An economical rouge

The recipe

Fine Carmine, pulverized and prepared for for this purpose [rouge], is without doubt the best of all Paints, and which the Ladies ought to adopt. In order to use it in an agreeable and frugal manner, procure some fine pomatum, without scent, made with the fat of pork and white wax; take about the bigness of a pea of this pomatum, and lay it upon a piece of white paper; then with the end of a tooth-pick add to it about the bigness of a pin's head of Carmine— mix it gently with your finger, and when you have produced the tone you wish, rub in it a little compressed cotton, and pass it on the face, till the Paint is quite spread and it no longer feels greasy.

Ladies have nothing to fear from this economical Rouge—it neither injures the health or skin, and imitates perfectly the natural colour. (Constant de Massoul, Treatise on the Art of Painting and the Composition of Colours, p 198, 1797)

Portrait of a Young Girl by Elisabeth Louise Vigee-Lebrun, 1775

Breaking down the recipe

Pomatum A cream made of water, fat and very often beeswax. There are several recipes around from the 18^th century. Cold cream of today is quite similar, so if you don’t want to make your own pomade you could substitute with that.

Carmine A bright red pigment derived from cochineal scale. Common as food colourant and in makeup today. Can also be called Crimson Lake, Natural Red 4, C.I. 75470 and E120

My thoughts

This is a very easy recipe- if you have pomatum in the house, that is. I have, but I don’t have any Carmine. I do, however, have cochineal scale, so I plan to try to make Carmine on my own. Then I’ll have to try this recipe!

French Rouge,—Five Shillings per Pot.

So far all rouge recipes I have found have been either a liquid or a salve, but as the picture below of Madame Pompadour suggest, there was rouge in powder from as well. And in a book with a rather wonderful title, The art of cookery made plain and easy: which far exceeds any thing of the kind yet published, to which are added, one hundred and fifty new and useful receipts, and also fifty receipts for different articles of perfumery, with a copious index, by Hannah Glasse, published in 1784, I found one.

The recipe
TAKE some carmine, and mix it with hair-powder to make it as pale as you please, according to your fancy, (The art of cookery made plain and easy, p. 401)

Breaking down the recipe
Carmine Bright red pigment derived from the cochineal (an insect) scale. Used today to pigment makeup and food.

Hair powder Starch, which in the 18th century were scented and had added white pigment.

My thoughts
Very straightforward recipe and very do-able. I guess that it would work with just plain starch, but as I have made a batch of hair powder I can use that. I need to find some carmine first, though. The result must be pink, which I like as the rouges I have made so far all have been red.


Marquise de Pompadour at the Toilet-Table by François Boucher,1758

Making Another kind of rouge

The updated recipe
50 ml Red wine
1 gram Brazil wood
1 gram Alum crystal

As this recipe has no measurements whatsoever, I started out with the smallest quality possible for me. The preparations were very simple. The Brazil wood and Alum were briefly grounded in a mortle and then I boiled it with the red wine. As it was such a small quantity the wine cooked down more quickly than I had anticipated, so instead of reducing it with 1/3, it got reduced to ½.

Brazil wood

Source: kingsandy007.en.busytrade.com via Elisa on Pinterest

Another rouge for the face

The recipe
Take Brazil Wood Shavings, and Roch Alum, beat them together into a coarse powder, and boil in a sufficient quantity of Red Wine, till two thirds of the Liquor are consumed. When this decoction is cold, rub a little on the cheeks with a bit of cotton. (The Toilet of Flora, p. 193)

Breaking down the recipe
Brazilwood Warm red pigment coming from wood of Caesalpina brasiliensis. Safe, but the tree is considered an endangered species. Substitute with Red sandalwood.

Alum There are several kinds, but here it is most certainly Potassium alum in crystal form. It has been, and is still, used in cosmetics as it works as an astringent, a preservative and is antibacterial. In crystal form it can be used on shaving cuts or as a natural deodorant. It has also been used as a skin whitener. As a powder it can be used in cooking and found at the spice section in food stores.

Red wine Alcoholic beverage made from black grapes. Most of the red pigment are plant pigments.

My thoughts
The nice thing with this recipe is that there is no need to substitute any of the ingredients because they are not harmful. The bad thing is that Brazilwood is an endangered species and though you can still obtain it today, it's likely it will soon be banned. I bought a small quantity years ago before I knew that and I wouldn't buy it today, but as I have it, I will make this recipe with it.

A bit annoying is that this is a lovely example of the lack of measurements. However, there is another recipe where you take equal parts of Brazilwood and Alum, so I will do so here. How much of it in ratio to the red wine, well... I will start with small amounts and work my way up, if need be. I am very curious on what red shade it will turn into. Red wine is blue-toned, but Brazilwood leans toward yellow. My assumption is that the blue and red will neutralise each other and give a more neutral red colour.

Source: b-womeninamericanhistory18.blogspot.se via Elisa on Pinterest

Making another kind of red lip salve

In yesterday's post I talked about a recipe for lip salve that used Alkanet root as pigment. Here is the result;

Updated recipe
Almond oil, 22 ml
Coconut butter, 6 gram
Bees wax, 2 gram
Alkanet root (in powder), 3 ml
Rosewood oil, 3 drops Note: A bit late it has come to my attention that Brazilian Rosewood is an endangered species, so my recommendation is to leave the salve unscented or add a few drops of another scented oil.

