening out the bright Egyptian sun.
Recent scientific research suggests that the toxic, lead-based mineral that formed its base would have had anti-bacterial properties when mixed with moisture from the eyes. In addition, the heavy application of kohl around the eyes would have helped to reduce glare from the sun. In other words, there were simple, practical reasons why both men and women in ancient Egypt wished to wear eye makeup.
The two main forms of eye makeup were green eye paint and black kohl. The green eye paint called Udju [3] was made of malachite, a copper carbonate pigment. The green malachite came from the mines of Sinai as early as 3000 BC.[4][5] The black eye-paint called Mesdemet [6] was made from galena, a dark grey ore. Crushed charcoal was also used in this process. The malachite and the galena were crushed and mixed with gum or water to make a paste.[7] Mesdemet, or kohl, was used for lining the eyes and it revealed to bring along potent health benefits in the form of protection from disease, bugs and sun rays.
Ancient Egyptian Kohl tube.
Malachite, one of the principal ingredients used in eye paints, shielded the eyes by absorbing some of the sun’s rays, and the oil they mixed it with would catch the dust from the desert. Another prominent ingredient in eye paints was galena, which helped to prevent and treat eye diseases. Thus, a very popular combination for eye makeup consisted of malachite used as a green eye shadow and galena to line the eyes.
Ancient Egyptian eye makeup may have been used to warded off infections. The Ebers Papyrus, a collection of Egyptian medical recipes dating to circa 1550 BC, shows the usual galena pigment could also be combined with specific ingredients to create eye paints that were intended to treat eye infection.
Modern research suggests that the lead compounds found in these eye creams causes nitrogen monoxide overproduction in the body of the wearer. It is ironic that its intended protective qualities were often undermined by the toxicity of its lead component.
In ancient Egypt, during periods when the Nile flooded, Egyptians had infections caused by particles that entered the eye and caused diseases and inflammations. Lead-based eye liner and eye shadow contained oxidized chlorine chemicals that are rare in nature and require the difficult process of wet chemistry to make. Chemists believed that Egyptians went though the trouble to make these chemicals partly to produce cosmetics that had medicinal qualities. Laurionite and phosgenite were used by the Greeks and Romans to treat eye diseases. Eyeliner not only helped one’s appearance it also helped keep away flies, cut the sun’s glare and contained lead sulfide and chlorine, which acted as disinfectants. There is no evidence of an toxic results from the lead.
One substance used was galena, a lead sulphide that came from a mine near the Red Sea. Another substance was antimony, which occurs naturally in the soft form of stibnite. Either galena or stibnite are ground up to a powder and mixed with copper oxide and gum resins and other ingredients to form kohl, the most widespread black cosmetic of North Africa, the Middle East, Anatolia and South Asia. Kohl (derived from an Arabic word meaning 'brightens the eyes') was kept in special containers like this alabaster pot, which possibly dates to Dynasty XII in the Middle Kingdom (1991-1802 BC). William Matthew Flinders Petrie excavated it at Qaw el-Kebir in Upper Egypt in 1923.
The ancient Egyptians created a remedy for burns by mixing the cheek and lip stain with red natron, northern salt, and honey.
Cosmetic Palette Depicting a Pair of Mud Turtlesca. 3650-3500 B.C.
Cosmetic Palettes and Spoons
Cosmetic palettes were used to grind makeup. The earliest examples were rectangular in shape and date back to 5000 BC.[12] The palettes later adopted a rounder shape like the Narmer Palette.[13] King Narmer's palette was the earliest piece of its kind. It has decorations of the King smiting the enemies of Egypt and the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt, as well as a cavity for the grinding of cosmetics, making it a double purposed palette. These later developed into fish shaped palettes. They might have chosen the fish shape as the fish was a symbol of resurrection and new life. Tilapia are associated with fertility so the fish-shape could also refer to that.[14] The fish shaped palettes were usually adorned with precious stones for royalty.
