I consider myself a hand cream connoisseur but these has got to be the most fancily packaged hand creams I have ever bought! So much so I decided to take photos.
Pechoin百雀羚 is an old Chinese cosmetics company founded in Shanghai in 1931. It was something your Chinese grandma used but now they have been rebranding themselves to appeal to young Chinese women.This is the result.
This set of three hand creams based on Chinese herbal extracts (orchid, camellia and osmanthus respectively) also came with a free green tube of exfoliating cream packaged in a fancy metal box.There are also 9 complimentary bookmarks printed with classical Chinese poetry as you can see in the last photo.
It’s obvious how beauty standards have evolved greatly over the years…what one might consider a beauty in the past might not be the same now, and vice versa.
Tbh, if the Four Great Beauties all time-travelled to the present, I wonder if they’ll still be as praised?
Also, whenever someone says they like Tang Dynasty makeup and hairstyles, I’m usually all ‘you know what you’re saying?’ because while Tang hanfu is lovely, the makeup and hair isn’t exactly what people now (2010s) will consider flattering.
While Tang dynasty makeup can be a bit Out There* it doesn’t hold a candle to the face-wide crimson shading and applique crystals look the Song empresses seem to have been going for. (I’m pretty ignorant about what may have led to any of those things being popular, or whether this is something restricted to imperial women, so if anyone has anymore info, give me a plug!)
I love how the crowns have full sets of figurines crafted into them!
* Although those moth eyebrows speak to my soul.
Fig. 1
The Official Imperial Portrait of Empress Liu (969–1033) (detail), hanging scroll, Palace Museum Taipei
Fig. 1 The Official Imperial Portrait of Empress Zheng (1079–1131)
(detail), hanging scroll, Palace Museum Taipei
Fig. 1 The Official Imperial Portrait of Empress Wu (1114–1197)
The little red flower designs on the forehead – that you often see on Hanfu wearers and in Chinese media & arts – are traditional Chinese accessories called Huadian/花钿, which came into vogue during the Tang dynasty. Please check out this postthat I made on the history of Huadian.
Since they first appeared, Huadian have been an enduring symbol of beauty in Chinese culture.
Huadian come in many colors and shapes, in addition to red flowers/petals.
For more references, please check out my Huadian tag!
The forehead markings are called “huadian/花鈿", and they are a purely ornamental type of accessory that was most popular during the Tang Dynasty. Huadian came in a variety of colors (red, green, yellow – but mostly red), shapes (flowers/petals, animals – birds/fish, etc.), and materials (paint, paper, gold, pearls, petals, fish bones, seashells, feathers, etc.). Nowadays it is usually painted on/a temporary tattoo. Fouryearsofshades has a write-up on huadian here. Below – historical huadian:
Huadian can be worn on the cheeks, as seen in the two left pictures in the 2nd row above – these are called mianye/面靥 or xiaoye/笑靥. They usually took the form of a dimple about one centimeter from each side of the lips, and came in a variety of shapes, including coins, peaches, birds, and flowers.
There is a legend about the origin of huadian, recounted by Hua Mei in the book Chinese Clothing (pdf):
“The Huadian or forehead decoration was said to have originated in the South Dynasty, when the Shouyang Princess was taking a walk in the palace in early spring and a light breeze brought a plum blossom onto her forehead. The plum blossom for some reason could not be washed off or removed in any way. Fortunately, it looked beautiful on her, and all of a sudden became all the rage among the girls of the commoners. It is therefore called the “Shouyang makeup” or the “plum blossom makeup.” This makeup was popular among the women for a long time in the Tang and Song Dynasties.”
The flower/petal shapes typically represent the plum blossom. I’m not sure if the dot represents anything significant, besides being a common shape.
Below – actresses wearing huadian and mianye in film/tv:
Hope this helps! 🙂
Edit: See here for post identifying the the actresses/films/tv series in the compilation above.
Huadian (花钿) originated as a form of hair ornament, derivative of the ancient huasheng (花胜). They were plate shaped ornaments that decorated a noblewoman’s crown. Their number, along with the number of clusters of flower ornaments, decided the wearer’s rank. Later in the Tang dynasty, dianchai (钿钗), the Dian Pin, was used to refer to double pronged hairpins with a rounded flower-shaped top. These were worn as part of a woman’s wedding gown. Confusing enough, after the Northern and Southern Dynasties, dianhua (钿花) referred to a woman’s forehead marking, while huasheng took on the meaning of thin flower ornaments made of paper or gauze or metal foil and stuck to a woman’s hair at the temples. To distinguish between the ornaments, the forehead flower was also called huazi (花子), or “little flower”. It was combined with e-huang (额黄), a cosmetic trend where the forehead was painted yellow in a form of primitive contouring, to form huahuang (花黄), flower and yellow pigment.
