Tudor Cosmetics Research

http://www.jochenenglish.de/misc/facharbeit_reiter.pdf

During the early reigns of the Tudors such as Henry VIII for example, heavy makeup was not very common or fashionable. The products that were popular during the time of his reign were perfume and cream products which were used to soften the skin. These products were made from mixing honey, beeswax and sesame seed oil.

During the crusades, cosmetic products that were from the Middle East were brought over and introduced to Europe. Again, like at the time of the reign of Henry VIII, perfume was popular in the Middle East during the Crusades. This was quite often made from flowers including roses, lilies and violets. The makeup that was introduced to Europe was mostly mascara, eyeshadow and eyebrow products. Face products such as foundation wasn't really popular at this time as the emphasis was all on the eyes.

This style of makeup links all the way back to the ancient Egyptians and when you think back to this time period, you think of Cleopatra whose makeup was all about the thick eyeliner and emphasising her eyes. They did have a slight red rouge colour that was used to stain their cheeks and lips.

http://horizontmagazin.hu/mivel-festette-a-szemet-kleopatra/

When Queen Elizabeth I took reign, makeup and fashion started to become more popular. Elizabeth herself wasn't a very fashionable or naturally beautiful woman. She had small pox and as a result from this, she had some scarring on her face. When she became older, she started to wear white makeup on her face and this helped to hide the scarring and also to keep her image as the 'Virgin Queen'. She also suffered from Alopecia which could be one of the reasons she was very rarely seen without a wig on.

https://www.pinterest.com/bethrobey/elizabeth-i-movies/

What did a typical Tudor woman look like?
In the Tudor times, a woman of pure beauty was someone with light hair, usually ginger or blonde. The woman would have a 'snow white' like complexion and red cheeks and lips to contrast the pale face.

Typically during these times, beautiful women were the wealthy ones as they could afford products to make the foundation needed to make the face white. Lower class women usually worked outside and would end up with a suntan. The pale complexion was a sign of wealth and therefore by this alone, you could tell apart the rich from the poor.

http://www.thefullwiki.org/Isabella_of_Portugal

(wealthy Tudor woman)

https://www.pinterest.com/rita1974/hans-holbein-the-younger-paintings/

(poor Tudor woman)

It wasn't only women that would have this pale complexion, majority of Tudor men had this as well to make them look wealthy as so you could tell apart from the non wealthy men.

http://www.ancient-origins.net/history-famous-people/bloody-mary-marriage-reign-and-death-queen-england-004122

(notice that the wealthy woman and men both had the same complexion)

The makeup used by the Tudors was a product called Ceruse. This was made by mixing white lead and vinegar and was very poisonous. So many women wanted the look of a pale complexion very much that they would quite often bleed just to achieve this. Another method used was by making face paint from plants or leaves. The rest of the makeup consisted of a rouge shade placed on the cheeks and lips. The rouge was made from Cochineal which is a type of bug and the red colour comes from extracting the dye from the insect's body and eggs. As for the eyes, Kohl was used and added to the eyelashes as a mascara product in the Tudor times.

Ceruse

As I previously said, Ceruse was the main product used for the white foundation. This was a combination of white lead and vinegar. Because of the lead, this product was very toxic and many women ended up dying from lead poisoning including many young girls. Small pox was very common in this era and many women would be still willing to apply this dangerous product to hide the scarring on their face. 

http://hudsonvalleygeologist.blogspot.co.uk/2010/08/bug-juice.html

(Ceruse comes from this bug called a Cochineal)

http://www.yerelgundem.com/haberler/458647/starbucks_bocek_kullandigini_itiraf_etti.html

(the red extract that comes from the bug)

For spots, blemishes, acne and freckles, a remedy made from lemon juice or rose water mixed with honey, eggshells, mercury and alum was used. Women also washed their faces with mercury as a face mask and this would make their skin soft and fresh.

For women's hair, the main hairstyle was a high hairline, to achieve this look many women would pluck the hairs on the top of their forehead so their hairline would go back roughly one inch.

http://www.themakeupgallery.info/period/c16/uk/elizabeth/virginbd.htm

https://www.pinterest.com/greenhugs/fashion-1500-1600/

 Also, for the eyebrows, it was very fashionable to have them arched and so the Tudor women would pluck them to get this shape which is very similar to women today as the high arched brows are back in style now.

http://www.osloby.no/oslopuls/film/Diana-i-korsett-6916822.html

(Tudor woman with high arched eyebrows)

http://piesfamosos.blogspot.co.uk/2013_11_01_archive.html

(Woman from this era with the same shaped eyebrows)

The most popular hair colours were anything fair such as blonde and ginger. To dye their hair, the women would use urine or a mix of oil, cumin, seed, saffron and celandine. All of these ingredients were expensive so no one apart from the wealthy could afford them. 

For women who wanted to dye their hair red (which was very popular during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I), henna was used as a hair dye. 

Some women wore wigs which was an alternate to hair dying. Queen Elizabeth is said to have had no less than 80 wigs before she died. Her natural hair was already a red shade so she didn't need to wear a wig for the colour so it was probably down to the alopecia that she did wear one all the time.

http://billpetro.com/history-of-the-king-james-bible

https://alixann.wordpress.com/2012/07/20/royals-de-ayer-hoy-como-seria-si-viviesen-en-esta-epoca-parte-3/

Recipe for Ceruse (white foundation) :

'Take calcium and burned tin, heat them together in a glassmaker's furnace for three or four days, and mix the resulting ashes with green figs or distilled vinegar'

Recipe for Fucus (red facepaint) :

'Mix cochineal with the white of hard-boiled eggs, the milk of green figs, plume alum and gum arabic'

-Milton Carroll 'The Elizabethan Woman'

References:

www.sixwives.info/tudor-make-up.htm

timesoftudors.blogspot.com/2013/02/the-ideal-beauty.html