Put Your Best Face Forward With This History of Makeup Quiz

Artificial eyelashes were first patented in 1911, by a Canadian inventor named Anna Taylor. Her design featured a crescent-shaped piece of fabric which had tiny hairs glued to it. False eyelashes didn’t catch on with the public until a few years later, in 1916, when American film director D.W. Griffith got his wigmaker to glue extra hairs onto actress Seena Owen’s eyes, making them look twice as big.

Nail polish was one of the earliest forms of makeup, first seen in China as far back as 3000 BCE. Early nail polishes were usually powders applied to the nail to stain it, which were then buffed until shiny. In 1932, brothers Charles and Joseph Revson, along with chemist Charles Lachman, launched Revlon after they developed a revolutionary new nail enamel, which used pigments instead of dyes.

The word “makeup” was coined by Max Factor, or Maksymilian Faktorowicz, a Polish American businessman and beautician. He had been producing cosmetics for movie actors for many years, and saw an opportunity to market Hollywood glamour to the general public. In 1920, Factor introduced his new cosmetics line, called “Society Make-up,” coining the term in the process. The line was an instant success, allowing fans to emulate the looks of their favorite stars of the silver screen.

When gas lighting was introduced in European theaters in the 1840s, the stage was suddenly flooded with light, making the actors’ powdered face paint look indistinct. In the 1870s, a German opera singer named Ludwig Leichner developed the first commercial greasepaint, designed specifically for stage actors. The thick paste, made from mineral pigments and grease, was used to contour and accentuate facial features.

Elizabeth Arden, born Florence Nightingale Graham, opened her first beauty salon in New York City in 1910. Arden was a supporter of women’s suffrage, and in 1912, when thousands of women marched through New York to demand the right to vote, she gave out red lipstick for the women to wear in solidarity. The entrepreneur also pioneered a special line of makeup for women serving in the military.

Kohl has been worn as an eyeliner in parts of North Africa, the Middle East, and India for more than 5,000 years. The black powder was historically made from a mixture of ingredients including powdered antimony, burnt almonds, and ochre. It was kept in small pots, moistened into a paste with saliva, and applied with a stick. Today kohl comes in pencil form, and remains a popular eyeliner.

In the early 20th century, chemist Thomas Williams got the inspiration to launch a makeup line from his sister, Maybel, who was in love with a man who was in love with someone else. So Thomas used some petroleum jelly and coal dust to enhance his sister’s beautiful eyes. Just a few years later, in 1917, Williams launched the product that made it possible: Maybelline Cake Mascara - the first mascara made for everyday use.

The use of cosmetics has fallen in and out of fashion with the changing times. Queen Elizabeth I, for example, ignored the Catholic Church’s disapproval of makeup and became famous for her thick white face paint and rosebud red lips. Queen Victoria, on the other hand, deplored makeup. She called it “vulgar” and thought women’s faces should appear natural and unadorned.

People have long favored bright red lipstick as a way of enhancing their pout, and the ancient Egyptians were no exception. They painted their lips with a red pigment made by crushing carmine beetles and mixing them with beeswax. For the ancient Egyptians, perfect red lips were a sign of aristocracy, and it’s believed the pigment was even used by the famous Egyptian queen Cleopatra.

In 18th-century Europe, it was fashionable for the upper classes to have skin of the palest white, as a way to show they did not have to work outside. To achieve this look, people applied a thick white paste known as Venetian ceruse, which was made from vinegar and lead. The toxic lead caused serious damage to the skin, hair loss, and sometimes even death.