Lisa Eldridge's new book......Further research into Elizabethan Cosmetics

I bought this book yesterday from Waterstones in Southampton. I have wanted to check it out for ages so I flicked through it and I had to purchase it. She has displayed it in a great way splitting it into sections and then creating chapters within those sections. Lisa talks about everything from the origin of cosmetics to the makeup industry today, its a wealth of knowledge. 

I love how she has not done a 'how to' book but focused on the history of makeup. this is going to be so handy in this course as it will be great for referencing. She features all of her favourite female Icons throughout history. I have already found a part focusing on Queen Elizabeth the 1st. 

She features a section on the skin whitening culture and recipes for this. 

Lisa Elridge say's "As women sought to have perfect skin while using less makeup, Skin lightening skincare and ingestables became popular. Lotions and potions containing hydrochloric acid (muriatic acid), ammonium, hydrogen peroxide, arsenic, and mercury compounds were all the rage for their freckle- and pigmentation-fading properties." 

Rubric (Red ochre), orchilla weed, red chalk, and alkanet were used for rouge. this was applied to the lips and cheeks. this was to give a youthful look, but at what price did these women and the queen pay for this obsession with dangerous cosmetics.

She also talks about how in the Elizabethan era the fashion was to have snow white skin. Elizabeth was known to have used egg whites, alum and deadly Venetian ceruse. Which as time went on left her skin looking grey and withered. She would also draw on her veins to give the illusion of thin skin. 

The book also talk's about Elizabeth's appearance as being "comely, tall and well formed" it also says that she had "swarthy skin (olive toned)" and that it was maybe inherited by her mother Anne Boleyn who was said to have had a Olive skin tone. It then goes on to talk about how the ageing process was a difficult time for Elizabeth, maybe more so because of her cousin Lettice Knollys. She was a natural beauty. She had pale skin, red hair and was known to be a very attractive relative of Queen Elizabeth. I can imagine that Elizabeth found this difficult. She was known for being vain and obsessed with beauty and the ageing process. 

I'm really enjoying reading this book and its really providing me with some useful information and its proving to be a very good research tool. I really feel that I can use this for future projects and assignments. 

Reference: 

Eldridge, Lisa (2015) Face Paint. New York. Abrams Image. Page's 6, 19, 24, 25, 26, 27, 54, 57, 58, 59.