Egyptians Knew How to Mix Ingredients

All these cosmetics that the Egyptians used had to come from somewhere. Well, it’s the old story of “necessity is the mother of invention”.

Because there was so much emphasis on looking good, Egyptian women had to find a way to do it. And one of the things they came up with was something called mesdemet.

Mesdemet was made of copper and lead ore – not the safest thing to be constantly putting on your face,but it did the job. They applied green to their lower eyelids, then black or dark gray to their eyelashes and upper eyelids.

 And keeping with their spiritual beliefs, the dark colors were designed notonly to enhance their appearance, but to ward off evil eyes.

And an evil eye wasn’t the only thing mesdemet warded off. It was a great disinfectant, as well as an insect repellent. And with life on the Nile being fairly filled with annoying insects, the eye makeup performed a dual purpose.

So the combinations of ingredients that made up their cosmetics, were very diverse. In fact, many were used for all kinds of medicinal purposes, too.