The Guide to Makeup's "Maude" Look -- with Authentic Victorian Makeup!

I decided to try the "Maude" makeup look from the Gibson Girl's Guide to Make-Up using only period correct cosmetics. The above photo is a colorized version of what the ideal being aimed for might look like.

It should be noted that the original photo probably achieved its effects from being doctored -- then as now, celebrity photos often underwent touchups before they went out to public view. Darkroom tricks like overexposing some areas, cropping the negatives or even just painting on top of the final photograph were all known tricks of the time. Mimicking this imagined look would probably require a few non-period items: shimmery lipstick, eyeshadow...

The Guide said to use black liquid eyeliner, black mascara, peachy rose blush, matte cinnamon and pearlescent champagne eyeshadow, cranberry shimmer lipstick, and translucent luminous powder.

I decided to try approximating this with kohl-in-liquid eyeliner, soot-in-vaseline mascara, liquid rouge, lard-and-carmine lipstick and enamel powder.

This is one of the more flattering photos... the experiment helped show a lot of the faults of the period products. 

Rouge and Powder.

I used a liquid rouge from Ageless Artifice that I've blogged about before. The powder was a version of the enamel powder -- the one with the carmine added. I thought it might be near to a shimmery translucent powder.

Keeping with period technique, I began with a base of Witch Hazel Cold Cream before applying anything else. The rouge went on smoothly over this. 

I discovered that the enamel powder takes up color a lot more strongly than the cornstarch powder I've tested carmine with before. I needed to add quite a bit more carmine to tint it, and the result.... well.... it's less than natural.

Talk about a "pink lady."

If I cared to dress my whole face and neck and any other exposed skin with the enamel powder, this might work cosmetically, though. It DOES succeed at covering up pimples better than something like plain cornstarch -- it really acts more like a modern foundation than anything else I've used from the era. Also I found that you can brush on more of it over areas you want to be better-covered or where you just want more of the powder (even with the carmine it is still a paler color than my actual skin, and some places like my nose and chin needed less tint to them.) The shimmer from the bismuth, of course, shows wrinkles.

Eye Makeup.

I didn't have any soot or lampblack at hand, so I actually used a bit of my Bare Minerals powder liner mixed with vaseline to make the mascara. The liner, actually, was the same stuff mixed with water -- but alike to a period correct way of applying kohl. I applied the line a bit thicker than I meant to, so it's a little more modern looking than I'd intended. The period-correct line should be very thin and go just along the lashes.

Since eyeshadow as we know it pretty much didn't actually exist (or at least was not marketed) I had to improvise just like the ladies of the era did. I used the liquid rouge and some white enamel powder for eye color. 

It's messy stuff, and I didn't have the mascara on 10 minutes before it was leaving spots around my eyes. The rouge is subtle but works better than I thought it might. The eyeliner and powder are both fine.

Lips. 

The lipstick was fine: it's the lard stuff I've used before. Nothing surprising about it.

The final look is not as natural as what we'd expect from well-applied makeup today, and it is a lot messier. Under bright light it looks very bad but was probably okay under gas-lights for evening wear (probably the only time a lady would have been found wearing so much makeup in the first place.)

In general, when it comes to health and beauty products, they get better with time as new technology is developed. That's why the Gibson Girl's Guide to Make-Up uses the modern tricks to get the beauty the Victorians desired, rather than using only period products -- so you can look as pretty as everyone wished to look!

You can get The Gibson Girl's Guide to Make-Up in eBook format from Lulu.