Saturday, 31 October 2015

Contemporary portrait


Paris Hilton, one of the most known celebrities in the industry, on this magazine cover there is a lot of details that suggests who she is as a person and her status. Her outfit is full of diamonds, its not a secret that this dress may have cost a fortune but because she is wealthy it does not affect her she just chose to show it off for everyone to see what she can afford, Her hair is softly waved with a crown on top, now this suggest that she may not be royal but she can afford the luxury, and 'royal accessories'. This also shows her personality, is she bossy? Does she like the luxury and wants to be treated as a Queen? She likes attention? Or she just wants to show off what she can afford. To me personally is to ridiculous to be photographed with so many diamonds and a crown to 'show off' that she can be a Queen or princess if she wants to, because she can afford it, she is wealthy, her status in the society is being shown straight away through this picture.

Symbols in portraits/photographs

Symbols in portraits/photographs

Clothes, accessories, jewelry and other objects can tell a lot about a person, their personality, status in the society or wealthiness. In the Elizabethan era, Queen Elizabeth loved to show that she is royal, powerful and wealthy through here portraits, she had a lot of golden jewelry and symbols that showed her personality and status, she loved to show off the pearls for everyone to know that she is pure 'Virgin Queen'. I done my research to find out if people still have status symbols in portraits these days, and I could not find any that would show those things maybe because these days are technology developed and people are more likely to take photographs rather than portraits of themselves. I have found plenty of photographs of people showing their status through certain objects.
Celebrities, models, business men and women, lawyers, doctors, regular people who may not have jobs the list can go on and on about who tends to show their status in their pictures, nearly everyone! Lets start with celebrities, they have extra pressure to look good at all times especially in public, they are captured by regular people, paparazzi everyday and shown on the covers of magazines, their style is constantly discussed, their position in the celebrity world is discussed on numerous TV shows and that is mostly through pictures. Pictures can show a lot about a person, what mood they are in, their personality, wealthiness and so on. Whenever you see a celebrity on the magazine either posing or accidentally walking past a paparazzi you can see every single detail that they wanted to show off to public, their clothes usually made by designers that instantly suggests that it was very expensive, that applies to designer bags that you see them carry, jewelry that is shinning from the distance instantly suggests that this person is wealthy in this society this way identifying their status immediately. Same theory applies to models who are constantly posing on the magazines or run way shows, they have clothes that are made for them, expensive shoes and designer bags suggests that they are wealthy and not 'regular' people. When talking about not celebrities but people who are still wealthy but no famous that can involve business people, lawyer, doctors and so on people who have a good paid job will show off the most. I saw a lot of photographs of people who take pictures in front of their brand new expensive car, or in front of their huge house, all this factors suggests that this person is wealthy.


This is Rihanna caught by paparazzi, she is wearing all pink with fur detail. In Elizabethan era fur was a sign of wealthiness and power only the richest could afford such luxury, now these days fur is also a sign of elegance, wealthiness even these days not everyone can afford a good quality big fur just throw on their shoulders,

This person is not a celebrity, however he is most likely very wealthy because he is sitting in 'Ferrari' brand car taking a picture of himself to show society that he can afford this car.

