Applied
Makeup, paint and powders. 25 face guides on EveryFaceShape so far.
Applied features are painted or powdered on and washed off: kohl and kajal, thanaka paste, sindoor and kumkum, contour and highlight, the white oshiroi of geisha and Kabuki actors, and the painted faces of Kathakali and Peking opera. Some last an evening, some a day; many are renewed every morning as part of faith, beauty or work.
Daily and devotional
Kajal is applied to the eyes and thanaka to the cheeks every day by millions of people. The tilak and the tripundra of ash are applied after worship, and sindoor by many married Hindu women daily. Kumkum, made from turmeric and lime, is offered and shared at festivals. These marks are renewed daily and carry meaning by tradition.
Stage and festival
Stage makeup takes hours: Kathakali artists build the chutti frame and paint green, red and black faces; Kabuki actors paint their own kumadori; Peking opera performers paint lianpu designs. For the Day of the Dead, faces in Mexico are painted as calaveras. In the West, contour and highlight, borrowed from the stage, became everyday makeup in the 2010s.
Famous applied face guides
Further reading
🇨🇳 China and 2 moreSunglasses
Protective eyewear designed to shield eyes from bright sunlight and high-energy visible light.Frame · 1929
WorldBeauty mark
A dark facial mark, natural or applied, worn for adornment.Skin · Most faces
🇮🇳 India and 4 moreBindi
A coloured dot worn on the forehead in South and Southeast Asia.Adornment · Most faces
WorldTheatrical makeup
Makeup used to create character appearances for theater productions.Makeup
🇯🇵 JapanOhaguro
A Japanese tradition of blackening teeth with iron and tannins.Makeup · 1000
🇯🇵 JapanHikimayu
A pre-modern Japanese practice of removing natural eyebrows and painting new ones on the forehead.Makeup
🇨🇳 ChinaPeking opera makeup
Symbolic face paint for Chinese opera roles.Makeup · 1790
WorldVibhuti
Sacred ash used in Hindu rituals and applied as forehead markings.Makeup
🇮🇳 IndiaTilaka
A traditional Hindu forehead mark applied with paste or ash to signify faith and spiritual identity.Adornment
🇮🇳 India and 1 moreSindoor
A vermilion powder worn by married Hindu women to mark marital status.Makeup
🇲🇽 MexicoCalavera
Decorative or edible skulls made for the Mexican Day of the Dead.Adornment
WorldMicroblading
A semi-permanent technique for enhancing eyebrow shape and colour using fine hand-drawn strokes.Makeup · 2007
🇯🇵 Japan and 4 moreTeeth blackening
A traditional custom of dyeing teeth black to signify adulthood and beauty.Makeup
WorldContouring
A makeup method using darker and lighter shades to sculpt facial features.Makeup
WorldGlasses
Vision eyewear with lenses in a frame for correction, protection, or fashion.Frame · Most faces
🇪🇬 Egypt and 4 moreKohl
A traditional eye cosmetic made from crushed minerals or soot, used across Africa and Asia for thousands of years.Makeup
🇮🇳 IndiaUrdhva Pundra
Vertical Vaishnava forehead mark denoting devotion to Vishnu.Adornment · Most faces
🇺🇸 United States and 1 moreEye shadow
Cosmetic pigment applied to eyelids to define and accentuate the eyes.Makeup · Most faces · 1910
WorldUrna
A spiral mark on the forehead in Buddhist art.Adornment
WorldEyeliner
Cosmetic applied around the eye contours to define shape.Makeup · Most faces
🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 2 moreLipstick
A pigmented cosmetic applied to the lips for colour and texture.Makeup · 1884
🇮🇳 IndiaKumkum
Red forehead powder used for religious and social markings in India.Adornment · Most faces
🇯🇵 JapanOshiroi
Traditional Japanese white face makeup for kabuki actors and geisha.Makeup · 1934
🇲🇲 MyanmarThanaka
Ground bark paste used as face makeup and sun protection in Myanmar.Makeup · Most faces
🇮🇳 IndiaTripundra
Three horizontal ash lines on the forehead worn by Shaivite Hindus.Adornment
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Sunglasses: Rich Niewiroski Jr., CC BY 2.5, source
- Beauty mark: Ian Smith, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Bindi: Vinay Sahay, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Theatrical makeup: Mrgarden 2342, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Ohaguro: Utagawa Kunisada, Public domain, source
- Kumadori: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Hikimayu: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Peking opera makeup: Art Poskanzer, CC BY 2.0, source
- Vibhuti: Vinoth Chandar, CC BY 2.0, source
- Tilaka: Robert Vane Russell (1873-1915), Public domain, source
- Sindoor: Masum-al-hasan, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Calavera: Unknown author, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Teeth blackening: momo, CC BY 2.0, source
- Contouring: Tobias ToMar Maier, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Glasses: Jacek Halicki, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Kohl: Camila Zanon., CC BY 2.0, source
- Urdhva Pundra: Abhisek Sarda, CC BY 2.0, source
- Eye shadow: courtney murray rhodes, CC BY 2.0, source
- Urna: Iudexvivorum, CC0, source
- Eyeliner: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Lipstick: Sjr, Public domain, source
- Kumkum: Thamizhpparithi Maari, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Oshiroi: Conveyor Belt Sushi, CC BY 2.0, source
- Thanaka: Garonzi Stefania, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Tripundra: Vivek Kondur, CC BY 2.0, source