Archaeologists have found many stone makeup palettes in animal shapes from the predynastic period. The animals typically have an association with fertility and regeneration, reinforcing the spiritual significance of cosmetics use. For example, the motif of mating mud turtles, which were native to the Nile, represented regeneration, as well as both chaos and a protective force.
Artists made cosmetics palettes in the shape of tilapia, which also lived in the Nile. The fish hold their eggs in their mouths before they hatch. Because of this, Egyptians believed that tilapia spontaneously generated new life. They associated them with Hathor and Re, the sun god. Cosmetic palettes in the shape of bolti fish were popular in the Predynastic period.
Archaeologists have also found many cosmetics spoons. These tend to have long, ornate handles and shallow bowls with attached lids. Scholars believe that ancient Egyptians used them to store or mix cosmetics.
Ancient Egyptians used many different tools to apply their makeup. Most commonly, they used a brush made from the Salvadora persica tree.[16] They would also use a small stick to apply the kohl to their eyes.
Cosmetic Spoon in the Shape of Swimming Woman Holding a Dish, ca. 1390-1352 B.C.
The cosmetic spoon pictured here represents a woman swimming. She’s holding on to a gazelle, which forms the bowl of the spoon.
Other Cosmetics and Practices
After morning baths ancient Egyptians would apply face cream. Creams were used to moisturize the skin but also to prevent wrinkles. They would also use mixed natural oils for this. Honey was applied to the skin as it helps to heal scars.
Ancient Egyptians used scented oils for bathing, softening skin, and deodorant. Ancient Egyptians found fragrances and body oils very erotic. They associated smooth, perfumed skin with beauty and sexuality-and thus with fertility and regeneration. Bes was the god of childbirth, humor, and war, and he protected pregnant women and infants. He was also the god of cosmetics, demonstrating the conceptual overlap between beauty and pregnancy. Artists depicted him on cosmetics jars.
Using Ancient Cosmetics to Create Modern Makeup (Do Not Try At Home!)
Ointment Jar of Sithathoryunet, ca. 1887-1813 B.C.
Princess Sithathoriunet’s tomb contained a precious gold and obsidian ointment beaker.
Mirrors symbolized life. Artisans made them from disks of copper, or sometimes silver or gold, polished to a shine. Their round reflective surfaces resembled the primordial sun, whose rising heralded the creation of the world. Mirrors usually had handles meant to mimic the shape of a papyrus stem, which the Egyptians associated with fertility and eroticism.
After bathing and oiling their bodies, ancient Egyptians applied cosmetics. Egyptians of all genders wore kohl eyeliner, and applied pigments to their cheeks and lips. Kohl was primarily worn by the rich, as it was quite expensive. Egyptians mixed colored minerals with oils on stone palettes to make lipstick and blush. They used crushed malachite for green eyeshadow and crushed ochre for reddish eye shadow.
They would also check their breath during the day and chew mints. Breath mints were also a product made from frankincense, cinnamon, melon, pine seeds, and cashews mixed with honey. And when you thought it’s done Egyptians still manage to surprise you. They also used tooth powder and mints to have clean teeth and fresh breath. Ancient Egyptians were the first ones to use toothpaste and toothbrush. One of the earliest toothpaste recipes included mint, rock salt, pepper, and dried iris flower. They would ground it all into a powder and use a primitive toothbrush made from sticks. They eventually developed a toothbrush design and used a stick with papyrus plant strips as bristles.
The use of cosmetics in ancient Egypt varied slightly between social classes, where more makeup was worn by higher class individuals as wealthier individuals could afford more cosmetics.
Here is a table summarizing common ingredients and their purposes:
| Ingredient | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Kohl (Galena) | Black eyeliner, eye protection |
| Malachite | Green eyeshadow |
| Red Ochre | Blush, lip tint |
| Scented Oils | Moisturizing, deodorant, perfume |
| Honey | Scar healing, skin treatment |
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