Although facial makeup was not invented by the Tang women, they were quite elaborate and extravagant. They not only powdered their faces, darkened their eyebrows, rouged their cheeks or put on lipsticks. These women also decorated their foreheads with a yellow crescent, which was said to be an imitation of the northwestern ethnic minorities. Eyebrows were painted in different shapes, ft was said that the Xuanzong Emperor asked his court painter to record the ten eyebrow styles, which all had different names, such as the "mandarin duck," the "small peak," the "drooping pearl," and the "dark fog." The commoners had their own trendy brow styles as well. Moreover, decorative designs are put between the eyebrows as a finishing touch, made with feathers,seashells, fish bones, pure gold, or just painted on. At the tip of each eyebrow there is a "red slant." Lips are painted into the trendiest shapes of the time, complimented by an artificial red dimple about one centimeter from each side of the lips. At the most prosperous time of the Tang Dynasty, these dimples went so far as to reach the two sides of the nose, in shapes of coins, peaches, birds and flowers. We can see this kind of dimples in the Dunhuang Grottos of the Five Dynasties.
These facial makeup styles were not the invention of the Tang Dynasty, but rather bad their roots in the previous dynasties. For example, tile Huadian or forehead decoration was said to have originated in the Southern Dynasty, when tile 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. As for the "red slant," it was said that Cao Pi, Weiwen Emperor of the Three Kingdoms Period, had a favorite imperial concubine named Xue Yelai. One night when Cao Pi was reading, Xue Yelai came by and accidentally hurt her temple on the crystal screen. When the wound healed, file scar remained, as did the love of the emperor. All girls in court tried to imitate her, painting a red mark on both sides of the face. This kind of makeup was initially called the "morning sun makeup," as the color was close to the rosy dawn. It
was later called the "red slant".
Concerning the eyebrows,it was said in a Song Dynasty history book that the Yang Emperor of the Sui Dynasty noticed a girl with painted long eyebrows among thousands of beautiful women in a boat ride in the dragon and phoenix shaped boats.
When finally the Tang women decided there was no space left for painting on the face, they all of a sudden changed their makeup style. According to history book, after the mid-Tang Dynasty, the trend became not wearing power or rouge on the face. The only makeup that remained was the black lipstick. It was called the "weeping makeup" or "tears makeup".