Another red lip salve

The recipe
Take three ounces of Oil of Almonds, three quarters of an ounce of Spermaceti, and a quarter of an ounce of Virgin's Wax; melt them together over a slow fire, mixing them a little of the powder of Alkanet Root. Keep stirring till cold, and then add a few drops of Oil of Rhodium. (The Toilet of Flora, p. 159)

Breaking down the recipe
Oil of Almonds i. e. almond oil. A common oil in cosmetic for thousands of years. safe and keeps well.

Spermaceti Fat from Sperm whales that has been used as an stabiliser in cosmetics since the 18th century. Impossible to find, except perhaps in Japan, which I think is the only country that still hunts Sperm whales. Substitute with Saturated fatty acids (like coconut butter), Jojoba butter, Emulsifying wax or Cetyl alcohol.

Virgin's Wax Bees wax

Alkanet Root Cold, or blue-toned red pigment coming from a plant, Dyer's bugloss Considered safe and is used today as colourants both in makeup and food.

Oil of Rhodium Has nothing to do with the chemical element. Rhodium oil is also known as Rosewood and comes from the Brazilian Rosewood. Used in perfumes but is also healing and antiseptic. It also have a slightly deodorising effect. Considered safe. Note: A bit late it has come to my attention that Brazilian Rosewood is an endangered species, so my recommendation is to leave the salve unscented or add a few drops of another scented oil.


My thoughts
After making the lip salve with Iron oxide I would like to make one with a more cold red colour, as that suits me better. This recipe is wonderfully simple and I have everything at home except, of course, the Spermaceti. In the past I have tried to substitute it in pomade with Jojoba oil, which worked but made the pomade rather too runny. This time I plan to use Coconut butter as that is easy to pick up in the food store.

I'm going to an 18th century event next Saturday and I would like to have finished the lip salve then as well as another recipe for white face paint. So stay tuned...

Source: posters.co.uk via Elisa on Pinterest

Making a red lip salve

Today I tried my hand in "An excellent Lip-salve", a recipe that I discussed here. After reading up I decided to use olive oil instead of rose oil, as that is often use as base oil for just rose oil. I also made a much smaller batch, I didn't want to screw up big.

Updated recipe
Myrrh, 4 g
Honey, 15 ml
Bees wax, 8 g
Olive oil, 22 ml
Iron oxide, 4 g
Rosewood oil, 3 drops Note: A bit late it has come to my attention that Brazilian Rosewood is an endangered species, so my recommendation is to leave the salve unscented or add a few drops of another scented oil.
Edible gold powder, 2 ml (optional and used for half the batch)

I started out mixing everything apart from the pigment, Rosewood oil and the gold powder. It smelled quite nicely of honey and resin.



Mixing it together on low heat in soon became a cohesive mass that first was quite runny and then got thicker and thicker.

An excellent Lip-Salve

159. An excellent Lip-Salve

Take an ounce of Myrrh, as much Litharge in fine powder, four ounces of Honey, two ounces of Bees-wax, and six ounces of Oil of Roses; mix them over slow fire. Those who are inclined may add a few drops of Oil of Rhodium, and some Leaf Gold (The Toilet of Flora, page 135)

An admirably clear recipe, with exact measurements for most of the ingredients. Let's take a closer look on those:

Myrrh A resin that have been in use since ancient times as perfume and incense but also for its medical proprieties. It is antiseptic and has a long standing tradition in various mouth remedies, like sores and cleaning teeth and gums. Melts tolerable well into vegetable oils. Is considered safe, but shouldn't be used the first 5 months of a pregnancy.

Litharge Lead pigment, in this case red. Poisonous.

Honey Apart from it's sweet favour, honey also have healing properties and works both as an antiseptic and as antibacterial. It also softens skin and can be used in salves and creams. Safe, but small children should not eat it.

Bees-wax A natural wax produced by honey bees. Melts well into oils and is often used as base for creams. It isn't absorbed by the skin, but doesn't clog the pores and softens and protects. Safe.

Oil of Roses ie Rose oil. An essential oil extracted from rose peals. It is very labour intensive and the oil is therefore very expensive. Used in perfumes and other cosmetics and is considered safe.

Oil of Rhodium Has nothing to do with the chemical element. Rhodium oil is also known as Rosewood and comes from the Brazilian Rosewood. Used in perfumes but is also healing and antiseptic. It also have a slightly deodorising effect. Considered safe. Note: A bit late it has come to my attention that Brazilian Rosewood is an endangered species, so my recommendation is to leave the salve unscented or add a few drops of another scented oil.

Leaf Gold Gold leafs are extremely thin sheets of gold that is used for gilding. Though an metal, gold is used in alternative medicine and is considered anti-inflammatory. Edible gold leaf can be found in well-sorted food stores

All the ingredients, if we disregard the Litharge, is quite safe to use and almost all have properties that makes them very suited for a lip salve. It doesn't seem to be very hard to make. The Litharge have to be substituted, of course and I plan to use Iron oxide instead. All the other ingredients are perfectly possible to attain, but I'm going to substitute the rose oil too. It's use in this recipe seems to be to provide oil and scent, and disregarding the scent, well, I think I could use and unscented oil instead. With the myrrh and the Rhodium oil I think that it will smell quite nicely anyway. I haven't decided on what kind of oil yet, but I have used almond and jojoba oil before and I think both would work well. As for gold leaf I happen to have edible gold dust in my cupboard already, so why not try it? I have all the ingredients I need except myrrh, but I know where to get it- hopefully I will have time to go there this week.


Lady Altamont by George Romeny, 1788, Tate Colletion