Cleopatra is historically known as one of the most beautiful women who ever lived. She was famous for her glowing skin, thick shiny hair and of course, her fabulous eye makeup. She was a powerful and radiant woman and made sure to look the part every day. Even today, “the Cleopatra” eyeliner look of thick black lines extending out in a “cat eye” style is popular all over the world.

Her beauty secrets were mostly comprised of natural products you can find at home, such as milk, honey, apple cider vinegar, and celery. Lucky for us, the Egyptian system of historical documentation left us a lot of information about her elaborate beauty rituals.

The eye makeup fashion back then seemed to have a dual purpose. For fashion, the thick eyeliner and perfectly made up face symbolized a beautiful woman who took great care of herself. For function, the thick liner may have protected the eyes from infection and also the hot sun. In those days, makeup was made from crushed stones like malachite and lapis lazuli, but also contained lead!

Unfortunately, lead is very toxic and there have been several historical periods where great sickness and death came from fashion trends that involved having lead in cosmetic products. Luckily, today we are able to make cosmetics that are free from harmful chemicals that may negatively impact our health and well-being.

It has always been one of our core values at Amaterasu to create professional quality, long lasting beauty products without toxic ingredients. We believe that beauty starts from the inside out, and this means choosing makeup that is good for our health. We can all get in touch with our inner Cleopatra and take that extra time to always look and feel our best. We believe that creative expression of beauty is an important element of Self Love, so don’t be afraid to show up as your radiant, gorgeous self every day!

xo

Elise Jene