23 Bizarre Things You Didn't Know About Makeup
Bizarre and fascinating facts about beauty products and cosmetics, dating back thousands of years.
Bizarre and fascinating facts about beauty products and cosmetics, dating back thousands of years.
1
Women of the past have used all sorts of crazy ingredients to “cure” freckles, from fresh urine to crocodile fat.
2
And finally, on that same note: Did you know that animal testing has been banned in 28 EU countries since 2009?
3
Animal testing is a serious problem: 100,000 - 200,000 die at the hands of animal testing each year, and the animals suffer tremendously during the process. All the more reason to make sure your favorite brands are cruelty free.
4
Waterproof mascara has been said to have been first introduced in 1938. One of the main ingredients in the first version of waterproof mascara was turpentine.
5
It might sound like the punchline of a joke, but they actually do sell hair dye specifically for pubic hair.
6
Dying your hair black in ancient Rome was a deeply complicated process: It consisted of feeding leeches, putting them in vinegar, leaving the substance to ferment for two months and thicken into a paste, then applying the mixture to the hair and allowing it to dry for a day.
7
In ancient Rome, “cosmetae” were female servants who applied cosmetics to wealthy Roman women. According to legend, the cosmetae emulsified some cosmetics with their own saliva.
8
The shimmer and shine in your lipstick and nail polish sometimes comes from fish scales.
9
During the 17th and 18th centuries, women used drops made from the poisonous plant belladonna to dilate their pupils. Unfortunately, it also often led to blindness.
10
Vavelta is a liquid drug that can rejuvenate damaged skin. It's also made from fibroblasts, cells isolated by donated foreskin.
11
Queen Elizabeth was reportedly a huge believer in the healing powers of lipstick, often layering it on until it was a half-inch thick.
12
One of the most expensive lipsticks in the world is Guerlain’s KissKiss Gold and Diamonds Lipstick. The tube costs about $62,000, and it has more to do with the diamond gold packaging than the lipstick itself.
13
Around the year 1400, it was popular for women to be hairless. They would shave their heads and pluck their eyebrows and eyelashes completely away.
14
A “geisha facial” includes nightingale feces, which is said to fight wrinkles.
15
Until Coco Chanel publicly tanned in the twenties and pushed it into fashion, having tan skin was usually seen as a sign of low socioeconomic status.
16
In Ancient Greece, lipstick fell out of fashion among high-class citizens, and was, for a time, only used by prostitutes.
17
The Aztecs used crushed beetles to make red lipstick.
18
One study concluded that 43% of women do their makeup in the car -- despite the fact that they know how unsafe it can be.
19
There is an outdated (and totally unobserved) law in Morrisville, PA, that states women have to get a permit before they wear makeup.
20
Today, over 60% of 12-year-old girls use cosmetics.
21
In 1915, a fashion ad was published featuring a woman with shaved armpits. After that, shaving your armpits became popular and has been ever since.
22
In 18th century England, men could divorce their wives if they caught them wearing makeup.
23
Pale skin was very desirable years ago, and during medieval times people used leeches to "bleed themselves" to achieve the look.
24
The first nail polish formula came from China in 3000 B.C. It was made from egg whites, colored powder, beeswax, and gum.
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