Egyptian makeup style or story about one & only KOHL :D

In today's world, a woman has literally hundreds of cosmetics to choose from, with a wide variety od colors and uses. But did you ever wonder how cosmetics got started and when?

The earliest historical record of makeup comes from the 1st dynasty od Egypt. Makeup was the single most important part of Egyptian culture.

They used many different kind of makeup: eye liner, lipstic, henna but eye makeup is one of the most noticeable features of this ancient kingdom's style. It had a long history in Ancient Egypt and both men and women were using it as early as 4000 BC. It was known that an eye without make up was an unprotected eye (an "evil eye"). 

Eye makeup was consisted of just eye liner and some powder that they brushed under their eyes. The favorite eye liner colors were black (kohl) and green. They decorated their eyes by applying dark green colour to the under lid and blackening the lashes and upper lid with kohl. It is believed that the Jews adopted the use of makeup from the Egyptians, since references to the painting of faces appear in the New Testament section of the Bible.

All makeup was made of natural materials. The black eye liner - kohl was obtained from galena - blue gray natural mineral, found and mined in the eastern dessert at Gebel el Zeit. The green eye liner was made from malachite - carbonat mineral with green pigment, which was imported from copper mines of the Sinai Desert. 


There were planty of reasons for using make up in Ancient Egypt: kohl shieled eye against the sun and also acted as a detterent to flies, galena - which made the kohl - had disinfectant qualities, and of course purely cosmetics reasons - make up really emphasized the eyes and made them look more beautiful. 


The Egyptian style of applying eye makeup has become synonymous with the Ancient Egyptians and today we are using kohl as a modern  version of ancient cosmetics ingrediance :) 

Perfume - The story about Egypt

Egypt Perfume - The fragrance of the gods

When you are in Egypt there are so many sites that you will want to visit, as Egypt is a top travel destination in Africa. You will be delighted with pyramids, temples, tombs, museums, churches and mosques, Nile River and Red Sea. This is what most of the people who visit Egypt, talk about. But we will tell you a little secret: before you leave Egypt, you must enter an Egyptian perfumery, because Egypt’s sensuous history still shows through its perfume :)

As early as 2700 B.C. the Egyptians had discovered not only the joy of fragrance but the art of the perfumer. They developed to squeeze the basic oils from flowers with pressure. Perfumes were use, of course, by women, but also by priests. The priests offered scented resin to the Sun - god, at dawn, at noon and at dusk, as the sun was setting, a melange of six perfumes called kuphi. Indeed, one of the ancient words for perfume was "fragrance of the gods," and when the famous King Tufs tomb was opened in 1922 - after more than 3,000 years - the archeologists are said to have caught one elusive whiff of kuphi.

Since then there have been innumerable changes in Egypt. But to a large extent Egypt, more than any other country, still perfumes the world. Did you know that fully 80 percent of the world's natural jasmine products, for example, come from Egypt, where specialists in this ancient art extract the aromatic oils from a profusion of flowers, leaves, roots and herbs and export them to perfumers in Paris, London, New York and even Moscow? Cause I didn't :D

In Dahab, there's a few perfume shops and owners are very nice ppl. The owner will ask you to sit down and he'll begin explaining the list of aromas. He can also explain you Egyptian process which dates back to pharonic times of extracting the natural oils from flowers to create perfumes. The oil is pure essence from the plants, no additives or alcohol. The Lotus flower, which is a symbol of Egypt, can only be found here and is government controlled. It can only be obtained in Egypt and the pricing is regulated.

Perfume store, Dahab

It can take hundreds of flowers to create a few drops of essential oil, which explains their high cost. Do not balk at the prices, because Egyptian perfume oils are not exported and therefore rare to own.

Beautifully crafted glass perfume bottles, Perfume store, Dahab

And at the end, here are some examples of single oils, aromatherapy oils and blends offered in a typical Egyptian perfume factory:

Lotus Flower - national flower of Upper Egypt, it is a deliciously comforting scent. In Ancient Egypt three drops were used around the face, one behind each ear and the third on the forehead. The first drop means love, the second happiness, and the third immortality.

Papyrus - better for men as it is a light cologne

Jasmine - a commonly used scent that is feminine and seductive

Mint - aromatherapy oil great for clearing colds

Black Cumin - aromatherapy oil that aids digestion

Aloe Vera - aromatherapy oil for smooth and young-looking complexion

Lettuce - aromatherapy oil useful for weight loss

Ramses II - blend for men that is heavy and seductive, great for evenings

Secret of the Desert - blend for women that is sweet and great for evenings. Egyptians swear by it!:D

My choise was jasmine and I'm sure many of visitors who return home with Egyptian perfumes will find that they smell more exotic than everyone else around who buys mass-produced scents off the shelves. And the oils certainly last longer;)