Naturally Beautiful_ Ancient Korean Makeup _ the Korea Blog

3/10/12 Naturally Beautiful: Ancient Korean Makeup | The Korea Blog

1/4blog.korea.net/?p=6762

The Korea BlogThe Korea BlogBlogging Korea, Sharing ExperiencesBlogging Korea, Sharing Experiences

HOME ABOUT US PHOTOS VIDEOS

Naturally Beautiful: Ancient Korean MakeupPublished By WKB On January 12th 2012. Under All, Worldw ide Korea Bloggers Tags: beauty, Culture, Korea, South

Korea, THE KOREA BLOG

Share

* This post is written by Michelle Correa, one of the Korea Blog’s Worldwide Korea Bloggers.

If you like watching Korean historical dramas, you’ve probably seen scenes where women color

their faces with various concoctions laid out neatly in tiny ceramic containers. In Hwang Jin-Yi, for

example, there’s this scene were the courtesans were being taught and trained in applying

makeup, using charcoal to define their eyebrows.

K-drama Hw ang Jin Yi

This scene (among many others) got me curious about how Korean women from the olden times

prettified themselves. Charcoal? For the eyebrows? Really? But why?

Makeup according to class

A quick Google search got me some preliminary answers. Based from articles I read from the

internet, I learned that makeup of upper class women and common people differed, so you can

Search Keyword

NOTICE

Announcing the selected bloggers

Join the 2nd batch of the worldwide Korea

bloggers!

May, a month of holidays and events you to win!

Blog Address List

Important notification for bloggers

CATEGORY

Notice Archives

All

Culture

Hot Spots

KCSNY Cultural Reporters

Korean Brands & Products

You Are Here : The Korea Blog » All, Worldwide Korea Bloggers » Naturally Beautiful: Ancient Korean Makeup



usually tell which class a woman belonged to based not only on the way they dressed but on the

way they colored their faces as well.

An 18th century Korean beauty. Attributed to Kim Hong-Do

(A.D. 1745- ?) © Seoul National University Museum

Simple and light makeup was especially preferred by the upper class women and was seen by

them as the ideal look of beauty, according to the Record of the Chinese Embassy to the Koryo

Court, Xuanhe fengshi Gaoli tujing (1123) . Applying too much makeup was a no-no, so the only

cosmetic they colored their faces with were powder without rouge. They also liked drawing

eyebrows in the shape of a willow leaf.

During the Chosun period, aristocratic women began using a mixture of flower ashes, indigo plants

and gold powder for the eyebrows. Makeup made of saffron flowers and cinnabar, meanwhile, were

used for the cheeks and lips. A pale skin color was preferred, in accordance to the Confucian ideal

of dignified and simple demeanor. They avoided white powder for the face, since this was

associated with the lowly kisaeng, or women entertainers who were trained in the art of music,

dance and poetry. Instead, aristocratic women of the time used light-peach-colored makeup. To

make their hair shiny, upper class women applied peony flower oil.

The common people of Chosun were not to be left out. They also enhanced their features with

color, but with less expensive cosmetics. To highlight their eyebrows, they used a piece of

charcoal (which explains the charcoal-for-the-eyebrows scene in K-drama Hwang Jin-Yi). For the

lips, they used dried red pepper.

Natural makeup, which didn’t contain preservatives, was made in small batches according to what

women needed per makeup application. Makeup items were kept in small containers with narrow

openings to prevent contamination and spoilage.

Kyuhapch’ongso: Aristocratic women’s guidebook

More can be learned about how Korean women beautified themselves through the book

Kyuhapch’ongso (1809), which contains a comprehensive guide for Chosun period’s upper class

women on how to make cosmetic products and fragrances, perfumes, and oils for the hair. The

book even has descriptions of shapes of eyebrows.

Lifestyle

Special Report

Travel

Worldwide Korea Bloggers

Notice for WKBs

TWITTER GOODIES

POPULAR POSTS

Toast This!

