Marie Antoinette’s Makeup Box: Eighteenth-Century Botanical Beauty
by Natalie Zaman 
What beauty product do you swear by? I have a favorite purple shampoo that keeps my real white and faux-blonde pixie shiny and bright, a cry-proof mascara (tested multiple times), and a cream that erases (or covers!) creases. This is nothing new. Beauty-enhancing products have been around for thousands of years, with time, trial and error, and technology making improvements in efficacy, toxicity (important, this), and, it has to be said, odor (an American Colonial moisturizing face mask was simply strips of bacon . . . ).
Every era has its signature look and fashion icon. None defines the eighteenth century quite like Marie Antoinette. After seeing Sophia Coppola’s glossy, ’80s music–laced Marie Antionette, based on Antonia Fraser’s Marie Antionette: The Journey, I became somewhat obsessed with Marie herself, but perhaps more so with high, powdered hair, floral essences, curved court heels, and rouge—a beauty (?) item that was an obsession with all classes. Ranging in hues from pale pink to almost black (different colors for different occasions and times of day as well as skin tones), the wearing of rouge was a status symbol rather than a means of color and contour. How one wore rouge was very exact: two round circles applied to the cheeks. Non-aristocratic women and men would rouge their cheeks with wine in an attempt to be like “their betters.” What people won’t do to be fashionable!
Wanting to know more, I started devouring biographies: Fraser’s book, quite different from the Coppola film, and Georgiana: Duchess of Devonshire by Amanda Foreman. Georgiana Cavendish was an icon in her own right and a lifelong friend to Marie Antoinette; their lives and tastes paralleled each other in many ways. While the lives of these women and the political intrigues that swirled around them made for fascinating reading, it was the day-to-day details of their lives that drew me in, and just like many of us today, they used products to enhance their charms.
Thanks to primary sources such as account books, letters, personal journals, and newspaper advertisements and editorials, we know much about eighteenth-century beauty and grooming routines: the products that were used, the people who made them, and some intriguing and still useful formulas.
Keeping It Clean
Bathing habits had certainly improved by the eighteenth century, although folks still didn’t bathe as regularly as we do today. Marie Antoinette was, technically, a foreigner in the French Court; she was Austrian, and, as noted in many sources, bathed more often than most—which didn’t add to her popularity. Her bath time was quite the ritual: she wore a special sheer bathing gown (she was never alone), and in addition to using scented soaps, she sat in the tub on a cushion filled with pine nuts, sweet almonds, and linseed—the oils of which seeped into the water to soften and scent her skin. For the record, Versailles was not a pleasant-smelling place. Palaces were still vacated periodically to be cleansed of pet as well as human waste.
Whatever her French counterparts thought of her habits, keeping clean in the eighteenth century meant keeping healthy. Bathing kept the spread of disease in check to a degree, but it was also necessary to cleanse the skin of the dangerous cosmetics used to achieve the still-ideal luminous white complexion. Face powders and creams often contained toxic ingredients such as arsenic. A part of Marie Antoinette’s regimen included a cleanser called Eau Cosmetique de Pigeon, which contained, as the name suggests, pigeons—seventeen of them, stewed and fermented. Where’s that soap?
In addition to flower and herbal waters (more on these later), wash balls (the predecessor of our modern day bath bomb) were available, but more humble ingredients were used for bathing the face and body: barley, rice, and bran. From a dietary standpoint, these grains have multiple beneficial qualities as antioxidants and antibacterial and anti-inflammatory agents. Ingested, they lower cholesterol and blood sugar.
Heavily influenced by the writings of Rousseau, Marie Antoinette had an appreciation for the simple life. A skincare regimen utilizing wholesome ingredients must have appealed to her personally. Once she scored the Petit Trianon as her private escape, she invited close friends to share in farm-to-table meals as well as beauty treatments such as ass-milk baths as a means of refreshment and relaxation.
To wash her face, Marie Antoinette used an exfoliating sachet made from herbs and bran wrapped in muslin—much more appetizing then her pigeon-infused antiaging product. The sachet is simple to make, and the pouch can be used in the shower or bath and on the face and body.
