origins of makeup



Origins of makeup

Makeup originated in the African Middle Stone Age, over 100,000 years ago.

When Native Americans went to war they would paint themselves with paints made of different berries, plants and leaves.

Throughout history, fashion and what is thought to be beautiful has changed drastically. For instance, it was once thought that being overweight made you beautiful. This is because the wealthier people could afford to buy more food than the poor and so being overweight showed that you had more money. Nowadays, the situation is very different, being skinny is thought to be beautiful and some people even develop eating disorders due to being so infatuated with the idea of being skinny.

Skin tone has also changed in what we perceive to be beautiful. Years ago, it was thought that pale skin was beautiful because the peasants who worked the fields were tanned due to exposure to the sun. The rich people used to go around with umbrellas to protect their skin from the sun and so were paler. In this way, pale skin showed wealth.

The flapper style in the 1920’s used a lot of red colours including red lipstick, nail polish and dark eyes. Suntan also became a big thing around this time. Fake tan was produced to give people the “sun kissed” look.

Nowadays, There are many different brands, types and colours of makeup to choose from, ranging in price and quality and a huge proportion of women wear makeup regularly.