Georgian Makeup Tutorial | History Inspired | Feat. Amber Butchart and Rebecca Butterworth

[Music] hi I'm fashion historian amber art and welcome to Kenwood which is cared for by English Heritage I'm standing inside an incredible Georgian house in North London which was once home to William Murray first Earl of Mansfield and his aristocratic companions in the 1700s today we're gonna be looking at the late 18th century and we're gonna show you how to recreate an authentic Georgian look we'll be exploring not only what the cosmetics can reveal about England during this period but also why bigger was better for the hairstyles of the Georgians plus we got an extra special treat for you we're going to be recreating to Georgian licks and talking about how both women and men used makeup to make an impression in Georgian society I am so excited to see this hi Rebecca hello amber welcome to the Georgian era thank you this is actually a model hi Ashley take a great look at her because she's going to be unrecognizable very soon I cannot wait so today we're focusing on the Georgian era this is a period of huge political and social upheaval huge change now technically at last from 1714 to 1837 but we're going to be focusing on just two decades the 1770s and 1780s when George the 3rd was on the throne so Rebecca what are the key elements from the look from this era well the look changed a little bit throughout the centuries but we're gonna focus on doing pale porcelain skin dark black eyebrows and flushed rosy cheeks it's gonna be very elegant very beautiful fantastic I can't wait let's get started let's do it so step number one is just like today skin prep and I've done loads of research on skin care Georgian ladies used creams they used waters they use all sorts of lotions I found a great recipe that involves the juice of strawberries Wow onto skin apparent you would put it on at night leave it on your skin overnight and then you wash it off with water with chervil in it which is a form of parsley what this does apparently is to get rid of freckles and also to clear a tanned skin it's interesting you say that this was to get rid of freckles this is a period where we see the onset of the Industrial Revolution which you know really brings in huge changes throughout society but the period we're in at the moment having tan skin or having freckles is really associated with outdoor agricultural work it essentially is a sign that you don't have much money and so this is why people are trying to avoid it so much and the look that we're doing today is for an aristocratic lady so she wouldn't have had freckles she wouldn't have had a tan so we're going to get rid of those so we're gonna get rid of those freckles with our chervil water and strawberry face cream fantastic now the process of sort of getting dressed and getting ready the whole toilette was quite elaborate for women at this time and could be quite performative in some ways as well there are some accounts of women getting ready while having breakfast or even while entertaining other women you could use it as a sort of socializing time for chatting and catching up on gossip and things like that as well so our next step is to start creating the look and we've already said that we are going to be creating a look for aristocratic ladies and this one is for an affluent lady who's going out socializing to achieve this pay or post and look I'm using authentic ich George and recipe for a white face face now I say authentic ich because there are some ingredients that I can't get hold of today like ceruse which is white LED so this is still being used at this time in the Georgian era the cerise which is very poisonous corrosive substance yep but women like kitty Fisher and the Wargrave sisters still insisted on wearing this white lead white makeup so you're not using that today now just to clarify it definitely not using that today this is a combination of sweet almond oil titanium dioxide pigment which isn't used in makeup today and also a little bit of these wax [Music] and how are you going to create the dark brows that we so associate with this error well interestingly enough I'm going to be using a clove to play the eyebrows yeah I smell oh wow they smell amazing you need to burn the end of a clove it smells like Christmas I know and then you can draw them on and they make really quite surprisingly effective eyebrow pencils how to fill - I know but there were other rumors around at that time that people were using things like Mouse fur to create those thick lush eyebrows well a lot of the sources that talk about Mouse fur being used for eyebrows are satirical sources so people like Jonathan Swift wrote about it there are a few prints as well as terrible prints that talk about Mouse for eyebrows which is why we're not really sure if it was actually used or if it's just something that people joked about we're beginning to enter a real golden age of satire at this time people start to flourish in the new print culture like gillray the Crookshanks especially as we move into the 19th century as well around this period there a couple called Matthew and Mary Dali who created amazing satirical prints a lot of them really focused on hair and how elaborate Georgian hair could become so fashion was a real target for satirist s' at this time the eyebrows are looking fantastic I know isn't it a great color it's really good it's perfect now it's time to add some color to this face and I'm going to use a modern safe alternative to a product called vermilion which is actually red mercury again it's another really toxic ingredient that women were constantly using on their cheeks to get this bright rosy flush I love this it looks so incredible looks so authentic this is a look that we're really used to seeing on French portraits especially portraits of Marie Antoinette for example from this time and it was a look for that reason many women in England really wanted to emulate and we see this with fashions him throughout this area as well there were some differences but English and French fashions and it also reflected the differences in the sort of structure of power in each of the countries in France you have this very Court centric power culture where Versailles is the absolute center in its this could look kind of spectacular theater of power and wealth in England it's a bit more sort of geographically diverse and you have the managing of the country estate being a really important facet of aristocratic life so things like walking like taking the air being a bit more active for a lot more important this is something we see especially in menswear