Facepaint by Lisa Eldridge

I had to have this book as soon as it came out, not only because it is written by one of my favourite make up artists, but it is perfect for this course!! Most famous make up artists bring out 'how to' guides rather than books on the history of make up.

 It is such a beautiful book that features all the influential women that have set make up trends over time. 

 Elizabeth 1 is featured and is described as the 'most dramatic beauty icon'. Lisa talks about how we will never know what she truly looked like as all we have to rely on are portraits, which aren't very reliable as her portraits were under such scrutiny. This is because she was so preoccupied with being the most beautiful lady in court. To ensure she upheld this status, a statement was released 'many painters have done portraits of the queen but none has sufficiently shown her looks or charms. Therefore, her majesty commands all manner of persons to stop doing portraits of her until a clever painter has finished one that all the other painters can copy. Her majesty, in the meantime, forbids the showing of any portraits which are ugly until they can be improved.' She then goes onto explain that even though we may not be able to fully trust these portraits, there is evidence of visitors to the Royal court commenting on her appearance. Elizabeth is described as 'comely' eager than 'handsome' and has 'swarthy'skin. Although, the visitor does say that she had fine eyes and a beautiful hand- which is often a focal point in her portraits. 

 Lisa then goes on to talk about the make up that Elizabeth wore, describing her whitened skin and painted on blue veins to give the illusion of translucent skin. 

 Although Elizabeth was considered to be attractive, she wasn't necessarily considered to be beautiful. Her cousin, Lettice Knollys was considered to be the most naturally beautiful woman in the court and is said to have epitomised the ideal Elizabethan beauty. Lettice was naturally very pale with 'flame' coloured hair. It is thought that Lettice was the reason Elizabeth worked so hard on her appearance. She was obviously very jealous of her cousin- Lettice was eventually banished from the court after secretly marrying Elizabeth's 'favourite' Robert Dudley.