Tudor Cosmetics

Queen Elizabeth I set the fashions and as she grew older she wore more elaborate makeup which was useful for hiding wrinkles and other signs of ageing. She contracted small pox which left some scarring on her face so the heavy white makeup (or face-paint as they called in in the 16th and 17th century) helped hide her insecurities and maintained her illusion of beauty.


The Ideal Tudor Woman:

http://www.elizabethan
costume.net/makeup.html

The ideal Tudor woman had fair hair and a pale complexion with red lips and cheeks. A pale complexion was a sign of wealth because it meant they stayed inside and didn't have to work outdoors. It was also a useful aid to hide the signs of ageing. The favoured application of the upper classes was a makeup called ceruse, a mixture of white lead and vinegar and it was poisonous. The pale look was so desirable that even though they knew it was poisonous they would still use it! Lips and cheeks were made from cochineal which is a red food colouring made from crushed beetles. They also used kohl to darken the eyelashes. Elizabeth had black teeth and people would go out of their way to blacken their teeth in order to look like her. Rich tudor women followed the fashion of hair hair and would dye their hair yellow with a mixture of saffron, cumin seeds, celandine and oil. Coating the hair wasn't very good so the hair became thin and they had to wear hair pieces and wigs - Queen Elizabeth had a wide variety of wigs - believed to be over 80!


Most pictures of Elizabeth were interpretations rather than her posing for them all. She liked to edit her photographs and if she didn't like the way she looked she would ask them to be changed! Because she was so vein, we will never know what she actually looked like because of the pictures being interpretations. She is so powerful in our mindset and her look is so distinctive that you could never imagine her looking a different way.

Some information from: http://www.elizabethan-era.org.uk/elizabethan-make-up.htm