A particularly patient and creative woman could paint on her own huadian, but most women spared themselves the time and effort by using pre-cut huadian stickers, these stickers could be made of gauze, gold and silver foil, paper, feathers, mica sheets, and, for the high maintenance court ladies, compressed pigment made from camellia seed oil. For a while in the Song Dynasty, they were even made from fish bones! Called “marine allure” (鱼媚子), the smell of these fishy charms became the bane of many a gentleman’s love life.
As one of the most beautiful trends to emerge from ancient China, huadian has a multitude of associated origin stories. The earliest story, from the Jin Dynasty, tells of how, during the Three Kingdoms period, Sun He, a prince of the Wu kingdom, accidentally smashed his crystal ruyi scepter over his wife’s head during a drunken dance. Though he quickly cleaned and dressed her wound with an ointment of powdered otter bones, jade, and amber, the doctors had mixed in too much amber, and as a result, when the lady’s wound healed, she was left with a red spot on her forehead. This gave her a special, elegant charm, and soon other women painted spots on their foreheads to try and emulate her. Fittingly, around the same time, across the Yangtze, Xue Yelai (薛夜来), a consort of the Wei Emperor Cao Pi (of the Luo goddess fame, currently a playable character in Dynasty Warriors) crashed her head through a glass screen when attending upon the Emperor in his study. It was late at night and the poor girl had never seen glass before, being rather new to the palace. Fortunately, no lasting damage was done besides two long gashes besides her temples. They healed into two red crescents that Cao Pi praised as resembling the rising sun peeking over the horizon. Other women in the Wei Harem painted red crescents resembling Xue Yelai’s scars on their faces, hoping to attract the Emperor. These two injury-inspired cosmetic tricks became huadian and xiehong (斜红). Later, during the Five Dynasties, legends claimed that the First Emperor once had a vision of the Queen of the Gods, and to show his faith, ordered his court ladies to decorate their faces in the same way as the goddess. During the Song Dynasty, the author Gao Cheng records that during the Song Dynasty of the Northern and Southern Dynasties, a plum blossom left a mark on the beautiful Princess Shouyang’s (寿阳公主) forehead. He also tells another story, where one of Wu Zetian’s chief advisers, Shangguan Wan-Er (上官婉儿), angered the Empress and was punished by having a red dot tattooed on her forehead. To hide this scarlet letter, she painted flower patterns over it. Another variation of the same legend claims she clipped part of her hair to hide her forehead and thus invented bangs. Known for both her wit and her charm, this female Prime Minister was certainly a trendsetter.
The forehead markings are called “huadian/花鈿", and they are a purely ornamental type of accessory that was most popular during the Tang Dynasty. Huadian came in a variety of colors (red, green, yellow – but mostly red), shapes (flowers/petals, animals – birds/fish, etc.), and materials (paint, paper, gold, pearls, petals, fish bones, seashells, feathers, etc.). Nowadays it is usually painted on/a temporary tattoo. Fouryearsofshades has a write-up on huadian here. Below – historical huadian:
Huadian can be worn on the cheeks, as seen in the two left pictures in the 2nd row above – these are called mianye/面靥 or xiaoye/笑靥. They usually took the form of a dimple about one centimeter from each side of the lips, and came in a variety of shapes, including coins, peaches, birds, and flowers.
There is a legend about the origin of huadian, recounted by Hua Mei in the book Chinese Clothing (pdf):
“The Huadian or forehead decoration was said to have originated in the South Dynasty, when the Shouyang Princess was taking a walk in the palace in early spring and a light breeze brought a plum blossom onto her forehead. The plum blossom for some reason could not be washed off or removed in any way. Fortunately, it looked beautiful on her, and all of a sudden became all the rage among the girls of the commoners. It is therefore called the “Shouyang makeup” or the “plum blossom makeup.” This makeup was popular among the women for a long time in the Tang and Song Dynasties.”
The flower/petal shapes typically represent the plum blossom. I’m not sure if the dot represents anything significant, besides being a common shape.
Below – actresses wearing huadian and mianye in film/tv:
Hope this helps! 🙂
Edit: See here for post identifying the the actresses/films/tv series in the compilation above.
Huadian (花钿) originated as a form of hair ornament, derivative of the ancient huasheng (花胜). They were plate shaped ornaments that decorated a noblewoman’s crown. Their number, along with the number of clusters of flower ornaments, decided the wearer’s rank. Later in the Tang dynasty, dianchai (钿钗), the Dian Pin, was used to refer to double pronged hairpins with a rounded flower-shaped top. These were worn as part of a woman’s wedding gown. Confusing enough, after the Northern and Southern Dynasties, dianhua (钿花) referred to a woman’s forehead marking, while huasheng took on the meaning of thin flower ornaments made of paper or gauze or metal foil and stuck to a woman’s hair at the temples. To distinguish between the ornaments, the forehead flower was also called huazi (花子), or “little flower”. It was combined with e-huang (额黄), a cosmetic trend where the forehead was painted yellow in a form of primitive contouring, to form huahuang (花黄), flower and yellow pigment.