Because many of the recipes that follow call for the use of herbs, be sure to check with your physician before applying anything to your skin!
Exfoliating Sachets
Muslin cut into four 12-inch squares
2 cups of bran, barley, or rice
½ cup of your choice of herb or combination of herbs (Marie Antoinette is thought to have used thyme and marjoram in her bath sachets.)
Twine or cotton string
Blend the ingredients thoroughly. Place ¼ cup of the mixture on each square of fabric. Gather the square into a small pouch and secure it with twine. Toss the sachet into the bath or under warm water to soften, then rub it over the skin to cleanse and exfoliate.
Powder and Pomade
The incredibly fashionable Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, is credited with creating the “hair tower.” Increasing a lady’s height by about three feet, the hair tower was constructed by combing and securing the hair over a fabric roll called a pouf (sometimes adding false hair was necessary) and then powdered. Depending on the occasion, decorations were added; flowers, spangles, scenery (idyllic farm scenes were popular) and themes such as life events like the birth of a child, or the launch of a ship or balloon.
The hair towers were impractical and therefore short lived. (Women who braved this fashion found it hard to ride in coaches, as their hair made it impossible for them to sit on the seats.) Powder, however, had more staying power.
Until I discovered dry shampoo, I wondered why people would powder their hair, but even 200 years ago, its use started from a practical need. Hair powder acted as a degreaser and refreshed locks that probably weren’t washed that often. Powder was also used to hide bald spots and gray hair. Pomade (also called pomatum) was made with a combination of animal fats, spices, and floral essences and massaged into the hair to condition and style it. Once every hair was in place, powder was blown on; the pomatum also acted as a fixative. As can be imagined, it was a messy process. Powdering rooms were designated for the purpose, and those powdering and being powdered wore robes and masks. A snootful of hair powder couldn’t be pleasant, nor was it proper to have one’s hair powder dusting one’s fine clothes.
Powders were made from a combination of starch, orris root (which adds a bit of a floral scent), and ground-up mutton or cuttlefish bones. Different minerals and metals were added to the powder to color it. Blue, popular with Whig politician Charles James Fox, was made by adding crushed lapis lazuli to the powder, making it very expensive. Pink and red shades were achieved with the addition of iron oxide. Powder makes for a wonderful temporary fix if you’d like to try something a bit daring. Here is a basic recipe for hair powder and some suggestions for color:
Hair Powder, Dry Version
2 cups starch (Arrowroot works equally well.)
¼ cup orris root (for scent)
¼ cup powdered calcium (standing in for the bones!)
Colored powder: ultramarine for blue, iron oxide for red, yellow ochre powder for yellow (available in craft shops or online)
Simply mix the ingredients together, adding the colors a bit at a time until the desired hue is achieved. This is closest to eighteenth-century recipes.
Hair Powder, Wet Version
2 cups starch (Arrowroot works equally well.)
3–5 drops essential oil of choice for scent
Food coloring
1 cup water
Metal bowl
Mix all the ingredients in a metal bowl until well blended. Eliminate all clumps of powder; more water can be added if necessary. Add the food coloring until the desired hue is achieved, remembering that you can mix colors to create new ones (e.g., blue and red to make purple or lavender). Let the mixture dry overnight. You can also place the bowl in an oven on low heat to speed up the process. Once it’s dry, break the now-solid mixture out of the bowl and pulse it in a food processor until powdered. Apply the powder to your hair with a shaker—then get ready to party like it’s 1777!
Scents and Sensibility
By the eighteenth century, perfumery was a booming industry—perhaps not the branded one we know today, but one of strong single essences and signature scents. Marie Antoinette had scents made for those close to her; the one she had created for her lover, Count Axel von Fersen, was heavy with tuberose—very romantic!
While the creation of eau de toilette and parfum is a complex science, flower waters are relatively easy to make. Marie Antoinette favored orange flower water. These essences were used for personal scents well as for scenting linens and, depending on the ingredients, as astringents, refreshers, moisturizers, and antiseptics. The methods below can be used with just about any flower or herb to create a water essence.
