Cleopatra is one
of these powerful girls that records has placed on an altar, however similarly
to crowning herself because the youngest queen of Egypt, she also wrote
scientific treatises, become a diplomat, naval commander and linguist. And the pharaoh, like the rest of her
contemporaries, also maintained a extraordinary problem for aesthetics . Her
outfit, a tribute to that of the goddess Isis, is as iconic as her
'swallowtail' makeup, which, saving certain nuances, we still wear today.
An ancient
tradition
In Ancient
Egypt, being concerned for the frame,
the maximum sacred domestic that could exist, became a high commandment . For
this motive, its population devised strategies to live to tell the tale
excessive climate situations and diverse adversities –such as mosquitoes,
transmitters of infections– that would occur within the land where they
resided; see the voluminous wigs they wore, crafted from beeswax. Its give up?
Serve as a shield towards excessive temperatures and parasites including lice.
In turn, legend
has it that makeup turned into invented when Horus misplaced his eye all
through an armed combat along with his uncle Seth. The fable claims that the
god began to use cosmetic products to cowl up the mishap. Of route, makeup become not handiest conceived as a
useful resource in existence : to reach the afterlife it was necessary for the
body to be nicely groomed and embalmed, which is why combs, ointments and
mirrors had been observed next to the mummies.
Resins, henna
–used to paint nails–, oils –which relieved sunburned skin–, kohl, eye drops,
anti-wrinkle remedies –some, made with myrrh– and lip and cheek lipstick are a
number of the basics of civilization. Who settled on the banks of the Waterway
Nile. While his black eyeshadows have been made up of lead (an element that is
now banned) and, to a lesser volume, antimony, manganese oxides, or black
carbon, the green tints came from the Syrian floor malachite; the celestial
ones, from lapis lazul; and the red ones, from vegetation like the crimson
blonde.
Today herbal
makeup has advanced loads and, even though we have discovered a lot from our
Egyptian ancestors, we've additionally
been thinking their practices and
leaving behind people who cutting-edge technological know-how has proven are incompatible
with health. As we have instructed you in other articles, not due to the fact
an factor comes from nature does not ought to be innocent and that of heavy
metals is an excellent instance.
Cleopatra's
poison
The impeccable
black lines that prolonged via Cleopatra's eyelids till they reached her temple
carried this aspect that these days is
extraordinarily prohibited in cosmetics . The additives used for its
manufacturing had been lead and more than one salts of this chemical detail:
lauronite and phosgenite , minerals which can be as crucial as they're hard to
gain, since their production become the end result of 40 days of complex
chemical approaches.
As a take a look
at carried out by using scientists from the Louvre Museum and the National
Center for Scientific Research in France points out , at that time eye makeup became taken into consideration an
antibacterial barrier . They were satisfied that galena (lead sulfide), one of
the base components of the famous kohl, acted as an antiseptic and sunscreen.
However, lead is a heavy steel that for many years has ceased to appear in beauty
formulation due to the fact it's far
taken into consideration to cause dermatitis, eczema, peeling and due to the
fact it's miles absorbed via the pores and skin and accumulates within the
organs, directly causing poisoning.
But beyond its
components, the makeup of Cleopatra and the Egyptians went down in records for
its iconic form that we nevertheless use nowadays.
The eternal
'cat eye'
The global of
make-up is divided among fanatics of the tom cat gaze and detractors. Josephine
Baker, Brigitte Bardot, Audrey Hepburn, Twiggy, Sophia Loren, Hedy Lamarr,
Elizabeth Taylor -who played Cleopatra herself within the 60s- or Amy Winehouse
are a number of the personalities who,
from the happy 20s to the 21st century , they have positioned the cat's eye in
the highlight .
The foundation?
This technique dates lower back to Ancient Egypt, of route. From Nefertiti to
Cleopatra, passing thru Seti I: there
has been no pharaoh, regardless of gender, who resisted this fashion , as he
became a symbol of social popularity.
There are three gradations
that make up the records of Egyptian make-up: the primary, baptized as uadyu , changed into in force till the 4th
dynasty and consisted of painting a
inexperienced stripe on the decrease eyelid ; the mesdemet style , which
recreates the eye of Horus with kohl , changed into the following (the
first cat eye); and, in the end, the
'swallowtail', a line parallel to the eyebrow that reaches the temple , might
mark the third level.
Cat's eye liner
is one of the oldest inside the international,
and definitely for that, this far off beauty trick deserves to be
revered. Said and finished: the cat eye has also made a large difference within
the large fashion suggests of the spring / summer season of 2021.
