The beauty and grace of Japan’s geishas are among many reasons visitors travel to certain parts of the Japan, such as Kyoto. The geisha tradition gained prominence in the mid-18th century, as women worked as skilled entertainers after seeing the success of male performers. Their talents included dancing, singing, playing music, and even creating poetry and artistic calligraphy.

 

The make-up of an apprentice geisha include three notable features – the thick, white foundation, red lips, and red and black highlights around the eyes. The white foundation originally included lead, but when it was discovered how toxic it was, the ingredient was changed to rice powder.

 

Hikimayu was the trend for women to shave off their eyebrows completely. Then they would use black ink to draw rounded arc shaped, smudged eyebrows a bit higher on the forehead. Now that's an interesting way to do an instant brow lift. In translation hikimayu means "pull eyebrows»

 

Here's how the makeup was applied for geisha. First, the face was cleansed. Than certain oily substance was applied, after which the Taihaku wax was applied mainly on to the eyebrows. Finally, after the wax the white color was applied to the skin. Rice powder was used to color the face white. The color itself is called Oshiroi. It is applied around the neck, on to the ears, and to the face right below the hairline. When done correctly, there should be a sharply outlined letter "W" on the back of a woman's neck. After the application of the white color is finished, the rest of the makeup is applied, which depends on experience of the woman and her age.