where there's a bit more of a focus on wool rather than French silks so this is certainly a really fashionable look but it's also something that's slightly seen as improper sometimes as well as sort of very very French Georgina the Duchess of Devonshire her mother wrote to her in a probiem at one point and said how glad I should be if you could tell me you had quite done with Rouge I love that quote and there was a really lovely portrait that I've seen where the ladies and fortunately have coloured their earlobes in with a tiny bit Rouge for our lip color I'm using exactly the same product but this time it's mixed with beeswax to make it more like a lipstick texture [Music] let's finish this makeup off with the ultimate Georgian accessory which is the face patch now we're cheating slightly because face patches were actually more in fashion a little bit earlier than the time that we're focusing on I couldn't resist it no this sounds fantastic what were they made of these patches so they could be made from silk you could make them from velvet or sometimes you could make them from fine Spanish leather they came in a range of different shapes now these patches served a number of purposes didn't they they firstly serve to highlight the whiteness of the skin next to the you know dark patch itself and this isn't even an old idea if we think of someone like Marilyn Monroe for example and her beauty spots this is still something that we associate with Beauty to this day really but also they can hide a multitude of sins pop marks scars moles any kind of blemish that you didn't want to have on your face you could hide with a patch just absolutely so handy and there are also a number of secret languages of patches that we can read about in different accounts from this time as well people basically said that the wherever you wore it on your face meant something different so I've got one here what does that mean so if you had a patch near your mouth the accounts that I've seen suggests that it meant sort of coquettishness or kissing something quite cheeky basically and I'm gonna put one here ah what does that mean so near the eye could mean passion or could even mean killing so quite a dangerous number dangerous lady but they could also have political meanings as well there was a report in The Spectator in 1711 that said women of a wig persuasion would wear patches on the right hand side where his Tories would wear them on the left and that's everything that we're going to do on the face but a Georgian lady is nothing without her hair and that is a big affair it's going to take me some time okay well while you do that I'm going to go and find out more about Kenwood [Music] we're in this majestic music ream and but the whole of Kenwood is so beautiful can you tell me a bit about the history yes the first house is built here in the early 17th century but the house we see today largely reflects the taste of William Murray who purchased camera for 4,000 pounds in 1754 four thousand pounds that sounds like a bargain to me it was a yeah it's a reasonable amount but you had to make a lot of changes to the property so he employed the Scottish neoclassical architect Robert Adam and his brother James to completely transform Kenwood and so that turned it into the sort of neoclassical mention that we know it has today it did and in the 1790s wings were added to be building so the room that we stand in now is actually one in one of those wings and so what was happening outside these walls in the late 18th century there's some people it was a period of great prosperity with the boom in manufacturing but with this increase in industry and also with the rise in population cities could become very overcrowded and unsanitary but there were also places a great spectacle because it was great period for the fierce earth The Pleasure Gardens and also for shopping William Murray he was a judge and he made quite an important ruling when he was Lord Chief Justice can you tell me about that he was the most powerful judge in England as Lord Chief Justice and in 1772 he had a particularly significant case and that was the case of James Somerset Somerset was a former slave who had been imprisoned by his wants master and he was about to be sent to Jamaica in order to be sold but Murray ruled that no slaver could possibly send a slave out of England and in his summing up he described slavery as odious so that was just very much one small step in a much longer journey towards the abolition of slavery and William Murray lived here with two nieces as well didn't he one of which Dido Elizabeth Belle and really keen to hear more about Dido came to live here at Kenwood in about 1766 and she was the illegitimate daughter of John Lindsay and a Astrakhan woman Mariah Bell who was possibly a slave although we don't have the evidence to necessarily prove that but Lindsay who was Lord Mansfield's nephew had been stationed in the Caribbean al-maseeh was an officer of the Royal Navy now Dido is both illegitimate and also mixed-race would have faced many challenges in 18th century English society but we do know that she was brought up here at Kenwood as a lady she was a companion to her cousin she was taught to read write and play music and she also supervised the dairy which was a popular pastime for ladies in that period now this room is filled with many examples of other other women from this period tell me about the exquisite works of art that we're seeing here these paintings are part of an outstanding collection that was formed by Edward Cecil Guinness first of either and then was given to the nation along with the house after his death in 1927 and this woman here in particular is very familiar could you tell me a bit more about this painting yes so this is Caroline Alesha Fleming who in 1776 married John Briscoe and that's actually the same date we believe as when she posed this portrait by Thomas Gainsborough her husband was later made a baronet so we know her today as lady Brisco and I love the fact that so many of the pictures here the paintings they're quite romantic they're quite whimsical there's an element of sort of costume and fancy dress to many of them can you tell me about what we're seeing so there was very much a trend to depict 18th century ladies as characters from history literature and myths and that was the cause history paintings were seen as the most important type of paintings in this period much more important than portraiture so the artists were very much trying to elevate the status of portraiture and their own status as artists but I can imagine it would have been very flattering as an 18th