Text | Zhang Qingfeng
Edit | Zhang Qingfeng
For 5,000 years in China, a woman's pursuit of beauty has continued to this day.
However, with the development of society, there are many kinds of cosmetics used by girls in modern society, and they are fully functional, and even as beauty software becomes more and more popular, you can directly achieve one-click beauty online.
However, girls in ancient times also pursued beauty, so how would they dress up before the dazzling array of cosmetics available today?
Different kinds of cosmetics in ancient times
As the saying goes, "one white covers a hundred ugliness", and women in ancient times did everything to become white, such as applying lead powder.
In ancient times, women applied lead powder to their faces, which is equivalent to the foundation in cosmetics today, which was created to make themselves look whiter and have a more even complexion.
Although lead powder can make everyone's face whiter, lead powder is a harmful substance after all, and it cannot be used for a long time, otherwise it will have irreparable consequences.
At worst, the skin may deteriorate and the face will be sallow, or the worst may be directly disfigured, which is very harmful to the body, which is really for the sake of beauty!
However, the fact that the women of the earliest period used flour made from rice, while the aristocratic women used flour made from pearls, testifies to their love of beauty.
After the face turned white, ancient women would immediately apply some rouge on their cheeks, and in ancient times, rouge was equivalent to the makeup step that girls like very much now, that is, blush.
Rouge has appeared as early as the Shang Dynasty, and with the passage of time, the styles of rouge have become more and more diverse, not only in different colors, but also in different raw materials.
At that time, rouge could not only be used on the face as a powder from the flowers, but also as a pigment made of minerals and dyed on the sides of the cheeks, making it a truly natural cosmetic product.
After the face is sufficient, it should also be the turn of the depiction of facial features, and the snail Dai that everyone often sees in costume dramas is used to draw eyebrows.
In ancient times, Luozidai was equivalent to eyebrow powder and eyebrow pencil in cosmetics today, and it was made of a mineral similar to black.
The ancients would make it into a convenient block, which could then be used to draw eyebrows on a daily basis, probably like painting with a brush dipped in ink, but only on the face.
In fact, from ancient times to the present, the popular eyebrow styles in each period are different, such as the well-known willow leaf eyebrows and green eyebrows.
At this time, the whole makeup has been completed for more than half of the whole look, and there are still two parts left, lipstick and huadian, the ancient lipstick is equivalent to the current lipstick, but it is not the same as the popular application method now.
At that time, the lipstick was made by boiling cinnabar and honey together, and it was placed in a small jar that could be used at any time.
After the evolution of the times, the ancients gradually put the lipstick on the paper, and after repeated smearing, the lipstick paper was formed, and it was placed on the lips to leave color on the lips, making it look full and gorgeous.
However, women in ancient times preferred cherry lips when applying lipstick, which is not like the thick lip painting method that is popular among girls today.
After these makeup steps, there is only one last step left in the makeup of ancient women, which is to draw a flower on the forehead.
Huadian was also the most popular facial decoration at that time, and it was usually embellished at the center of the eyebrows on the face, which would make the whole person's complexion extremely bright.
Moreover, there are many types of flowers, not only can you draw some flowers in the center of the eyebrows, but you can also decorate some gold and silver similar ornaments in the center of the eyebrows.
Therefore, women in ancient times not only pursued beauty as much as they do today, but their cosmetics were also not inferior to modern society.
Moreover, their makeup also gradually changed and developed with the times, and sometimes the strength and weakness of a dynasty also affected the style and dress of ancient women.
The history of the development of women's makeup in ancient times
Long before the establishment of the Qin Dynasty, ancient women had learned to make up and modify their faces, but at that time, due to low productivity and the development of the times, women could only use rice flour to paint their faces for whitening.
But after the establishment of the Qin Dynasty, over time, women of this period have learned to apply some plant juices to their faces and lips for makeup.
During the Western Han Dynasty, women could decorate their faces to their heart's content, and the makeup tools at that time also had corresponding boxes, just like the current makeup boxes, which were very convenient.
Most of the women in this era have simple and clean makeup, pay attention to a fair face, a pair of curved eyebrows, and don't even apply rouge.
This also leads to their always having a weak willow supporting the wind, and it looks as if the whole person is going to go with the wind.
During the Three Kingdoms period, women were very fond of applying rouge on their faces on a large scale, in fact, there was a reason why they liked to apply rouge on their faces so much during that period.
At that time, there was a woman who was waiting in the palace, and because she was too tired, she accidentally caused her cheek to be scratched, and her face was as beautiful as the morning glow.
So, after this matter spread, many women began to imitate this makeup, and later formed the popular "Xiaoxia makeup" in that period.
During the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, people due to the hardships of life, led them to pursue the ethereal fairy posture, at that time, regardless of men and women, everyone liked to apply lead powder on the face, even the eyebrow shape should be thin, very exquisite.
Moreover, the famous families of this era preferred to wear clothes made of gauze materials and advocated natural and elegant style.
Women's makeup during the Tang Dynasty was a reflection of the prosperity of that society, and the style of makeup was not only bold and bright, but also very popular with peach blossom makeup, using large areas of blush on the tail of the eyes and face to create a natural sense of beauty.
During this period, not only were there many kinds of flowers on the forehead and eyebrows, but also the colors of the clothes were also colorful, and they often boldly used two bright colors to match, which is now called the contrast element.
During the Song Dynasty, women were very fond of all kinds of hair crowns, and not only women would wear them, but even men would use hair crowns to tie their hair on their heads.
And their makeup also prefers half-lip makeup, and even they will wear a variety of bright flowers on their heads, and so on in the Southern Song Dynasty, they are very fond of curved and slender eyebrows, and the whole makeup is more elegant and pure.
During the Ming Dynasty, women's makeup was relatively elegant, but due to the gradual rise in the economy of the whole society, they were more low-key and preferred white faces and cherry mouths.
After this period, there was no period like the Tang Dynasty when the makeup was as bright as the Tang Dynasty, and the women's makeup was almost all natural.
In ancient times, women not only had a complete range of cosmetics, but their makeup also changed with the times, just like the beauty gadgets that everyone uses now, they also have everything.
Ancient Female Witch Tool
The most indispensable thing for women in ancient times to make up was to apply powder to their faces, and they also had special makeup tools, which were the puffs used by girls in modern society.
However, their tools were more rudimentary, basically made from a piece of silk cloth, and then a strap was sewn on the back of the cloth to make a simple puff.
There are various makeup remover products in modern times, but the makeup remover tools used by women in ancient times were rice washing water and bath beans.
Bath beans not only have the effect of removing oil and makeup, but also can be used for bathing, and when soap is invented, everyone will use soap to wash the face, which naturally achieves the purpose of removing makeup.
In fact, cosmetics in modern society are derived from the methods handed down by the ancients, and changing them has become a convenient tool now.
In fact, the wisdom of the ancients was far beyond what we can imagine, and we thought they knew everything when they lived in the feudal period.
For example, the four great ancient inventions of the mainland can be said to have changed the whole world and promoted the birth of a new civilization.
Therefore, in ancient times, women in ancient times came up with countless makeup tools for beauty, which were not lagging behind at all, and even they used natural raw materials, which were healthier.