by Molly Cathryn Glover

Created on: October 23, 2008

Cleopatra isn't considered one of the most beautiful women in history without a reason; ancient Egyptians had elaborate beauty rituals to smooth and soften their skin, paint and polish their features, and perfume their heads and bodies. Using natural ingredients mixed with essential oils, ancient Egyptians had strict opinions regarding personal hygiene and beauty. If we take their ancient secrets and apply them to our ideas of beauty today, we find great tips to help us always be our most beautiful.

In the desert, one is constantly assaulted by hot, arid, sandy winds that dry out the skin and hair quite easily. As such, oils and moisturizing creams played a large role in any Egyptian's personal care regimen. This is the first lesson we learn from the ancients: moisturize your skin regularly. Many of us do not properly moisturize our skin; it's quite common for women to moisturize their faces but forget about the rest of their skin. Others think that because they suffer from oily or acne-prone skin they shouldn't be using a truly hydrating moisturizer, sticking to medicated lotions that actually dry the skin out more. Moisturizing can actually slow and/or stop the existence of acne by giving the skin the hydration it so desperately needs. When your skin is not properly moisturized, it produces more oil to hydrate itself, which often leads to breakouts and blackheads. One need only wash one's face and massage a hydrating moisturizer into the skin once per day to keep skin clean and hydrated. (If you have dry skin, it is okay to put on a second application of moisturizer at the opposite end of the day.)

Ancient Engyptian cosmetics were mixed mainly for eye makeup. Both men and women wore heavy makeup. Favored colors for eye makeup were green and black, which were created by mixing powdered elements into gum or water to make a kind of paint. The black was made with a sulfide of lead called galena, while the green came from malachite, a copper oxide. Black eyepaint was applied liberally around the eyes to make them stand out and appear brighter. Rounded sticks or small wand-like bits of glass were used to apply the makeup. Today, we can take a lesson from this color palette and method of application: most ancient Egyptians had brown eyes, and green is a color that really enhances the brown color of the eye when applied as makeup around it. They would apply the green color from the eyebrow to the nose, dramatically enhancing both the shape of the eyes and the shape

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