A particularly patient and creative woman could paint on her own huadian, but most women spared themselves the time and effort by using pre-cut huadian stickers, these stickers could be made of gauze, gold and silver foil, paper, feathers, mica sheets, and, for the high maintenance court ladies, compressed pigment made from camellia seed oil. For a while in the Song Dynasty, they were even made from fish bones! Called “marine allure” (鱼媚子), the smell of these fishy charms became the bane of many a gentleman’s love life.
As one of the most beautiful trends to emerge from ancient China, huadian has a multitude of associated origin stories. The earliest story, from the Jin Dynasty, tells of how, during the Three Kingdoms period, Sun He, a prince of the Wu kingdom, accidentally smashed his crystal ruyi scepter over his wife’s head during a drunken dance. Though he quickly cleaned and dressed her wound with an ointment of powdered otter bones, jade, and amber, the doctors had mixed in too much amber, and as a result, when the lady’s wound healed, she was left with a red spot on her forehead. This gave her a special, elegant charm, and soon other women painted spots on their foreheads to try and emulate her. Fittingly, around the same time, across the Yangtze, Xue Yelai (薛夜来), a consort of the Wei Emperor Cao Pi (of the Luo goddess fame, currently a playable character in Dynasty Warriors) crashed her head through a glass screen when attending upon the Emperor in his study. It was late at night and the poor girl had never seen glass before, being rather new to the palace. Fortunately, no lasting damage was done besides two long gashes besides her temples. They healed into two red crescents that Cao Pi praised as resembling the rising sun peeking over the horizon. Other women in the Wei Harem painted red crescents resembling Xue Yelai’s scars on their faces, hoping to attract the Emperor. These two injury-inspired cosmetic tricks became huadian and xiehong (斜红). Later, during the Five Dynasties, legends claimed that the First Emperor once had a vision of the Queen of the Gods, and to show his faith, ordered his court ladies to decorate their faces in the same way as the goddess. During the Song Dynasty, the author Gao Cheng records that during the Song Dynasty of the Northern and Southern Dynasties, a plum blossom left a mark on the beautiful Princess Shouyang’s (寿阳公主) forehead. He also tells another story, where one of Wu Zetian’s chief advisers, Shangguan Wan-Er (上官婉儿), angered the Empress and was punished by having a red dot tattooed on her forehead. To hide this scarlet letter, she painted flower patterns over it. Another variation of the same legend claims she clipped part of her hair to hide her forehead and thus invented bangs. Known for both her wit and her charm, this female Prime Minister was certainly a trendsetter.
Makeup in ancient China was created by boiling and fermenting ingredients such as plants, animal fats, and spices.
Facial powder (foundation) was one of the most rudimentary forms of makeup that was made by grinding fine rice. Another form of powder was made using lead, which despite its toxicity, was coveted for its skin-whitening properties.
Rouge, powder used to color the lips or cheeks, was made from the extracted juice of leaves from red and blue flowers. Ingredients such as bovine pulp and pig pancreas were also known to have been added, to make the product denser.
Lip makeup was made from the raw material vermilion, a scarlet pigment originally made from the powdered mineral cinnabar. Eventually mineral wax and animal fat were added, making the vermilion water-proof with a strong adhesive force. In order to add fragrance, raw materials such as ageratum and clove, and artificial flavors were added.
To paint their eyebrows, women used the soot derived from burning willow branches. Another type of eyebrow makeup was made using dai, a blue mineral that was grinded into powder and mixed with water.
From the Tang Dynasty and onwards, huadian, a decorative element located on the forehead, came into vogue. Huadian was often created using gold or silver foil, paper, fish scales, or even dragonfly wings (or just painted on). I have a detailed post about huadian here.
Finally, nail polish originated in China (!!) and dates back to 3000 BC.
To paint their nails, the ancient Chinese used a mixture of egg whites, gelatin, beeswax, gum Arabic, alum, and flower petals.
Not the anon who sent the ask, but did these products ever had any adverse reactions to the skin, or rashes? Outside of the lead makeup, that is.
The use of vermilion as lip makeup probably did have adverse health effects, as vermilion is made from cinnabar, which is an ore of mercury. Mercury is toxic when regularly handled, and when absorbed into the skin can result in mercury poisoning (X).
What about the stuff made of animal parts? Did they do anything?
also thanks so much for the response ;v;
Of course! ^^
From what I’ve read, the animal parts ingredients did not harm the skin. To the contrary, they are supposed to have had soothing and smoothing action on the skin (X).
Ziseviolet 