Secrets and Origins of the Cosmetic

"la mascara della cosmesi"

The first custodians of the skin secrets were the ancient Egyptians who held in such high esteem the perfumes and cosmetics, which were buried with their beauty products, such as the eyes pencils and kohl (type eye shadow) kept in decorated pots. The most common ingredients were incense and myrrh mixed with sesame oil, almond and olive oil. The resins, like the myrrh, were added for their aroma and used as fixatives in some perfumes. More than 3000 years ago the Egyptians had the "prototype" of most preparations for the skin known today: shaved creams with the rubber, cucumber, fig juice and other components; Deodorant got from the incense; cold Creamn with lime; hair products with juniper, pine oil and lettuce. The ancient Greeks studied the art of perfumery and passed their love for cosmetics and perfumes to the Romans, who in turn spread throughout Europe. The Romans developed some perfumes: ointments solid and liquid and powder scents. The finalization of distillation techniques, thanks to the Arabs, enabled the preparation of essential oils. The scented oils for the body were popular in the past as they are today.
Large homes had a destillation room where the herbs, spices were blended to obtain powder, wax, pot-pourri. The first eau de toilet was "EAU THE HUNGARIAN":the rosemary macerated in alcohol; the actual sophisticated perfums appeared in France at the end of the eighteenth century. EAU DE COLOGNE (essential oils in alcohol) comes from the German city of Cologne. One of the first perfums was the Orange’s flowers. At the end of nintheenth century got a foothold the Eastern essences: vetiver, patchouly, vanilla and benzoine. A perfum has 3 components: the main note the pungent perfumes (lemon, lime, basil, etc.); the second Note comes from penetrating herbs and spices (sage, cloves…); the base note comes from wood and resins (incense, myrrh, sandalwood…). The ancient Brythons painted their bodies with ford while the North American natives with pigments from vegetable colours and vegetable oils.The practice to paint the face comes from the Romans, the Egyptians and Persians. Ages ago, the red color came from ochre, a natural mineral soil. The beauty products became so popular that in 1770 in England there was a act that allowed the dissolution of the marriage if the man had been deceived by perfumes, lotions cosmetic in accordance with the law against witchcraft.