Make it Gungsuh, please – Korean typography

Simply Yujacha

RECENT POSTS

The Science of Screen Golf

Things I’ve Learned From Watching Sageuk

(Historical Kdramas)

Seomin, Korea’s working class

Korea.net

koreanet

Join the conversation

koreanet [Video of the Day]youtu.be/v4pKaQyPkVU Learning K-pop inKazakhstan. Visit your nearest KoreanCultural Center!y esterday · reply · retweet · fav orite

koreanet Which boy group has the oldestaverage age? bit.ly/xTDQYT A graph thatranks boy groups by their average ages wasuploaded on ...2 day s ago · reply · retweet · fav orite

koreanet Smart way to be smart: visit used



Gyuhap chongseo. From

http://en.w ikipedia.org/w iki/Gyuhap_chongseo

Aside from beauty, majority of the book’s contents details other useful advice for women, such as

cooking, cloth-making, gardening, and family life, among other things. It was written by Lady

Bingheogak Yi.

I tried searching for more information on Google (in English) but didn’t find much. A trip to my local

library didn’t yield many results either. I wish I can get a hold of this guidebook to learn more about

women’s lives in ancient Korea, preferably a version that’s been translated to English. =) Sigh. I

suppose that will be one of my projects for the year. So if anyone of my readers can point me to

the right direction and resources, please do. Someone here really wants to try making her own

natural and organic concoctions and potions the Korean way! =)

References:

http://www.asianartnewspaper.com/article/the-cosmetic-culture-of-ancient-korea

http://www.mimifroufrou.com/scentedsalamander/2008/04/beauty_perfume_in_traditional.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gyuhap_chongseo

Comments

Like 54

people

like

this.

TAGS

Stay Updated! Follow Me Add to Facebook YouTube flickr



« Icons for bloggers The Largest in the World »

Recent ArticlesRecent Articles

The Science of Screen GolfThe Science of Screen Golf

Things I’ve Learned From Watching SageukThings I’ve Learned From Watching Sageuk

(Historical Kdramas)(Historical Kdramas)

Seomin, Korea’s working classSeomin, Korea’s working class

Make it Gungsuh, please – Korean typographyMake it Gungsuh, please – Korean typography

About to Read: Novelist Shin Kyung-sook’sAbout to Read: Novelist Shin Kyung-sook’s

“Please Look After Mom”“Please Look After Mom”

Toast This!Toast This!

An Old Tea House in InsadongAn Old Tea House in Insadong

Simply YujachaSimply Yujacha

Cruisin’ on Korea’s expressways and highwaysCruisin’ on Korea’s expressways and highways

The Stupa – Budo (The Stupa – Budo (부도부도))

Popular TagsPopular Tags

ArtsArts BuddhismBuddhism CultureCulture entertainmententertainment

EventsEvents exhibitionexhibition FashionFashion FestivalFestival

fine diningfine dining FoodFood FunFun GlobalGlobal HallyuHallyu HanHan

RiverRiver HikingHiking historyhistory Hot spotsHot spots iPhoneiPhone

JejuJeju K-popK-pop KOCISKOCIS KoreaKoreaKoreanKorean Korean CulturalKorean Cultural

CenterCenter Korean CultureKorean CultureKorean f ilmKorean f ilm Korean foodKorean food KoreanKorean

holidaysholidays Korean languageKorean language KoreanKorean

lifelife Korean StudiesKorean Studies Korean WaveKorean Wave

MuseumMuseum National MuseumNational Museum PerformancesPerformances

RestaurantRestaurant SeoulSeoul ShoppingShopping snacksnack

foodfood South KoreaSouth Korea SportsSports

THE KOREA BLOGTHE KOREA BLOG tourstours

TransportationTransportation TravelTravel

Hot TopicsHot Topics

Join THE KOREA BLOGJoin THE KOREA BLOG

46 comments received46 comments received

Announcing the selected writersAnnouncing the selected writers


THE KOREA BLOG Opening EventTHE KOREA BLOG Opening Event


Important notification for bloggers Important notification for bloggers


"Where is your 'Korea'" event winners!"Where is your 'Korea'" event winners!


SohoBox WordPress Theme By MagPress.comCheap Philadelphia Phill ies Tickets | iPage | Trucks

Copyright © 2012. All Rights Reserved.

Uses w ordpress plugins developed by w w w .w pdevelop.com

loading

Naturally Beautiful_ Ancient Korean Makeup _ the Korea Blog

Documents

Transcript of Naturally Beautiful_ Ancient Korean Makeup _ the Korea Blog