Flower Water
Heat-tempered glass bowl
Lidded pot that will accommodate the bowl with room to spare around the sides
Leaves, buds, and/or flower petals of your choice
Distilled water
Ice cubes
Bottles or jars for storage
Funnel
Optional: Vodka or witch hazel (acts as a preservative)
Place the glass bowl in the pot. Place the leaves, flower petals, or buds around the bowl (not in the bowl); do not pack the plant material. Cover the plant material with distilled water. Put the pot on the stove on low heat.
When the water starts to simmer, put the lid on the pot, upside down so that it is concave on top. Place ice cubes on top of the lid. You will notice that water will condense and collect on the lid of the pot and drip down into the bowl—that is your flower water. Keep an eye on the pot and keep placing ice cubes on the lid until the bowl has the desired amount of water in it. Allow the whole apparatus to cool before pouring the water into storage jars or bottles. You can add a little vodka or witch hazel to the water to help preserve it, or store it in the refrigerator.
A simpler method is to boil the herbs, petals, or buds and steep them like tea. Allow them to cool, then strain off any plant material before pouring the waters into jars for storage and use.
In addition to perfume, eighteenth century women used flower waters such as these for skincare and self-care:
Rose water acts as an astringent, tightening the pores; it is also antibacterial and an anti-inflammatory and can fade scars.
Lavender water is cleansing and relaxing—a spritz on your pillow will help promote sleep.
Rosemary water is an antiseptic and disinfectant for the skin and hair.
Mint water is an anti-inflammatory that can help control acne and soothe insect bites.
Lemon balm water is also an anti-inflammatory and a natural astringent that can be used to heal acne.
Hands-On Beauty
Marie Antoinette was something of a glove addict (she bought about eighteen pairs a month). While most courtiers wore white, she opted for pastels and soft grays, all made especially for her by her perfumer, Jean Louis Fargeon, who also scented them. Fargeon used violets, hyacinths, and jonquils to perfume them, stipulating that the flowers be picked in dry weather, after dawn and before dusk, to avoid dealing with any kind of moisture.
You can employ his methods to scent your gloves or other personal articles (including paper and notebooks!).
Scenting Gloves
Scented flowers of your choice
Large lidded box
Items of your choice to scent
Basically, you’re bathing the items in flowers, or, more accurately, their scent. Layer the bottom of the box with flowers, being careful not to crush them. Do not pack them down—the idea is aeration, rather than volume. Place your items in a single layer over the flowers, and then cover them with flowers before lidding the box.
Fargeon placed his gloves directly onto the flowers. If you are scenting light-colored items, be aware of the potential for color transfer. If you wish, place a piece of tissue paper over the flowers, then set your items on top of it. Place another piece of tissue on top of your items before adding the second layer of flowers.
Fargeon left the gloves in this “bath” for about eight days, during which time they imbibed the scent of the flowers. The process can be repeated to refresh the scent. La reine simply ordered more gloves.
It should be noted that Fargeon’s gloves were multitaskers: ungloved, a lady’s hands were always on display and had to look their best. The inside of Marie Antoinette’s gloves were treated with a mixture of wax, almond oil, and rose essence to soften her skin.
Resources
My evolving understanding of eighteenth-century beauty practices was enhanced by immersing myself in the lives of women and men who used them. The following biographies had a narrative flair in which I could lose myself and provided bibliographies rich with primary source material:
De Feydeau, Elisabeth. The Scented Palace: The Secret History of Marie Antoinette’s Perfumer. London: I. B. Tauris and Company, 2004.
Foreman, Amanda. Georgiana: Duchess of Devonshire. London: Modern Library, 2001.
Fraser, Antonia. Marie Antoinette: The Journey. New York: Random House, 2001.
Weber, Caroline. Queen of Fashion: What Marie Antoinette Wore to the Revolution. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 2006.
Primary sources are also readily available online and provide recipies and formulas for a variety of beauty treatments. Peruse these titles on Google Books:
Buchoz, Pierre Joseph. The Toilet of Flora. London, 1772.
Le Camus, Antoine. Abdecker: or, the Art of Preserving Beauty. London, 1754.
The Toilette of Health, Beauty, and Fashion. Boston: Allen and Tinknor, 1834.