As I’ve said before, there’s a National Day for everything. Tuesday, July 29, is no exception. It’s National Lipstick Day. (And lipstick is much more interesting than you’d imagine.)
History
The practice of lip painting to improve appearance has been around for thousands of years. The men and women of Sumer (5500-1800 BC) may have been the first to invent and wear lip color. Egyptians, like Cleopatra VII (70/69-30 BC), wore it, as did ancient Roman men and women.
When Christianity spread across Europe, lip coloring disappeared. It didn’t resume until the sixteenth century, when England’s Queen Elizabeth I began painting her face a stark white and her lips a bright red. During her reign, only upper-class women and male actors wore makeup. This changed after her death. Besides actors, only prostitutes painted their faces then.
By the nineteenth century, only the brazen or uncouth wore makeup, so lip coloring was considered unacceptable for respectable British women. English society didn’t change this view until the twentieth century. By 1921, fashionable Londoners finally accepted the open use of cosmetics, including lip painting.
In 1870, Parisian Maison Guerlain created the first waxy lip cosmetic. (Before this, lip coloring had always been made at home and stored in small glass jars.) An employee of Guerlain’s French company (which manufactured perfume, cosmetics, and skincare) saw a candlemaker’s tools and colored wax and got the crazy idea of creating lip coloring in sticks like candles. Thanks to this idea, by the 1900s, Guerlain was manufacturing lipstick on a wide scale.
Did You Know…
- President George Washington wore lip paint when posing for portraits.
- Queen Victoria thought women wearing any kind of makeup impolite.
- In 1884, the House of Guerlain invented the first commercial lipstick and sold it in tin tubes.
- In the late 1890s, the Sears Roebuck catalog carried lip and cheek rouge.
- Nashvillian James Bruce Mason, Jr., patented the first swivel lipstick device in 1923.
Components
Over the years, lip coloring has been made with a variety of natural components. Sumerians used crushed gemstones to decorate their faces, especially around the eyes and on the lips. Egyptians used crushed bugs. The Chinese used beeswax and scented oils, while during the sixteenth century, the English used beeswax blended with red stains from plants.
However, not all elements used were harmless. Many were not only dangerous but toxic. Ancient Egyptians had a recipe for a red lip rouge which was poisonous and could result in serious illness. Rich Romans’ lip paint contained lead, as did some lip paints created in the 1700s. By the 1850s, women were being warned of the dangers of cosmetics that used lead and vermilion. (Vermilion is a pigment of a dark red mineral, high in mercury, and considered a toxic material.)
Did You Know…
- In ancient Greece, the ingredients in lip paint included crocodile droppings, human saliva, and sheep sweat.
- In Egypt, an estimated 70,000 beetles were needed to produce one pound of carmine dye used for lip coloring.
- Queen Elizabeth I probably gave herself lead poisoning through the red, led-based lip paint she wore daily.
- The pearlescent substance found in fish scales is often used to produce lipstick’s glossy sheen.
- Before the invention of the lipstick tin, the House of Guerlain’s lipsticks were covered in silk paper.
- Dark red was one of the most popular lip paint colors in both the 1800s and 1900s.
- Commercial lipsticks were offered in only limited color shades during the early 1900s.
- In the 1970s, thermochromic dyes were used in mood lipsticks. These dyes changed color as they reacted to body heat.
Significance
Throughout the centuries, societies bounced back and forth between liking and hating colored lips. For the ancient Egyptians, who used mainly shades of purple and black, it designated wealth, power, and social status. And while the ancient Greeks associated painted lips with prostitution, the Romans, like the Egyptians, saw it as a sign of elite status worn by both men and women.
The Catholic Church condemned red lip paint, associating it with devil worship and pegging the women who wore it as being sorcerers and witches. Medieval Englishmen continued this theme, seeing women who wore makeup as “an incarnation of Satan” because they dared to alter the face God gave them.
In the twentieth century, these old beliefs began to die, and by the 1920s, lipstick symbolized feminism, as women demanded more rights. Flappers showed their independence by wearing it, and in the 1930s, it became a symbol of adult sexuality.
Red has always been associated with power and social status. In the 1980s, red lipstick symbolized a woman’s power while conveying her confidence and authority.
Did You Know…
- By law, Greek prostitutes had to paint their lips dark or be prosecuted for “improperly posing as ladies.”
- Cleopatra wore lip paint as a sign of power, and believed it had magical properties that could heal illnesses.
- A 1500s English law decreed the wearing of lip coloring was “punishable as witchcraft.”
- If a woman wore lip paint during courtship in several sixteenth-century American colonies, the marriage could be annulled for “trickery.”
- In 1912, suffragettes signaled emancipation for women by painting their lips.
- During WWII, Winston Churchill thought lipstick was a morale booster and refused to limit its production.
Final Thoughts
Lipstick has seen immense changes over the centuries. From acceptance to rejection, ingredients to containers, to colors, textures, and finishes, lipstick has seen it all.
Modern lipstick still includes many of the same components of years past, including various types of waxes, fats and oils, pigments, and emollients. However, its job is more than providing color to your lips. It also protects them and keeps them soft and moist. Most importantly, in modern society, lipstick is a vital fashion accessory.
Did You Know…
- Silent film stars needed red lipstick and bold makeup to define their features on black-and-white film.
- Hitler hated red lipstick.
- In 1952, for her coronation, Queen Elizabeth II’s lipstick color was customized to match her coronation robe. It was called “The Balmoral.”
- Lipstick now comes with biodegradable packaging, refillable cases, and vegan formulas.
- 80% of women in the U.S. use lipstick regularly.
- In some surveys, approximately 25% of the women polled say leaving the house without lipstick is like leaving without clothes.
- During her lifetime, an average woman spends more than $1,500 on lipstick.
- At $14 million, H. Couture Beauty’s Diamond Lipstick is the most expensive lipstick in the world. While the lipstick is very moisturizing, the lipstick tube—made of diamonds—is the reason for the high price tag.
- Lipstick is only good for one to two years. Prolong its life by storing it in the refrigerator.