5 Things I Bet You Didn’t Know About Lipstick

You may love it, but what do you really know about lipstick? Do you know it’s the most purchased cosmetic product? Or that a man could divorce his wife for wearing lipstick?

Here’s a list of weird, interesting, and funny, but true facts you should know about lipstick:

1.

Today we have a wide range of long-lasting, water and kiss-proof lippies that we gladly rock every other day. We can wear our lipsticks confidently, knowing that we won’t leave stains when we eat or drink. We owe this amazing invention to a chemist named Hazel Bishop, who developed a formula for long-lasting lipstick while working in a dermatologist’s lab after WWII.

2.

In ancient greece, high class citizens didn’t wear lipstick as it was used to identify prostitutes. The law actually demanded that prostitutes could not go out without wearing lipstick so men wouldn’t be trickedinto thinking they were high-class women.

3.

Of all the things to know about lipstick, the ingredients are probably the most important. Aside from toxic ingredients like white lead, fucus, and vermillion which were contained in earlier versions of lipstick, animal by-products often had a lot to do with productio as well. Animal fat, sheep sweat, and ox marrow were also often used to make lip rouge. Today, some brands still use fish scales to boost shine.

4.

In 1880, Guerlain introduced the first commercially successful lipstick, a pomade of grapefruit mixed with butter and wax.The Pomade was called the Guerlain Roselip, and was a lightly rose tinted lip balm housed in a tiny porcelain pot. It was available in two shades, a pink tint (#449), and a coral red tint (#450). This product was sold up until around 1910.

5.

Cleopatra made her lipstick from the red colour extracted from crushed carmine beetles and ants. 70,000 beetles needed to be crushed to make one pound of this carmine dye.