Tudor Make-Up - Snow White Queens (From Worcester News)

Tudor Make-Up - Snow White Queens

2:49pm Monday 21st June 2010 in Retail Therapy By Lydia Johnson, Fashion and beauty writer

MUCH like the Ancient Egyptians, the Tudors loved their make-up. You could immediately tell the social standing of a person simply by looking at their face; make-up defined the rich from the poor, the royalty from the peasantry. For the Tudors, make-up had many important uses.

Although the term Tudor defines the period between 1485-1558, it is often used more broadly to include the reign of Elizabeth I, who ruled from 1558-1603, although this could be treated separately as the Elizabethan era. However, Elizabeth acted almost as a style icon for Tudor and Elizabethan women alike. The ideal Tudor woman consisted of a pure and pale complexion with light hair to match, with red lips and cheeks to pose a striking contrast. The complexion of a lady was often the biggest give-away as to the ladies class; only those of high status could hope to achieve the pale complexion, as peasants were expected to work out in the sun for long hours, thus gaining a tan. Although today a good tan is seen as something exotic that many women would kill for, it was avoided like the plague by any respectable Tudor woman of high social standing. This snow-kissed complexion was also very much desired by Tudor men of the nobility and royalty.

Despite the fact that the 'Virgin Queen' was born with these much sought after attributes of beauty, all her life she used make-up to exaggerate the look. Ceruse, a mixture of white lead and vinegar was used for the white make-up. Unfortunately, this was a poisonous concoction that is suspected to have played a large role in the Queen's death. An equally frightening method of achieving this ghostly look was by being bled, so through lack of blood one could achieve the pallor of death. Thankfully, we now have foundation.

This white make-up had more practical uses too, as Elizabeth used it to cover signs of ageing, such as wrinkles, and also to hide the scars that remained from her bout with smallpox as a child. This white make-up, along with kohl for darkening the eyelashes and expensive rouge made from cochineal to redden the lips and cheeks helped Tudor women to maintain the illusion of lasting beauty.

It is obvious that no matter whether you lived hundreds of years ago or in modern days, to the majority, looks are everything. Not only through the use of make-up, but also by painfully plucking the hairline to achieve the noble high-forehead, or by wearing a wig one could achieve the look so desired by many. Thankfully, we now have slightly less dangerous and frightening methods at hand to keep us looking beautiful. I'd chose fake tan over blood-loss any day.