Rouge (; meaning "red" in French), also called blush or blusher, is a cosmetic for coloring the cheeks in a variety of shades, or the lips red. It is applied as a powder, cream or liquid.

History

The Ancient Egyptians were known for their creation of cosmetics, particularly their use of rouge. Ancient Egyptian

pictographs A pictogram, also called a pictogramme, pictograph, or simply picto, and in computer usage an icon, is a graphic symbol that conveys its meaning through its pictorial resemblance to a physical object. Pictographs are often used in writing and g ...

show men and women wearing lip and cheek rouge. They blended fat with red ochre to create a stain that was red in color. Greek men and women eventually mimicked the look, using crushed mulberries, red beet juice, crushed strawberries, or red amaranth to create a paste. Those who wore makeup were viewed as wealthy and it symbolized status because cosmetics were costly. In China, Rouge was used as early as the

Shang Dynasty The Shang dynasty (), also known as the Yin dynasty (), was a Chinese royal dynasty founded by Tang of Shang (Cheng Tang) that ruled in the Yellow River valley in the second millennium BC, traditionally succeeding the Xia dynasty and ...

. It was made from the extracted juice of leaves from red and blue flowers. Some people added bovine pulp and pig pancreas to make the product denser. Women would wear the heavy rouge on their cheeks and lips. In Chinese culture, red symbolizes good luck and happiness to those who wear the color

In Ancient Rome, men and women would create rouge using (red lead) and

cinnabar Cinnabar (), or cinnabarite (), from the grc, κιννάβαρι (), is the bright scarlet to brick-red form of mercury(II) sulfide (HgS). It is the most common source ore for refining elemental mercury and is the historic source for the bri ...

. The mixture was found to have caused cancer, dementia, and eventually death. In the 16th century in Europe, women and men would use white powder to lighten their faces. Commonly women would add heavy rouge to their cheeks in addition. Studies have strived to research other reasons as to why individuals choose to color their faces in a red tint and what blushing may also signify to others. Blushing, the body's natural reaction to feelings of shame/embarrassment/guilt is often followed with a reddish coloring on one's cheeks on individuals whose bodies react as such. This reaction can be associated with different moral and human tendencies such as pro sociality and commitment to social relationships. Emotions are involuntary and instantaneous reactions, and because of this are pretty reliable. Knowing this researchers have used social emotions to understand how humans signal prosocial intentions. Embarrassment which is often accompanied by the reddening of the face can now be seen as an indicator of one's prosocial behavior.

Contemporary

Modern rouge generally consists of a red-colored talcum-based powder that is applied with a brush to the cheeks to accentuate the bone structure. The coloring is usually either the petals of

safflower Safflower (''Carthamus tinctorius'') is a highly branched, herbaceous, thistle-like annual plant in the family Asteraceae. It is commercially cultivated for vegetable oil extracted from the seeds and was used by the early Spanish colonies along ...

, or a solution of carmine in

ammonium hydroxide Ammonia solution, also known as ammonia water, ammonium hydroxide, ammoniacal liquor, ammonia liquor, aqua ammonia, aqueous ammonia, or (inaccurately) ammonia, is a solution of ammonia in water. It can be denoted by the symbols NH3(aq). Although ...

and rosewater perfumed with

rose oil Rose oil (rose otto, attar of rose, attar of roses, or rose essence) is the essential oil extracted from the petals of various types of rose. ''Rose ottos'' are extracted through steam distillation, while ''rose absolutes'' are obtained through ...

. A cream-based variant of rouge is schnouda, a colorless mixture of

Alloxan Alloxan, sometimes referred to as ''alloxan hydrate'', is the name of the organic compound with the formula OC(N(H)CO)2C(OH)2. It is classified as a derivative of pyrimidine. The anhydrous derivative OC(N(H)CO)2CO is also known, as well as a di ...

with

cold cream Cold cream is an emulsion of water and certain fats, usually including beeswax and various scent agents, designed to smooth skin and remove makeup. Cold cream is an emulsion of water in a larger amount of oil, unlike the oil in water emulsion of ...

, which also colors the skin red. Today, rouge is a term used to primarily identify blush of any color, including: brown, pink, red, and orange. It is not commonly used to identify lipstick, however, some may use the term to refer to the red color of the product. When the fashion trend of matching lipsticks with nail polish took hold and the color range of lipstick increased, people no longer used the term to identify lip color. The shade range for blush generally remained limited, keeping the name rouge. Blush is made in the form of a cream, liquid, powder, or gel.

References

External links

Modes In Makeup, a brief history of cosmetics

The History of Makeup

(also known as ''

A Defence of Cosmetics ''A Defence of Cosmetics'' is an essay by caricaturist and parodist Max Beerbohm and published in the first edition of ''The Yellow Book'' in April 1894. Aged 21 when the essay was published, it established his reputation. It later appeared in hi ...

''), by

Max Beerbohm Sir Henry Maximilian Beerbohm (24 August 1872 – 20 May 1956) was an English essayist, parodist and caricaturist under the signature Max. He first became known in the 1890s as a dandy and a humorist. He was the drama critic for the '' Saturd ...

The Ultimate Guide To Blush
- Types Of Blush {{Cosmetics Cosmetics