Elizabethan cosmetic recipe

Elizabethan cosmetic recipe

In the Elizabethan era, there were plenty of methods and ingredients used to make the women and men look more beautiful and enhanced. To whiten the teeth they took a cup of plantain water and boiled tragacanth putty, 1 on. rock alum, and make very fine powder out of all of them, then boil for half an hour in water after the whole process just wash the gums frequently with that powder mixed with water. Another way to lighten the teeth was by mixing 1 ounce of chamomile water, ounce of strained rose honey mixing everything together and taking some cloth pieces and dipping them in it after that just putting this whole mixture on the gums not forgetting to change frequently so that they will become firm again.
Next I found recipes for the skin. Firstly to remove any marks from the face they used iris roots and boil them in water until there is only half the contents left then took this water and washed the face this way getting rid of any blemishes before applying any sort of make up. The next application was to be used to lighten the face and hands, one of the most simple ways was to just take leaves and roots of nettle, then boil all of those ingredients and wash the face and hands after its cooled down, this way making face and hands not only whiter but also smoother. Another way to lighten up the skin was by using bread crumbs and egg white then mixing them together and putting them in vinegar for two days, after the two days has elapsed the mixture could have been used on any part of the skin to lighten it up. To cure the redness of the face was also very popular in the Elizabethan era, Queen Elizabeth 1 herself used this recipe for her skin by taking white lead or in other words ceruse, rose water and violet oil then mixing them together and applying on the face.
Lastly I found a few recipes that lighten up the hair which was very fashionable in Elizabethan era to have beautiful light golden hair. The women who used this method were usually upper class, rich and wealthy they started by taking four ounces of the herb called great centaury, 1liter alum of dregs, 2 ounces of substance called arabi, 1 ounce of rock alum, 7 liters of water then after mixing all of the ingredients and boil until 1/3 is left, after just comb the hair with this mixture under the sun light which activates the ingredients and starts to work as a lightener giving the hair golden appearance. To have long golden locks I found a recipe that has been very popular in the Elizabethan era that is by taking barley bread and salt and take equal amounts of each and toast them and then grind them to a powder after just mix well and apply to the areas that hair growth is wanted.
I found all of the Elizabethan recipes on the internet website:- https://sites.eca.ed.ac.uk/renaissancecosmetics/cosmetics-recipes/hair/
The ingredients that I listed for the skin that has been used by the Queen and other upper class women caused constant skin problems and https://sites.eca.ed.ac.uk/renaissancecosmetics/cosmetics-recipes/hair/, severely damaging and burning the skin, making it peel and look very unhealthy as well as unattractive. Because these were the consequences of beauty these women had to use even more of these substances to cover up the damage that has been done and still make them look like porcelain dolls. The more older Queen Elizabeth got the more her face looked like it was mask like, the reason why is because she had to use huge amounts of the make up that was used for her face to cover up damages, however in my opinion her face looking like a mask definitely made her look more unattractive and fake looking.
I was very shocked and surprised by some of the ingredients used for the make up and hair, for example urine was used to lighten up the hair, which in my opinion sounds like a very unclean way to achieve the 'golden locks', it just shows how desperate the women were just to have hair like Elizabeth's, she set up the trends that every woman wanted to follow.
One of the contemporary make up recipes that I found on pintrest is skin lightener/brightener, ingredients that are needed are 1 and 1/2 spoon of raw honey, 2 teaspoons juiced lemon and 1/4 teaspoons turmeri, once all the ingredients are mixed together, leave on the skin for 20 minutes and then rinse off, the more often you apply this mask the more results will be seen in the future.
Another contemporary make up product that I have found in the beauty shop was called Dr Organic Royal Jelly Light & Bright Cream, it claims to lighten your skin gently however the ingredients mentioned on the label are very hard to understand mostly because there are many chemical names that regular customer would not understand what it does or what it actaully is the ingredients are:
- Aloe barbadensis leaf extract, Aqua (water), Glycerin, Caprylic/capric triglyceride, Prunus amygdalus dulcis (sweet almond) oil, Zinc oxide, Dicaprylyl ether, Ascophyllum nodosum extract, Cetearyl alcohol, Glyceryl stearate, Cetearyl glucoside. Do we actually know what we use on our skin? In my opinion no, we only rely on the description and what it 'claims' to do for your skin, we have no choice but to believe it. I have tried a little amount on my hand just to feel the texture, smell and if there is any sensation that this cream may cause to my skin. Firstly the texture was smooth and applied very well, it absorbed into the skin pretty quickly which is a positive thing, no one likes creams that just 'sit' on your skin and do not seem to be absorbing. The smell of this cream is not over powering so anyone who may be sensitive to the scents and certain perfumes can easily use this product without getting a headache. The cream did not give me any sensation on the skin, it did not tingle, itch, it was not cooling, or any other feeling I did not get from this cream.
The next time I would try to test one of the contemporary make up products on my face to see if it would make a difference rather than just testing on my hand, maybe it would give me a different results?

Overview on the use of Tudor cosmetics

Overview on the use of Tudor cosmetics

The rich women also known as Tudors wore make up to show others their status in the society - that they are wealthy an powerful. Elizabeth 1 set up all the fashion rules when it came to make up and hair, she used make up to cover up any skin diseases such as skin being burnt, smallpox, and other plenty skin damaging diseases that were caused by that toxic potion which involved vinegar and white lead as well as egg whiter however  she wanted to maintain her flawless beauty and be seen as 'Virgin Queen' no matter how damaging the make up was to her and any other upper class women that used this toxic potion to have a porcelain white skin in the Tudor era. The Tudor view of beauty was seen as light hair and deathly pale skin with red lips and cheeks. Pale complexion was a sign of wealth because the women who were poor had to work outside therefore could not maintain the pale skin appearance. Rich women in Tudor era wanted to achieve light hair effect by using saffron, cumin seed, celandine and oil. This combination of ingredients achieved more of a yellow look to the hair which also made it look lighter, another way they achieved lighter yellow hair they used urine which sounds like a very unsanitary way of achieving the look however the women of the upper class did not care about the ingredients that need to be used in order to achieve the desired look. If the lighter hair could not be achieved by those ingredients, wigs and hair pieces were also a popular way, however they were very expensive therefore only the upper class women and men could afford such luxury, Queen Elizabeth herself owned over eighty wigs, because she was very wealthy woman the cost of the wigs did not matter.

