Today there's Halloween face paint and cosmetics with awful themes, and instructions on how to look diabolical for that monstrous party. However, there was a time when make-up itself really was evil. It was deadly and sent so many innocent people to early graves.
Arsenic poisons were a very normal ingredient for ghost white make-up products. Arsenic face powders and eye shadow looked like thin wafers, and many women bit into them! This was believed to enhance that pale glow loved by Victorians. It was fashionable to look ghostly with an alabaster white complexion, admired by eerie Victorians who also followed the grim trend of taking corpse family photos!
Mixed with that was mercury! That was within lead cosmetics for blushes, lip colour and mascara. It was believed mercury gave such striking colours to the face that vampires would be envious of. That included deathly pale skin and bloodred lips. They even used mercury to treat skin problems and thicken eyelashes. Mercury was vindictive and damaged the skin so much that women used more make-up to conceal it! Sadly they ended up in coffins.
During the reign of the Tudor monarchs, women loved seeking out Venetian ceruse make-up as it gave them an enchanting fairy complexion. They looked otherworldly wearing it but this powder contained lead poison. Many young women died including Maria Coventry, because of severe lead poisoning after wearing these face powders. No tooth fairies there! So far the problems women had using such poison in make-up led to ill health, tooth loss, trembling, nerve damage, amnesia and premature deaths.
The "Beautiful woman" make-up is belladonna from the toxic deadly nightshade flower. It was used in cosmetics during the Italian Renaissance, mainly as eyedrops to give women bright sparkling eyes. This resulted in many damaged eyes including blindness. In ancient Rome, women used cinnabar to redden their cheeks and cinnabar is full of toxic lead. Trying to look like shining goddesses and angels, these women tragically became corpses.
The most freakiest beauty product lasted for decades during the 20th century, with fatal radiation in cosmetics! Tho-Radia make-up was aimed at women to give them a supernatural glowing beauty. It was aimed at women who wanted to achieve a shimmering look. There was a popular advertisement featuring a picture of a blonde woman covered in light. She looked stunning and many women wanted to achieve that striking beauty. The result was devastating.
Storm Valkyrie and Shadow Girl
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