I am back with another history lesson. Today's topic - lipstick. Hope you're ready.
▸ Mesopotamia
Mesopotamian women were the first to make lipstick from something other than fruit and plant juices. They did it by grinding precious gems and using their dust to decorate their lips with glimmer and riches.
▸ Egypt
This is where the making of lipsticks massively improved. Royals, clergy and high class used different kinds of lipstick, some of which even contained poisonous ingredients. Eventually, they figured out that extracting ingredients from beetles and ants wasn't poisonous and continued using that method. Cleopatra was a huge supporter of red lips.
▸ Europe
In the 13th century, high class Italian women used to wear pink lipstick, which made them different from lower class women. In the following five centuries, lipstick became taboo. During the Victorian age, only prostitutes used to wear it, but with the appearance of Renaissance it started becoming a staple piece. Up until the late 20th century, almost all lipsticks were red.
The first modern lipstick was created in Paris in 1884 and Guerlain were the first to start making it. It was made from beeswax, castor oil and deer tallow. *frowns* They were very expensive and women would only use them on special occasions. The first swivel-up tube was created in 1923.
A few years later, Max Factor launched a lipstick line with which women were able to recreate lip colours and shapes of Hollywood actresses (Strawberry Meringue).
In the 1950's Lancome became famous for their Versailles packaging inspired by Louis XIV.
In 1979 YSL were the first to name lipsticks using numbers. The most famous one was number 19, which was a fuschia colour.
In the 1950s black lipstick was worn by horror actresses, but in the late 1970 it became popular thanks to punk and goth subcultures.
Back in the 90s shiny brown lipsticks were very on trend, but in 2012 bright colours took their place. Today, everyone wears what they want - some still prefer brights and some are going back to the browns, but no one is getting punished for it and that's something to be grateful for.
I apologize for making this so long, there was a lot of information and I couldn't decide what to exclude. Hope it was interesting and I will talk to you tomorrow.
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