Eye Makeup By Svenja Schmitt

Men and women in the Near East painted their faces with kohl just like the Egyptians did. This was to protect them from the ‘evil eye.’ After the defeat of the Greeks by the Romans, the Romans adapted the Egyptian custom, albeit with different ends. To the Romans, applying eye shadow became a matter of fashion and esthetics. Other cosmetics took on a medicinal application in Rome. Plagues were so rampant throughout Rome, that aromatic gums and resins were burned to repel demons and bad spirits.
Ingredients
Common ingredients in eye shadows consist of talc, mica, sericite, magnesium stearate, colorants, and preservatives. Fillers in eye shadows are primarily talc. The liquid binders are typically a silicone and the dry binders are typically magnesium stearate. In order to make an eye shadow, there has to be a balance between the fillers, dry binders and liquid binders. Once the ideal combination is found the shadow are pressed using 700-900psi.