century lady to be portrayed as a Greek goddess or a Shakespearean heroine as well and speak of history we've got someone dressed as Cleopatra here right yes so this is Kitty Fisher be famous 18th century Quarter bum but Joshua Reynolds the Pater has chosen to show her as Cleopatra and it's very much an allusion to Kitty's own seductive charms and so we're seeing a real flourishing of the Arts in this period aren't we absolutely both in terms of portraiture and also theater and of course fashion hmm I love the fashions from this era for both women and men I'm particularly keen on cultivating a sort of menswear silhouette from this area it's definitely one of my favorites now speaking of fashions you got something to show me happening I do so we've got a large collection that was Georgia and shoe buckles and would you like to kind of take a closer look I would love to we're really lucky to have an amazing quite unusual collection of shoe buckles on display here at Kenwood are they're so fantastic how many do you have in the collection well more than a thousand although they're not all on display but I think they're really interesting because she because were worn by those men and women and because they could be removed from the shoe they were very much treated like a piece of jewelry like a brooch for instance I mean they do look like jewelry don't they the size of them and everything they're exquisite yet so let's take a closer look so they were often made out of precious metals so for instance this is made after the silver or they could also be encrusted with paste so cut glass which was backed with metallic foil getting this wonderful glittering effect so sparkly can just imagine that in the sunlight or in candlelight would just be so shiny yeah and you would think that these were just warned parties and that kinda thing but they were actually part of the everyday werewolf for certain sections of society anyway we also have a collection of jewelry here at Kenward so as a things from necklaces and earrings Treatise fans and buttons and because the breeches buckles for breaches fantastic they've got a whole array of Georgian accessories right here absolutely well thank you so much I'm gonna go and see how is getting on with our gorgeous children's house the transformation going is going excellently Ashley is upstairs having the finishing touches put on her hair so I thought I'd introduce you to Stuart our Jordan gentleman just do it you look fantastic thank you tell me what you've done here so the time men and women's makeup was actually quite similar so I've used very similar products we've still got the white base we've also still got the rosy cheeks though less intense and there were also men at that time who wanted to push the boundaries of fashion so to represent that I've gone for a more intense more shaped lip just looks brilliant cosmetics for men had been popular since much earlier and was kind of starting to die out a little bit by this point but there were these groups of men who were really invested in having a very fashionable life they were known as the macaronis the term Macaroni started to be used for any man and any sort of level of society who showed an interest in fashion the aristocratic macaronis were often men who had taken the ground tour they were very influenced by the fashions of places like France and Italy will bright colors towering wigs just looked really flamboyant and fantastic let's talk about wigs Georgian men would wear wigs almost every day and because of that it meant that most men would shave their heads quite close as Stewart has today to make wearing wigs a lot easier so let's get this gentleman on what would weeks like this have been made from wigs could be made from a variety of different things you could make them from horsehair some of them will be made from human hair the most expensive hair was white hair and that's one of the reasons why wigs ended up being powdered to imitate that expensive white hair now wigs could be really costly and here at Kenwood the accounts show us that they spent the equivalent the modern equivalent of 5,000 pounds on wigs over a period of about eight years that's a lot of money it is a lot of money but it just shows how important a wig was to the final Georgian look Stuart's makeup is finished we just need to get him dressed and make sure that Ashley is looking amazing I cannot wait to see this [Music] [Music] well I think they look amazing amber what do you reckon just exquisite you look totally perfect in this neoclassical Robert Adam library this hair how did you create it it is a bit of a Georgian masterpiece isn't it it is in Georgian times women would wear wigs or they could use their own hair and brush it back into hair pieces or padding or switches to create this height and this volume and then they would also use two other key products one of them is called pomatum which is kind of like a hair cream it's made out of animal fats and essential oils which gets combed through the hair and then you need powder and lots of it to get this incredible effect we've used corn starch powder but they also used orris root and wheat starch powder at that time now the powder that you've used has given this quintessential gray look that we associate with this era but other colors were used as well Webley yep we've got portraits where women are wearing pink powder in their hair there's some light blues there's some peor greens all the colors your hair is very on-trend by the Georgian era and it's also about the accessorizing as well we've got this very fashionable ostrich feather that hair could be a real area for artistic and political expression there are even images of French women wearing ships in their hair to commemorate naval victories against the British just amazing how do you guys feel yeah it feels amazing and it makes you feel quite elegant you look quite elegant thank you you look very elegant as well how do you feel thank you well it took me twice as long as normal to get ready there's a lot of buttons to be done out it's definitely worth it I have absolutely loved this tutorial from big wigs to poisonous pastes once again we've seen how fashion and makeup can tell us the story of England's past don't forget you can visit this beautiful house and its exquisite art collection and experience Georgian Britain for yourself just click the link on the screen to find out more do you think you would see the Georgian local with someone that you know as ever we'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments below until next time I'm amber art thanks for joining me here at Kenwood [Music]

