Rosemary flowers in white wine is one of the Renaissance-era skincare recipes that art historian Erin Griffey is recreating with a team of scientists for the groundbreaking Beautiful Chemistry Project.
"We've tried it and it does… smooth your skin, it does give it a little bit of a lustre almost like you were applying a really really subtle highlighter."
Professor Erin Griffey Photo: Supplied
Griffey is working through thousands of fascinating recipes for products that Europeans used to look attractive and youthful between the years 1500 and 1700.
A team of chemists are recreating the products and performing high-tech chemical analyses on their active ingredients and effectiveness.
So far, the Beautiful Chemistry Project has "done a deep dive" on the rosemary in white wine product, a "wrinkle removal oil" containing myrrh, and a face mask containing deer antler.
"[The three products] have a lovely soft scent and lovely texture on the skin and the chemical analysis suggests they are extremely effective."
Centuries-old skincare recipes often contain bitter almonds and lemons – two brightening ingredients still used in the skincare industry today, she says.
She's hopeful these old-school creations may be even more effective because of their purity.
"One thing it's made me reflect on is what is the percentage of active ingredients in the beauty products I do buy and use. Because the products we're making are just chock-full of active ingredients. There's no filler in them."
Just as today, and especially for women, appearance and especially one's face was seen as a calling card of health, Griffey says.
"Authors from the time stress this – they say the face is the most important part of the body because it's the most visible part of the body.
"Equally, these sources underscore that for women there is a particular currency in facial beauty because this is the advertisement of your health.
"The stakes are particularly high during courtship and the idea is [a man] who wants to find a wife that is healthy, ie fertile, and they read the complexion as an indication [iof this]."
Because she didn't have an heir, Queen Elizabeth I (1558 to 1603) attempted to advertise her health and youthfulness through very white skin – a beauty ideal for European women at the time.
Although it's commonly believed she wore lead-encrusted makeup to achieve this look – as some women did – there's very slim evidence of this, Griffey says, and medical texts of the period reveal that the toxicity of lead was well-known.
Lizard parts, scorpion oil, hares blood and animal bile feature in some of the other Renaissance-era beauty products Griffey is excited to analyse in the Beautiful Chemistry Project.
"As an academic who works in olden times usually you're looking for a needle in a haystack because there's so little information.
"Suddenly I'm working on this project where the haystack is all needles, everything is a treasure… and I feel so excited to be at a university that's basically said 'yeah, we love this interdisciplinary project'."
