Permanently Beautiful

Looking good has been important ever since humans first started walking upright. British archeologists recently discovered that Neanderthals, our hairy early forbearers, wore makeup 50,000 years ago. Makeup has played an important role in how humans define personal beauty ever since. Neanderthals may have used berry juices and natural clays to beautify their features. Ancient Egyptians are recognized as the first to create and use cosmetics extensively more than 6000 years ago. They mixed pulverized copper and lead ores with charred almonds and soot into pastes that they applied to lips and around eyes. Ancient Romans so valued cosmetics they created a specialized slave caste, the Cosmetae, devoted exclusively to the production of cosmetics.

More than 5000 years ago, ancient Chinese mixed gelatin, beeswax, egg and tree sap into the first nail polishes. Different colors were worn by different social castes with gold and red reserved for royals. Japanese geishas fashioned “lipsticks” from crushed flower petals and sticks of wax and used rice powder to whiten their faces. During the European Renaissance, light-colored skin was associated with the leisure lifestyle of aristocrats. Both women and men used powder to lighten their skin and appear more aristocratic. Even practical American colonial women used burnt matches to line and darken their eyes.

The use of makeup as a beauty enhancement has a long and storied history. Permanent makeup is the newest incarnation of personal enhancement, the most modern way to achieve the most beautiful YOU!