At the earliest time, the makeup powder used by the ancients was rice grains. The ancients usually ground rice into fine powder. Then, put the powder into clean water and wash it repeatedly to remove impurities. Next, put the washed rice noodles in cold water for fermentation. After a period of fermentation, rice flour will precipitate into fine powder. Finally, put the precipitated rice flour into a container to dry, and it will become a foundation after it is completely dried.
However, due to some disadvantages of using cosmetic powder made of rice, with the passage of time, since the Han Dynasty, women began to use cosmetic powder with lead powder as the main component. Lead powder has a better texture, so it gradually replaces the position of rice flour.
Historical evolution of ancient makeup powder;
Ancient foundations are very different from modern foundations. The ancient foundation was mainly made of some special materials, such as lead white, pearl powder and chestnut powder. Rice flour was used in the earliest Han Dynasty. Later, in the Tang Dynasty, people used the first-class chestnut rice as foundation, which was called "welcome vegetable powder". In the Song Dynasty, people used gypsum, talc, mussel powder and other materials to make foundation, which was called "Jade Girl peach blossom powder".
In the Ming Dynasty, there appeared "pearl powder" extracted from white jasmine seeds and "Hosta powder" made from Hosta flowers and Hu powder. In the Qing dynasty, people began to use "pearl powder" made of pearls and "stone powder" made of fine stones such as talc.