Beauty and cosmetics in ancient Egypt: History and Key Facts

Beauty and cosmetics in ancient Egypt included pigments for the eyes, face and body, oils, ointments, aromatic resins, and the tools used to prepare, store and apply them. Toilet equipment included cosmetic palettes, jars, kohl tubes, applicators, mirrors, combs, hair accessories and jewellery. These products were used for body care, makeup, scenting, protection of the skin and eyes, and the ritual preparation of the dead. Their ingredients could be mineral, plant-derived or animal-derived. Analysis of twelve residues from eleven containers in the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, published in 2022, identified inorganic ingredients based on lead, manganese or silicon together with vegetable oils, animal fats, conifer resin and beeswax, combined in different proportions among the samples.

Men, women and deities were represented with painted eyes, wigs, jewellery and other forms of personal adornment. In the daily service of Egyptian temples, divine statues were washed, dressed, adorned and anointed; cosmetics and ointments formed part of the ritual treatment of the cult image. The Ebers Papyrus preserves prescriptions for the eyes that include locally applied preparations; laboratory tests on some lead compounds found in Egyptian eye cosmetics have shown effects on living cells as well as their use as pigments. The myth of Horus, whose eye was injured and restored, also connected eye makeup with healing and protection.

Many surviving cosmetic objects come from necropolises, where mirrors, combs, jewellery, footwear and cosmetic containers were placed with the dead; their abundance among excavated material also reflects the concentration of many early excavations on cemeteries. Tombs could contain objects used by the deceased during life as well as objects made specifically for burial. During mummification, ointments, resins, bitumen and beeswax were applied to the body to perfume it, soften the skin, seal it or reshape it at different stages of treatment. Cosmetics on the skin, styled hair, wigs and extensions are also preserved on some mummies.

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