Hello and welcome to the Renaissance English History Podcast.

I'm your host Heather Tesco, and I'm a storyteller who makes history accessible because I believe it's a pathway to understanding who we are, our place in the

universe, and to being more deeply in touch with our own humanity. This is episode 65. It's a little

shorter than usual since it is the holidays, and we're going to be indulging my girly side

by talking about cosmetics and makeup in the 16th century. If anyone is still looking

for a Christmas gift for me, I will totally take a Sephora gift card. Just FYI on that. Also,

if you're someone who really isn't into cosmetics or makeup, I think this episode will still be

interesting to you for its historical value,

and those of us who do wear makeup might recognize some of the efforts that people went through

in order to be beautiful 500 years ago and how little things have changed. Before I get started,

though, a few reminders. Please check out the Agora Podcast Network, of which this podcast

is a proud member. The Agora Podcast of the month for December is the History of Egypt podcast.

You can find it on iTunes or any of the other podcast-y sorts of places, as well as

Egyptian History Podcast.com. Remember also that you can get the show notes for each episode.

This episode, particularly, has recipes for Tudor Beauty Products, for example,

along with the book recommendations at Englandcast.com.

I want to start off this episode with a quote that I think many women will understand when I read it.

It's from Castiglione's The Book of the Courtier, which was written between 1513 and 1518.

And he says, haven't you noticed how much prettier a woman is if, when she makes up, she does

so with so little that those who see her cannot tell whether

she is made up or not, but others are so bedaubed that it looks like they are wearing a mask and

dare not laugh because they fear it will crack. Such women never change color except when they

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