Delicate, pale, transparent skin...

This ideal of beauty persisted throughout centuries, in fact, it goes all the way back to ancient Rome. Class was conveyed by the fact that privileged hands were idle and smooth, not roughened by work or exposed to the elements. The face was also not exposed to the sunlight, lest the damaging rays tan and roughen the skin. The moneyed classes did not have to involve themselves in physical labor and the weather.

Lady Elizabeth Grey, Blueblood

A sure sign of privilege and wealth can be seen in this portrait of Lady Elizabeth Grey, circa 1619. If nature no longer provides the transparent, glowing skin of youth, well, that can be painted on. The transparency can be indicated by a delicate tracing of a blue vein here and there, such as the vein on her temple.  I was surprised to learn that this practice persisted into the 20th century~!

recipe- Perfumes and cosmetics, by Askinson, 1922

cosmopolitan, vol. 19

Another necessity to an artistic "make-up" of the face is the blue tint used in tracing veins. The ingredients of one variety are French or Venetian chalk made into a paste with gum-Arabic water, and tinted to the proper depth with Prussian-blue. The mixture comes in little jars accompanied by small leather pencils made expressly for the purpose, and it is said that if the work is well done the effect is very natural.


A more easily obtained tint is made of grease colored to the proper shade. It comes in pencil form and is simply drawn over the skin wherever a vein shows through. The mark is then softened down by rubbing, and the veins thus accentuated make the skin seem all the fairer and more delicate.


source: Beauty--its Attainment and Preservation, by Butterick Publishing Company, 1892

A complete guide to "making up", 1895

the Windsor Magazine. 1895

"I have done the best I could under the circumstance in seeking information from a delightfully worldly little French book that has come into my hands, and deals with the profoundest mysteries of the toilette.

The anonymous writer says: — The process of "making-up" requires to be undertaken with extreme care, for nothing can be more dreadful or in worse taste than the face of a woman whereon colours seem to have been laid with a trowel. The first essential for the success of the operation is abundance of light, so that the subject may see herself exactly as she is. 

Every woman must have the courage to begin by examining her countenance in detail and noting its imperfections, since her object is to remedy these. When the process is over, she must look at herself with unfriendly and critical eyes, and, if possible, in the broad light of day or in a sidelight, for then and then only can she be certain that she has not made of herself a mere painted figure-head. Mirrors reflect only a part of the luminous rays that strike the face, and so conceal in part its imperfections. This must be considered and allowed for.

To obtain a fresh, transparent complexion by artificial means the following course must be pursued :—Instead of beginning with milk-white paint, first spread over the skin a coat of liquid rouge, sufficiently diluted with water to be put on very evenly and in successive layers. Then apply the white, but white of the most absolute transparency is necessary. It may be had of a kind that shows through it even the tiniest blue veins. If the complexion be naturally florid, white paint alone will suffice. Liquid paints have not the drawback of plastering the skin and producing those motionless masks of colour that ruin the facial expression. Always put on too little paint rather than too much. Never use pink paints or powders, which give a violet or bluish tinge to the complexion. Before retiring to rest remove the make-up with strawberry cold cream or cream of cucumbers.

When rouging, if the face be thin and worn, apply the rouge low down and far back on the cheeks. Should the face, on the contrary, be over full and round, place the rouge high up and near the nose. Be careful to soften off the edges.

Blue paints and pencils are sold to accentuate the veins. This operation, like the preceding, must be conducted with the utmost delicacy. For the eyebrows mever use pencils, which destroy the hairs and produce an unnatural effect. Dark powder sold for the purpose is far superior, or even soot lightly laid on with a camel's hair brush.

To make-up the eyelashes sprinkle a few drops of kohl on a tooth brush and close the lashes upon it. A very fine line may be drawn with soot or kohl from the centre of the under eyelid to the outer corner of the eye.

The great danger in all "make-up" is, however, the danger of overdoing it, of "turning dimples into wrinkles," as Westland Marston said. Those who habitually "make-up" grow accustomed to the look of their own faces and pile on powder or colour to a ridiculous extent without being at all conscious of it."

source: "The Windsor Magazine", Volume 1, 1895

A beauty of the Period