We hope you enjoy the information on this page because we know a lot of women do not know what the women wore during the Colonial times. We will place recipes here so if you are adventurous and want to make your own; you will know where to start.

We know that we women do not like to give up our modern make-up but when we re-enact; we have to so we can be more authentic. So this page may help in what to pick out when we use our modern cosmetics.

While the Black Plague had ceased to decimate Europe by this time, many diseases still ran rampant from a lack of suitable medication and sanitation practices. Smallpox was a particularly virulent disease that left all survivors with pock-marks on their skin --- deep pits created by pustules drying out and scarring the epidermis. This disease is perhaps one of the biggest reasons why almost everyone who wanted to be fashionable wore a lot of makeup in order to hide the scars.

Rouge was another favorite cosmetic. Its name is derived from the French word for "red." Like the popular white face powder, rouge was created from questionable ingredients, including carmine (a lead-based pigment.) People used rouge with wet bits of wool to daub fashionable red spots on their cheeks --- the general idea was that it made an aesthetically pleasing contrast to one's pale, powdered face.

Rouge was also available as a lipstick for both men and women. Sticks of solid rouge were created by mixing carmine with plaster of Paris (the material used by children today to make molds of their feet in art classes.)

The red paints were mainly harmless as there were enough "natural" pigments, e.g. safflower, cochenille, brazilwood, sandalwood. Red paints were sometimes or most times mixed with cinnabar, also known as mercury sulfide, and other pigments which were not quite so harmless.

During this time period, they did not have mascara, eyeshadow or foundation as we do today. The desirable skin for that period was for it to be glossy.

References:
Gunn, Fenja The Artificial Face London: Trinity Press, 1973 A history of the development and abuse of cosmetics, as well as studies of individual cultures in which beauty aids and cosmetics played a significant role, either good or bad.

Talc white:
"Pick out the best and whitest pieces ofthe talc, which is a kind of soapstone, and grind them in a warmed brass mortar, and passed through a silken sieve or let it dust through dense linen fabric. Hereafter, you pour distilled vinegar over the powder in a stoppered bottle, shake it well, and let it stand for some weeks, shaking it well a few times each day. Then you let the powder settle and decant the vinegar. Then you pour clear water over the powder, shake it well, let it settle and decant the water - rinse it thus 6-8 times. When it is all white, let it dry, and pwder it in an agate mortar and store it. Should the powdered talc be too shiny, anneal it in a crucible."

White paint in general:
"All white paints must be powdered very finely, and then mixed with traganth, for which one must use the whitest and best kind of traganth one can find. To that end, you take an arbitrary amount of the white white paint, put it into a clean porcelain cup, and pour traganth water over it. The traganth water is prepared by letting the bruised traganth soak in water overnight and let it clear by letting it settle."

"When the white powder is covered with traganth water, stir them well through and through with a glass spoon until it has become a thick paste, and spread it onto a piece of white paper which has been strewn with the white paint before. Separate small amounts of the size of a pea from it, then dry them in a place that is protected from dust and keep them in a box. In oder to use them, do as follows. Firstly, prepare a good pomad. Now take the dried pellets of whize paint, put somein a small porcelain bowl, pulverize them with a glass spoon and add of the pomad, and mix it well. When you need it, spead some of it evenly on the face, and wipe any surplus away woth blotting-paper. This will make the face shiny and enables it to receive the red paint."

Spanish Red:
"Fill a pound of the best Turkish safflower into a linen bag, soak it overnight in river water, sqeeze it out, and rinse it in fresh river water until no colour comes out of it anymore. Now put a new pot onto the fire with some pounds of water, let it boil, and add a quarter pound cleaned potash. Now take the pot off the fire, stir in the safflower, and let it stand for a while. Hereafter you squeeze the liquid out and strain it through a cloth and out it in a sugar glass. Now add strong wine vinegar untill everything has taken on a red colour and let it stand for a few days. After that time, a dark red powder settles down, which you dry and store.I can not recommend this red, however, because firstly it rarely turns out a beautiful colour, secondly its resinous nature makes it difficult to spread, thirdly it loses the colour easily, and lastly it is as expensive as many another excellent red."

Carmine Red:
"The most beautiful and excellent red is the real carmine which must be prepared with great care it if is to turn out well. Take two ounces of powdered cochenille and boil for 5 minutes it in a pure tin pot with 4 maaß distilled water, or simply rain water. The water must be brought to the boil before you add the cochenille. Now add a drachme of powdered Roman alum, take the pot off the fire, and strain the liquid through a cloth into a clean porcelain bowl. Put it in a cool place and cover it with blotting-paper. Now add 2 drops of tin solution every two hours, so that all in all 16 drops of tin solution go into it, and let it rest for some days. After such time, the carmine will have settled on the bottom and the sides of the vessel. Carefully decant the clear liquid, let the carmine dry in the vessel, and brush it onto smooth paper with a clean feather. Zwo ounces of cochenille usually give two drachmen carmine."

Mouches:
Not really a recipe, but interesting to know nevertheless: Mouches were made of black or red (!) taffeta and were punched out. (And there was me imagining someone cutting out a cupid shape with real tiny scissors!) They were stuck on "various places in the face and even on the bosom" with gummi arabicum dissolved in water.

Red Lip gloss:
"Into a clean copper pan put half a pound of fresh, unsalted butter, and two ounces of beeswax, let it melt over mild heat, add some ounces of rinsed, dried and squashed raisins, and one to three loth alkanna root, and let everything simmer gently for 10 minutes. Then pour it on a mounted piece of dense linen and let the liquid run off, and when it begins to cool, add a spoon of strong bitter orange flower water. Stir until it has completely cooled and keep it in a well-covered pot."

Pomads
Pomads were, similar to modern selfmade creams, made of various fats or oils, wax or spermaceti as hardening agent, and a relatively small amount of water, often perfumed. The fats used in the book that was my source are butter, lard, almond oil, and cocoa butter. In comparison to modern creams, the water content tends to be lower in pomads, so the stuff is a bit oilier and softer. Small wonder, really, because cream must be stirred until it's cooled, which isn't much fun without an electric mixer.

Pomad Receipt:
"Let one drachme white wax, 2 1/2 drachme spermaceti and two ounces fresh almond oil melt in a tin pan over mild heat, take the pan off the fire, and stir well until it begins to cool. Now add one ounce of rose water drop by drop and mix well. This pomad is spread upon the face and hands overnight; it also serves for spreading the paint."