Queen Elizabeth I was one of the most successful, celebrated queens in British history. The daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn , she came to the throne on November 17, 1558, following the death...
Ancient makeup from the Stone Age, a time of hunters and gathers. Really? The world’s media is buzzing with a story about prehistoric Europeans “using makeup,” 6,000 years ago. This discovery could...
It’s sort of like the evil eye , but in reverse: the good eye, brought on by an application of lead-based kohl makeup that was unknowingly poisonous to ancient Egyptians but also had anti-microbial...
Red lipstick is a modern-day symbol of sex appeal and an attribute of femininity. Many modern women may be surprised by the fact that our recent generations are not the ones which invented this...
Cultures evolve or change over the ages; this is an undeniable fact. However, many of the practices of ancient people and cultures would be practically incomprehensible for most people today. Be they...
A 3,500-year-old mummified woman’s head shows signs of a skin condition from bleaching. The woman may have been prominent in Egyptian society and was 20 to 25 years old when she died, researchers...
Cosmetics may be defined as “substances that you put on your face or body that are intended to improve your appearance”. The desire to improve one’s appearance is something that seems to be...
Now learn, my dears, the art of beautifying your faces; learn by what means you can retain your charms. This line, taken from Publius Ovidius Naso's (Ovid's) Medicamina Faciei Femineae , or The Art...
Archaeologists have unearthed a unique 4,000 year-old cosmetics workshop at the Pyrgos-Mavroraki archaeological site in Limassol, Cyprus. It is the first time that evidence has been found of...