Channel: English Heritage

Views: 774,599

Rating: 4.9464483 out of 5

Keywords: English Heritage, history, historical, how to makeup, makeup before and after, kenwood house, Georgian, beauty, makeup artist, how to, before and after, makeup videos, english history, transformation, cosmetics, fashion, british, skincare, skin, look, makeup ideas, makeup, pale, ideal, lips, face, hair, tutorial, amber butchart, rebecca butterworth, history inspired, macaroni, dandy, beauty spot, elegant, 18th century, aristocratic, dido belle, trends, tips, georgian era, marie antoinette makeup

Id: p5wYPgaMabY

Length: 23min 2sec (1382 seconds)

Published: Mon Jul 15 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/DollFace567]

She really tried to sugarcoat the dido bit.

I also hope thAt a lot of the talking scenes were edited, if not they were kind of rude to the host.

[u/littlewhiteflowers]

I love this so much. What a thorough overview. I especially liked the placement of the beauty mark and the different meanings they convey!

[u/gothpig666]

Bless this

[u/SeptaOhHella]

Thank you, I really enjoyed this!

[u/SmartLady]

That was a fun little rabbit hole to go down thanks.

[u/ForlornReverie26]

Haha this was nice, I've run out of things to watch these days. Don't know what to watch until the next harlots lol.

[u/rainsoaked88]

Mrs. Crocombe’s cooking videos are the best from that channel!

[u/LordOfCastamerde]

Thanks for the post! Neat video =)