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There history of red lipstick was born in the fourth millennium BC: a cosmetic that had great success both in ancient times and in the contemporary world and was also a symbol of the struggle for women’s rights.
Red lipstick: the story
Red lipstick is one of the most iconic and loved cosmetics in the make-up world. Its story starts from afar: red lipstick was born thanks to Sumerian civilization around the fourth millennium BC where it was created thanks to the red powders of particular rocks combined with sesame oil and rose essence. In ancient civilization it was used in various ways and created with various formulations: Romans, eg, they called him ‘purpurissum‘and they made it with mercury sulphide while inAncient Greece only prostitutes wore it.
This custom was imposed by law: the aim was to be able to recognize prostitutes. Hence the often negative meaning that red lipstick has covered in the Middle Ages and in modern times.
In the England of the sixteenth century, red lipstick was brought back into vogue by Queen Elizabeth I who always wore it. In this case, it was a mixture obtained with cochineal, gum arabic, egg white and fig milk: it was also thought to have healing powers.
One hundred years later, however, lipstick is banned again in England, seen as an act of witchcraft and adultery. In the nineteenth century Queen Victoria permanently bubble the red lipstick as a symbol of vulgarity.
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Lipstick in the contemporary world
The first modern lipstick was created Guerlain in 1880, which mixed grapefruit extract with butter and other emollient substances to give color to the lips and at the same time hydrate them. In 1910 Roger & Gallet invent the first lipstick stick: more convenient to apply than the metal cans that previously contained it.
Two years later it will become the symbol of feminism and the struggle for women’s rights. The founder of the cosmetics brand Elizabeth Arden takes to the streets to give the suffragettes her red lipsticks. Elizabeth Arden herself created a lipstick of a particular red called Montezuma Red that was to match the uniforms of the soldiers of the Second World War. In fact, in 1941 the USA had created the first division of female soldiers, the Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps, and the government had commissioned Arden to create a lipstick specifically for them.
Since the 1950s onwards, red lipstick will become the most loved and purchased cosmetic by women. This is thanks to the models of the divas who could not do without it: Elizabeth Taylor, Marylin Monroe and in more recent years Madonna.
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