Elizabethan Cosmetic Recipe

Finding an Elizabethan Cosmetic recipe

For our homework we were tasked with finding an Elizabethan cosmetic recipe, and finding a modern alternative to see how they have changed over time. I found a recipe that was for 'chapped hands'.

"Melt three ounces of fresh butter and three ounces of suet of hart, and, and cut four or five apples into it; add six ounces of white wine and boil until the apples are soft; add half a dram each or cinnamon, camphor, cloves, and nutmegs, two ounces of rose-water, and boil again until the rose-water is evaporated; finally, strain through a cloth."

Christopher Wirzung, General practice of Physicke, 1654

From looking into this recipe and the ingredients used, it seems as though it may have been a quite thick consistency leaning more towards the end of cream/butter rather than a lotion. 

My modern alternative was the 'Caudalie hand and nail cream' which was said to "nourish". I chose this because of the use of this word and the connotations associated with it making it seem highly moisturising and good for dry hands. The ingredients for the hand cream are as follows; Aqua (water), Glycerin, Ceteraryl Alcohol, Vitis Vinifera (Grape) Seed Oil, Glyceryl Stearate, Butyrospermum, Parkii (Shea) Butter Extract, Parfum (Fragrance), Coco-caprylate, Sodium Cetearyl Sulfate, Persea Gratissima (Avocado) Oil, Palmitoyl Grape Seed Extract, Tocopheryl Acetate, Caprylyl Glycol, Acrylates/C10-30 Alkyl Acrylate crosspolymer, Potassium Sorbate, Phytosterols, Olea Europaea (Olive) Fruit oil, Sodium Hydroxide, Carbomer, Sodium Carboxymenthyl Beta-Glucan, Tocopherol, Limonene, Linalool, Geraniol.

 There are a lot more ingredients in the modern cream in comparison to the Elizabethan recipe. However there are some similarities that I can see, for example; the Apples in the Elizabethan and the Glycerin in the modern. Both contain sugar and Glycerin is usually added to bring moisture to the product.

From testing out the product, it does have quite a strong fragrance which can be quite overpowering, especially for a product for dry/chapped hands. After using it for a few times, it does have the moisturising properties that I believe the Elizabethan one would possess. However due to the heavy fragrance it is not the best at helping chapped hands, even going to the point of irritating the skin even further, which I don't think the Elizabethan one would've done.

Bibliography
Internet:
Elizabethan make-up, face, eyes, women, skin, beauty (no date) Available at: http://www.elizabethanenglandlife.com/Elizabethan-Make-up.html (Accessed: 6 November 2015).
Beauty in the 17th century (no date) Available at: http://www.rmg.co.uk/queens-house/history/fact-files/beauty-in-the-17th-century (Accessed: 6 November 2015).
Elizabethan make-up (no date) Available at: http://www.elizabethan-era.org.uk/elizabethan-make-up.htm (Accessed: 6 November 2015)
The painted face: Makeup in SCA period (no date) Available at: http://elizabethancostume.net/paintedface/index.html (Accessed: 6 November 2015).