All little girls love experimenting with their mothers makeup, and some little boys are now experimenting with their dads makeup. Yes, make up has come a long way and is no longer restricted to women and actors.

The ancient Egyptians are who we have to thank for make up as we know it. They used Iron and Copper ore to embellish their faces, and Kohl to define the eyes. Make up has been in constant use since, but thank goodness we have moved on from what they used the middle ages! There have been many deaths over the years directly linked to makeup, particularly around this time. There are records stating that women made their own make up using such ingredients such as Lead, Arsenic and Mercury. They even attached Leeches to themselves to get the ridiculously pale complexions that were considered the height of beauty.

Other strange concoctions used over the years include burnt matches to decorate the years and the urine of a small boy was widely used in an attempt to diminish freckles. Thankfully we now have concealer, foundation and powder to do all these for us, with no risk to our health.

A few years ago, the major make up companies came under ferocious attack for their use of animal for testing. Vivisection was an accepted way of testing new products in the middle of the twentieth century, but is now only used by a few companies. This has spawned a whole new range of cosmetics companies such as the Body Shop and Urban Decay, who use only pure, natural ingredients and trade on the fact that they are anti-vivisection.

For many years, face makeup was considered to be a product purely for women and thespians, but slowly men have got in on the act too. The new romantic movement of the 1980`s actively encouraged men to wear makeup, and many embraced it. The Goths and Emo`s have worn make up for years to give them their ghostly complexion and black eyes.

Now there is makeup designed specifically for men appearing on the shelves and is proving very popular. Their argument is why should they have to display their blemishes to the world when women spend millions a year hiding theirs? You can say this is pure vanity, but surely that applies to most women too?

At one time, women had a small make up bag which contained their powder, eye shadow, mascara, lipstick and blusher. Now this is more likely to be the size of a back pack and include such items as highlighter, concealer, various types and colors of eyeliner and mascara, numerous lipsticks and lip liners and various other items for special occasions such as glitter sticks.

Whichever side of the fence you stand on, face makeup is here to stay. There is a rule of thumb to follow, and that is less is more. Some ignore this completely obviously, but face makeup should be used to highlight good features and tone down bad, not make you completely unrecognisable.

Author Bio: You can have access to articles in Portuguese language from page Articles Roberto Sedycias works as IT consultant for Polomercantil

Category: Womens Interest
Keywords: face makeup, fashion