The Victorian Era was between 1837, when Queen Victoria was crown, and 1901, when Edward VII was made King. Queen Victoria became Queen at the young age of 19, for 64 years; this is the longest any British Monarch has ruled. The Victorian Era was a period of great wealth, peace and national confidence. There were great social divides in the Victorian era, as the upper classes were rich and did not have to work and the working classes were very poor with badly paid jobs and the middle classes were constantly growing.
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| Queen Victoria http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e3/Queen_Victoria_by_Bassano.jpg |
In the Victorian Era the heavy and obvious use of cosmetics was seen to be immoral and it was thought that only actresses and prostitutes would wear it. It was a period of a very strict moral code and modesty. The upper class women would still wear make-up though, they would just try and make it look as natural as possible, only using neutral tones. The Victorian women wanted a achieve a fragile, feminine and elegant look, this was thought to be the ideal beauty.
A pale complexion symbolised nobility, as it had done for many years prior to this. This is because if a woman had a pale complexion it showed that she was wealthy enough to not have to work outside with all the poorer people, as this work would normally be outside in the sun which would result in a tan. In the Elizabethan era very toxic ingredients were used in the cosmetics which gave them that very pale skin and, although these mixtures were still around, it was becoming more popular to use the safer option of Zinc Oxide, a white mineral powder, to achieve the same pale complexion. Women would also try and avoid the sun light to stay as naturally pale as possible, so they would always be under parasols when outside. Some women would even drink vinegar to help them achieve the desired look. As well as having a pale complexion, it was also popular to have a translucent complexion, so some women would draw on very faint blue lines on there skin to make it look like their veins were showing through. Some women would even emphasise their dark circles to give them an almost sickly look.
Even though the use of makeup was frowned upon in the upper and middle classes, the women did still wear it, but just very sparingly. They would wear neutral and light shades of eyeshadows, made from lead and antimony sulphide. The women would wear a soft rosy pink on their cheeks, sometimes made from beet juice or by simply pinching their cheeks, and a light pink colour of their lips, made from mercuric sulphide. All of these products would have been applied very lightly and carefully to make them as natural looking as possible. As the Victorian women were a fan of the natural look, the women kept their eyebrows looking untamed and bushy, however the women who did wear makeup would pluck their eyebrows or draw them on.
Resources:
http://www.schoolsliaison.org.uk/kids/access/victorian/timeline_victorian.htm
KS3 History, by CGP
http://beautifulwithbrains.com/2010/08/06/beauty-in-the-victorian-age/
http://www.dailymakeover.com/trends/makeup/eyebrows-history/
The Finishing Touch, Cosmetics through the Ages, by Julian Walker
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