Monday, January 6, 2014

Downton Abbey: the beauty, the skincare, the hair!

Happy happy happy Monday Gorgeous!
It's time to get back to work around here! Mancub is back in school and I am back to the rise and grind of it all.

January is jam packed with beauty blogging, trade shows, media production, travel and more! All of that leads up to my favorite Makeup University series in February, TEEN WEEK!

So let's get to it-let's talk Downton Abbey. I have been hearing about the show for quite some time and after some friends mentioned that they are rabid fans of the show, I watched a bit last season. I was front and center to watch the season 4 opener and lets just say it did not disappoint!


 So how did the women of the Edwardian age take care of their hair, skin and beauty?


Makeup was not worn by the everyday lady and certainly not by the Lady Mary. Only stage actresses and prostitutes wore heavy makeup.

The Edwardian woman prized a very fair and pale complexion. No tanning here since it was considered vulgar. Hence, if these ladies were outside they wore a large hat, gloves and perhaps even added a parasol to shade their complexions.

If the Lady Mary did put on a bit of powder for a special occassion it was most likely rice powder because it gives a slightly pearlescent finish.


The upper echelon ladies most likely bathed daily and used a body powder for deoderant. I love fragrance and the favorite scent of the time was violet. Though the perfumes of the time were quite costly.


For the ladies of Downton Abbey who did get a chance to bathe daily, they most likely used the Yardley brand of soaps which have been around since 1770 and comes in the violet scent.


The Edwardian ladies did not wash their hair but once or twice a month. The term "rat" comes from this age when women would take the excess hair in their hair brushes and ball them up in to a "rat" to add volume to their updo's. Only young girls and prostitutes wore their hair down. The lady who wore her hair up gave the signal that she was ready for courting.

Today when a lady "rats" her hair it's to back comb a section of hair for volume. So it's pretty interesting to learn how in beauty, what goes around, comes around.

Cheers to all my new friends in Downton Abbey. I'm looking forward to what happens next!

http://rezho.edublogs.org/2012/05/27/beauty-during-the-victorianedwardian-era-and-effects-on-society
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