15 Fascinating & Suprising Facts about Makeup & Cosmetics!

Had a hard day today?! Well take a minute and check out these random and interesting known facts about makeup and cosmetics. Makeup has been part of our culture for many many years. Besides the fact that we love it and we look good in it, what else do you really know about cosmetics?!

From Ancient Egyptians to Queen Elizabeth, makeup has been used for both religious and personal uses. Today it is a multi-billion dollar industry. The early ages of different forms of makeup has led us to what we use and know today.

In order to appreciate where our foundation came from, here you have 15 glamorous facts about makeup that I thought you should know about.

Ancient Egyptian art made on papyrus depicting men on a boat. The ancient Egyptians made papyrus (paper) from papyrus reeds (Cyperus papyrus). The ancient Egyptian culture thrived around the river Nile from around 3000 BC until the growth of the Roman Empire swallowed it some 3000 years later.

1. Cleopatra

It was known that Cleopatra often soaked her sail ships in perfume so that everyone could smell her coming. Talk about making an entrance.

2.The Cost of Beauty

The beauty industry makes about $15 billion in perfume, $18 billion in makeup, $24 billion is skin care, and $38 billion in hair care. Wow!

3. First Nail Polish

Today we have thousands of nail polish colors that we can choose from but in 1919 there was only one - faint pink color. But that's not all, the nail polish goes as far back as 3000BC, China. It was made out of egg whites, gum, beeswax and powder.

4. Coco Chanel

Tanning wasn't popular until 1920. A tan meant that you were a low-class worker until Coco Chanel started the trend when she was sun-kissed while on a cruise. Afterwards fake tanning became a high-class thing.

5. MAC

I have wondered what MAC really stood for. Well, according to the main website it stands for Makeup Art Cosmetics. Another fun fact is that MAC was founded by two men in 1985. Both of their names were Frank.

6. Foundation

This is something that I didn't know but glad i know now. When you shop for foundation, you always test the color tone on your hand. The right way to find your color is to test it on your jaw. If you think about it, the foundation is applied to the face, so why would you test it on your hand?!

7. Geisha's

Have you noticed how Geisha's have the white face mask. Well that called the "geisha facial" that is made out of nightingale poop. This is known to help fight wrinkles. That's why their faces never age.

8. Elizabeth Taylor

One of my favorite Elizabeth Taylor quote was when she said "pour yourself a drink, put on some lipstick, and pull yourself together" unless you worked on her set. She allegedly banned other women wearing red lipstick while working with her.

9. Leeches

During the 1400s, women kept their skin pale by using leeches. The pale complexion gave you a higher class statues. Women also used other forms of bleeding methods such as slashing the veins. This method was called "cupping".

10. The Most Expensive Lipstick

Talk about lipstick, one of the most expensive one in the world is Guerlain's KissKiss Gold and Diamonds Lipstick. It will cost you $62,000. What you are really paying for is the 110 grams of 18k gold tube that is encrusted with 199 diamonds. At least it's refillable.

11. Per Woman

It was studied that apparently women spend $15,000 if not more in their lifetime on makeup and other beauty supplies. The average years a woman spends shopping equals out to almost 9 years. That's a little much!

12. Shaved Armpits

Back in the day there was no such thing as shaving under your armpits. However, that changed when a model was seeing photographed with shaved armpits in a fashion ad in 1915. Thank you for starting that trend 🙂

13. Coal Tar = Mascara

In an Elizabethan - era women did crazy things to appear beautiful. How about using the coal tar as mascara and eyebrow pencil and even as an eyeliner. It wasn't the safest approach, resulting in people going blind.

14. Fish Scales

This one really surprised me. When we buy shimmer and shiny lipstick, nail polish or even an eye shadow, fish scales are being used in the mix to give that glummer. Till this day, manufacturers haven't found an ingredient to replace it so we are stuck with fish scales for now.

15. Maybe It's Maybelline

One of the most popular makeup brands is Maybelline. The best selling lash mascara was first introduced in 1971. The brand has reported that every 1.6 seconds their tube is sold somewhere in the world. Business is doing good!

At the end, I hope you enjoyed these fun facts about cosmetics and learned a little bit about products that you use everyday. Now, every time you use your mascara, you know that someone out in the world is about to purchase one as well 🙂 Happy shopping!

XoXo Nina