Sovereign Magazine
T he Ma g i c P ot:
Anc i e nt Fres coe s c ov er -ups ve rs u s prese nt day
By Lili Giglia, fo und e r o f E s se n t i al l y L i l i ( w w w .e ss en t i a l l yl i l i . c o m ) We spent our recent summer holidays immersed in Greece. Fascinated by historical events of the Minoan civilisation 4000 B.C, we noticed how attractive the people are illustrated in the well-preserved fresco's. Sparking conversations with my pre-teen, comparing the ancient frescoes images with how social media bombards our youth with what it deems as ‘beautiful’.
‘What statement is revealed in Ancient Fresco paintings? Depending on the ancient era, the fresco paintings made a statement about wealth, prestige, independence, vanity, religious rituals and protection. Rich Ancient Greek citizens were able to afford expensive luxuries like make-up. Images of those in highersociety had long golden hair and porcelain skin tones. They were wealthy, prestigious, financially secure, not needing to work in the fields to support themselves. Irrespective of a citizen’s wealth or status, all Ancient Egyptians, they loved their make-up for vanity, protection from the sun, religious rituals and the after-life. They were all hygienic and frequently washed. Everyone in society moisturised their skin to prevent it drying and cracking under the sun’s harsh conditions. With naturally darker skin tones, the Ancient Romans wanted their skin to look lighter. Initially make-up was used mainly for their rituals, but later became part of a woman’s daily life. Sourced from Germany and China, the wealthy imported the cosmetics to the regions. Rich women used female slaves to apply their makeup, who also created lotions and cosmetics for their wealthy owners. Poorer women settled for cheaper knockoffs, which required more frequent applications.
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‘How is this portrait of Ancient society achieved?’ The Greeks applied creams with honey, combing olive oil for that special glow. For their lips and eye-shadows, they used earth-based pigments, ochre clays, red iron oxide, beeswax with ground charcoal, using darker powders to create the uni-brow! But the toxic white lead on their faces cut their glamorous wealthy lives short. In the Egyptians’ cosmetics, they used Malachite, a mineral stone with extraordinary green colour. Its use is linked to death, after-life, fertility and new life. Other colours were obtained from ground lapis lazuli stones or Pivet trees, giving the reddish-brown dye called Henna, used to paint and the skin. To lengthened lashes and enhance eyebrows, they used black kohl, animal fat mixed with powdered lead sulphide. The Romans combined Malachite with blue azurite for their eye-shadow, together with date stones and charred petal roses. Natural ingredients were used like poppy, mulberry juice, barley, honey, lentils, oregano seeds, vinegar as well as essence of rose or myrrh. Imported from Belgium was red ochre clays, thought wine dregs, sheep’s fat, blood and crocodile dung have to be the most interesting selections. To lightened their darker complexions they applied chalk powder, marl or toxic white lead.
‘Surely, Beauty products have evolved in the 21st Century?’ Beauty products have changed since their inception over time. Though many wonderful ingredients have been replaced with non-natural chemical substances. Scarily these include solvents, parabens, nano-
