Retro Beauty Tips: The Rococo Era and Marie Antoinette, Part I, Cosmetics

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Guiled gold, pastels, crimson red, florid pink cheeks, and heavily powdered hair are associated with Rococo era beauty, linked most often to Marie Antoinette and Madame de Pompadour. This bouquet of beauty and excess contrasted harshly with the political climate that would eventually birth the bloody French Revolution.

On the heels of the 20th anniversary of Sofia Coppola’s 2006 film Marie Antoinette, I wanted to share my findings after delving deeper into the history of the Rococo era beauty routine. Specifically highlighting the beauty trends of the famous French queen, Marie Antoinette. In this article, we'll be exploring cosmetics, fragrance and hair!

Portrait of Marie Antoinette by Martin Mytens, 1767-1768

Makeup:
"I put on my rouge and wash my hands in front of the whole world."
- Marie Antoinette in a letter to her mother
Beauty standards in 18th century France called for a high forehead, heavily powdered pale skin, and rouge was used liberally on the cheeks and lips. The preferred eyebrow shape was a half moon, oftentimes darkened with kohl or soot from oil lamps. Eyebrows and eyelashes were sometimes slicked with pomade to appear glossy.

But interestingly, although this style of cosmetics is widely associated with Marie Antoinette, it was popular long before her.

Madame de Pompadour at Her Toilette by François Boucher, 1752

In 18th century France, noblewomen and men alike donned powdered faces and rouge at court as a status symbol. Professor Melissa Hyde states in The "Makeup" of the Marquise:

"cosmetic adornments were less a matter of gender than of class, lavished almost exclusively on the faces of the nobility - both female and male, but principally those of the courtly nobility. As such, face paint functioned predominantly as a sign of aristocratic identity. Given the extreme, even theatrical way in which maquillage was wielded at the French court, there could be no question of its being intended to appear natural. The aim, rather, was to represent one's aristocratic identity as declaratively as possible through cosmetic artifice." [1]

An example that predates Marie Antoinette is Louis XV’s mistress and eventual political adviser, Madame de Pompadour in the 1740s-50s.

Hyde points out that in the painting Madame de Pompadour at Her Toilette by François Boucher, Pompadour is painting herself with rouge, while Boucher is also painting her, but this time, with oil and gouache. Pompadour is sometimes called the "Godmother of Rococo," and inspired her own shade of pink and hairstyle (the Pompadour, of course).

Toilet set in original leather case, ca. 1743–45 via The MET Museum

Marie Antoinette said "I put on my rouge and wash my hands in front of the whole world." [2] At Versailles, getting ready in the morning, a ritual called the toilette, was a balancing act dictated by complicated etiquette rules. Noblewomen in Marie Antoinette's audience would take turns helping her dress and put on cosmetics.

Marie Antoinette encouraged the public to follow her aesthetic example, her lead costumer Rose Bertin and hair dresser Léonard Autié were allowed to be commissioned by other clients. "According to Leonard’s memoirs, she even urged him and Rose Bertin to 'publish the philosophy of [their] art,' as practiced on her royal person, in the pages of the women’s newspaper Le Journal des dames, as a means of educating readers about her costume choices." [3]

Royal purists felt that cosmetics should be limited to nobility, saying they couldn't tell the difference between royalty or a "common" actress because they both wore the same makeup and hairstyles.

Jean-Honoré Fragonard, The Swing, 1767 - An example of the Rococo Beauty Standards & Color Palette

Besides hair powder, rouge is perhaps the cosmetic most heavily associated with this era. Antonia Fraser's biography on Marie Antoinette reported "by 1780 French women were said to use 2 million pots of rouge a year." [4]

Antoinette's perfumer Jean-Louis Fargeon sold cosmetics as well as fragrances in his shop, and his recipe for rouge included carmine, talcum (in varying amounts to dilute the pigment for different hues), and drops of olive oil "so that the rouges would be uniformly smooth and the ingredients would not separate." [5] Different shades of rouge were recommended for different light conditions, such as daylight or candlelight.

Toxic components were often used as ingredients in the commercial preparations of makeup in this era, from lead face makeup to "vermilon" rouge, which included mercury sulphide.

Kirsten Dunst as Marie Antoinette in Sofia Coppola's 2006 film

Marie Antoinette On Screen
Sofia Coppola set her impressionist Marie Antoinette film (2006) amidst sets and costumes that took their color palette from Ladurée macarons (pistachio, citron). While hair took hours, star Kirsten Dunst shared "Makeup, thankfully, was very fast because it was just rosy cheeks and pale skin. I didn't even wear mascara." [6] For the film, runway makeup artist Stéphane Marais was a consultant for creating Dunst's look, and Hue Lan Van Duc brought it to life on-set.

Kirsten Dunst as Marie Antoinette on the set of her Vogue September 2006 Cover Photoshoot. Using DiorBlush in Precious Pink, RougeDior Lipstick in Pink Legend from Dior cosmetics. Makeup artist is Stéphane Marais

Various Rococo inspired makeup looks I've done over the years!

Get the Look:
Cosmetic recipes from this era are widely available online, and it's interesting to note that certain ingredients, like carmine, are still used today. You can find recipes that have been modified to be non-toxic, though be sure to research every ingredient one by one, and be mindful of the shelf life/stability of what you will be making, before commiting to follow any recipes or use any DIY cosmetics. I want to try this liquid rouge recipe by Needleworking History!

If you don’t want to go the DIY route, here are some of my favorite products that give a modern Rococo beauty feel, without the mercury sulphide!

Skin: Pond's Cold Cream (Madame Isis reports that our modern day cold creams are "chemically […] quite close to the pomatums people used in the 17th and 18th century." [7])
Saturated pink cheeks: NARS Powder Blush in Exhibit A, Glossier Cloud Paint in Puff
Powdery matte, red lips: MAC Lipstick in Ruby Woo, NARS Matte Lip Pencil in Cruella, Flower Knows Strawberry Rococo Lip Cream *, Flower Knows Strawberry Cupid Collection Cake Lip Cream *