Friday, 30 October 2015

'Elizabeth - The Golden Age'



'Elizabeth - The Golden Age'

In this film Elizabeth's make up was transforming all the way through, at the beginning her make up was very soft, her hair was long sometimes wavy and sometimes completely straight. At the beginning of the film where Elizabeth is shown for the first time her make up was soft, slightly pale skin, neutral lip color and slightly blushing cheeks. From the very beginning Elizabeth looked like a queen her pale skin was a sign that she is not poor and does not have to work outside like other slaves preventing them from keeping their pale complexion. In the crowing scene of the film, Elizabeth's make up is still not very much over the top compared to what she looked like later on, she had very pale skin with make up on top which contained vinegar and white lead which also at the same time destroyed her skin causing numerous skin diseases, bleached out eye brows, her eye lashes looked very light also and lips with cheeks were slightly emphasized all these aspects were signs of beauty at that time.
The next scene that was also one of the most important parts of the films was attempted murder, they tried to kill the Queen. In this scene she is wearing long red dress with with some white material and also a lot of gold detail such as her jewelry and her crown. I really like the composition of red and gold these two colors to me seems like they show power and strength and that is exactly  what Queen Elizabeth was powerful, iconic, strong woman no one could take her down. Her make up was pale with slightly more red lipstick and cheeks which went well with the outfit, this make up look brought out more of her features such as lips and cheek bones, her hair was cut off very short and curly which gave her more older, mature appearance I personally did not like it. In the dinner scene her appearance changes starting from the outfit and ending with the make up, she was wearing pitch black dress, her eye brows seemed to be a lot more defined and there was slight contour showing, this make up look portrayed her as having more harsh features this look went well with a black dress, she looked very mysterious and unpredictable.
In the final scene of the film, the Queen steps in to walk towards her thrown her skin was very much pale like she was wearing a mask this was because her face was destroyed by the make up she was using, she still wanted to look perfect so she was forced to wear even more of the dangerous powder, her lips appeared like it was a mixture between red and orange to match her hair color, her eyes was slightly emphasized with a kohl but the eye lashes remained very white as well as her eye brows. Her curly hair had some golden jewelry details to it which looked very flattering for such hair color, gold and red - powerful, wealthy and strong and that is how Queen Elizabeth was portrayed in this film, which I think is very accurate to what she was like in her era.
The title of  'The Golden Age' goes perfectly with this film, as I mentioned before there was a lot of gold detail used to show Elizabeth's beauty, however golden age also means how great her era was it was truly 'golden' as the title suggests, starting with her make up and the outfit and ending with her era.

Elizabethan beauty ideals

Back in the day beauty ideals were completely different than what it is now, most of us understand beauty as tanned glowing skin, big defined lips, long black eye lashes and definitely not frizzy hair. In Elizabethan era the beauty icon was Elizabeth 1, her pale skin emphasized with even more pale make up powder which was made out of ceruse, an ointment made out of white lead and vinegar this way making her face look like a white mask, however this was a sign of beauty, a sign of wealth only the wealthiest people could afford such 'make-up', people who were not rich could be identified by their tanned skin because they had to work outside all day this way preventing them from maintaining pale 'iconic' skin. The make up that Elizabeth 1 was using for her face also came with disadvantages, it caused her a lot of skin diseases which resulted in her faces being burnt and very damaged. To hide all the imperfections she kept applying more and more of the face powder without knowing that its destroying her face.To emphases her lips and cheeks she used mercuric sulfide, this chemical gave her a vermilion color which was loved by the queen. Another beauty ideal in Elizabethan era was having a big forehead or in other words high hairline, she had her hair plucked to achieve the desired look of a bigger forehead it gave her aristocratic look which also was a sign of beauty. Kohl was also used to emphases the queens beauty, they used it to define her eyes and sometimes used substance like belladonna to brighten up the eyes. Having light hair was one of the beauty ideals back in that day, women including Elizabeth used urine to lighten up the hair which now for us seems like a very disgusting way to achieve the lighter hair, but that's a sign of how desperate the women were just to achieve this look. If this method did not work they then used wigs which was far more simple and quicker way to have a desired hair color. Queen Elizabeth 1 was the beauty icon of her era, women tried to imitate her beauty as much as they could, all the women wanted to be seen as beautiful just like their worshiped queen.
To find as much information about Elizabethan era beauty ideals I have looked in the library as well as internet. I have cited 'The Elizabethans' by Wilson A.N. London: Arrow Books 2012, also 'The Elizabethan World' by Doran,Susan; Jones, Norman L, London: Routledge 2014, and website http://www.elizabethan-era.org.uk/elizabethan-make-up.htm.

Artemisia Gentileschi
Artemisia Gentileschi (1593-1653) was a famous painter, she existed during the Elizabethan era, I chose this portrait because it is very fascinating, the woman in the paining is Mary Megdalene. This painter wanted to paint Mary Magdalene in a gold dress (gold color was very popular in Elizabethan era, Queen Elizabeth 1 herself wore a lot of clothing and jewelry in gold). This gold dress in the painting to me symbolizes luxury and wealthiness, however I love the idea that Mary Magdalene put her hand on her chest, showing that she is in pain or something is worrying her. Her hair is very curled just like Queen Elizabeth 1 liked back in her era. In the painting you can see how she is blushing and has minimal make up as well as pale skin those are all the signs of beauty. This painting was painted in 1620 and remains in Palatina Gallery.