Victorian era - Beauty Ideals, Makeup and Skincare

Beauty Ideals and Makeup
The beauty ideals in Victorian period were women had dark hair arranged in ringlets, oval to round shape face, arched eyebrows, pale complexion and a little bit of rouge on the cheeks. Being docile and natural at that time was the beauty ideality. According to Dr Cazenave, ' the eyebrows, to be handsome, should be well- furnished with hair, moderately thick, curved, and form a line in the shape of an arch. The head should have more hair than the tail and the numerous short hairs should lie in and out. The two eyebrows should never meet, and though one often sees them perfectly united, it is at the present day looed upon as a deformity'.
Black hair colour will make the body and the face look slimmer and also make the skin whiter. Pale complexion was a sign of gentility and nobility as upper class people didn't needed to work outside and under the sun. By the late 1800s, Victorian liked to paint fine blue lines on their skin to make them looks like veins and also make the skin look more delicate and translucent. Some women will use facial powder to tone down the shine on their face or hide the freckles or redness on their face. They used pale tones lipstick and might apply a clear pomade (like beeswax) to give shine to the lips and eye shadow in vibrant colours and heavy makeup was mostly worn by theatre people and prostitutes. During Victorian era, people pay a lot of attention on health and hygiene. There were many women's magazines warned and status against the toxic qualities of lead-based industrial cosmetics. Religious labelling cosmetics as 'the tools of the devil' during Victorian era.


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Skin Care
For caring the eyebrows, Dr. Cazenave says, requires only a soft toothbrush dipped in water with a little cologne.

He suggests two recipes which helps to darken the eyebrows:
To render them black

• Gall nuts - 1 ounce
• Oil - 3 ounces
• Mix with Ammoniac Salt - 1 drachm
• Add a little vinegar

This was to be applied before going to bed and allowed to remain on all night. In the morning the brows were to be washed with tepid water.

To render them brown

• Lead Filings - 1 ounce
• Iron Dust - 1 ounce
• Vinegar - 1 pint

Boil all together to reduce to half the original quantity. Shake it well when cool, and wash the brows.

Sarah Josepha Hale, editor of Godey's Lady's Book, shared with her readers one of her own beauty secrets - ' the nightly application to her temples of brown paper soaked in cider vinegar.
This was worn all night in order to keep the skin around the eyes smooth and free from wrinkles.'

In order to achieve the pale complexion, people drink vinegar. Elder-flower and rose water were popular at that time, but they were not very effective for whitening the skin. Cold creams were used to keep the skin hydrated and smooth and they were usually made of herbs, flowers, etc.

Book references:

• Richard Corson (2010). Fashion In Makeup - From Ancient To Modern Times, Revised Edition, third edition, Peter Owen Publishers.