25 Little-Known Facts About Makeup

Most of the girls I know use makeup on a daily basis. Even if you're "low maintenance," you probably have a lot of things. Of course, we're fortunate to live in the modern day, because women in the past had a very different relationship with their cosmetics. Please take a seat for a brief history lesson and to learn just how important makeup is.

1. Nail polish was first patented in 1919. It was a light pink color.

2. Belladonna drops were used by Roman women to make their pupils appear larger and sexier. Since belladonna is a poison, this practice was short-lived.

3. Beetles were used by the Aztecs to produce red lipstick.

4. It's been said that Elizabeth Taylor forbade other women on set from wearing red lipstick.

5. Depending on who and where you were at the moment, wearing makeup denoted riches or bad values – this has changed many times throughout history.

6. Cleopatra is said to have slathered perfume on her ship's sails so that everyone could smell her when she arrived. What a great way to get a signature smell.

7. It is estimated that women spend $15,000 on cosmetics over the course of their lives.

8. While marching for the right to vote, feminists like Elizabeth Cady Stanton wore lipstick as a sign of liberation from oppression.

9. After seeing a woman with shaved armpits in a fashion ad in 1915, more women started to shave their underarm hair.

10. Patches of black velvet have been used by women to make their own beauty marks.

11. In 1985, two men named Frank formed MAC.

12. In 1960, the first mass-market hairspray was launched.

13. In the 1920s, Coco Chanel popularized the suntan. Previously, a tan indicated that you were a low-wage field worker.

14. In 1889, the first deodorant was introduced to the market.

15. To appear flawless, Elizabethan women used bizarre techniques such as shaving their foreheads and using arsenic and lead to keep their skin super-pale. They also claimed lipstick had magical properties, and Queen Elizabeth died while wearing it.

16. Elizabethan women used coal tar as mascara and liner, and many of them were blind as a result.

17. Looking for some way to keep your skin super-pale? THE LEECHES To keep their skin pale, women were “bled” with leeches.

18. In the United States, the FDA approves cosmetics. Using neon in nail polish is one of their major no-nos, because while we have neon-colored polishes, they aren't technically "neon." You'll have to go to other countries to do so.

19. A "geisha facial" contains a unique wrinkle-fighting ingredient: nightingale feces.

20. While the Greeks are credited with coining the term "cosmetics," ancient Egyptians were the first to use cosmetics.

21. The Egyptians are often credited with inventing perfume, which they used for both cosmetic and medicinal purposes.

22. In the past, women used a variety of strange ingredients to “cure” freckles, ranging from fresh urine to crocodile fat.

23. In the late 1940s, a woman named Hazel Bishop patented the first long-lasting lipstick.

24. Estee Lauder is said to have "accidentally" dropped a bottle of her perfume on a department store floor so that women would smell it and demand to know what it was, resulting in a consumer base for her items.

25. The beauty industry is worth around $170 billion globally.

Related:  7 Fun Facts About Makeup Every Beauty Lover Should Know