In the late Middle Ages, the popularity of mirrors strongly promoted the production and use of facial cosmetics. These mirrors allowed women to see the terrible sun spots and freckles on their faces for the first time. In order to cover up these defects, women began to apply grease on their faces. The original makeup method may be peculiar, such as bathing with milk, using a wild boar brain, crocodile gland and wolf blood to make a lotion, etc., but the ingredients are harmless.

Until the 16th century, Italy, especially Venice, led the trend of cosmetics. Venetian white powder is considered to be the best in the world until the 19th century. Its practical white powder is the most fashionable, but also the most stupid behavior. Venetian white powder is made of white lead, which is extremely harmful to the human body when it is absorbed by the skin through the pores. But this did not intimidate those who pursue fashion. In order to learn or experiment with new cosmetics, the Venetian women even organized an association. The famous French queen, Henry II's wife, Catherine de Medici, is also an honorary member. These beauty lovers strongly resisted the church's condemnation of their vanity and the warnings of doctors at the time. They often apply white lead powder thickly on the face, neck and chest, and often apply a layer on top of the original layer. Despite the criticism of the men at the time, the results were minimal. A monk in the 16th century complained that women's make-up is like plastering and plastering on the wall. They don't realize that "makeup corrodes the skin, accelerates aging, damages the teeth, and looks like a mask every year."

In the Elizabethan England, the Queen painted a thick layer of white lead powder on her face, setting an example for all the ladies in the court. The older the Queen Elizabeth, the thicker the powder, just as the sculpture of the bow was eroded by the storm, and the white powder on her face began to fall off. The French ambassador once commented that the use of white lead powder makeup damaged her teeth and made people feel terrible. In addition, Elizabeth used vermiculite and mercury sulphide as a rouge, and some of her maids even swallowed a mixture of soot, coal ash and butter. Those "feathers" who are afraid of cosmetics are poisoned and try to wash their faces with their own urine.

In the 17th and 18th centuries, the disaster caused by smallpox continued to make fashionable ladies willing to risk their lives and apply lead powder on their skin. The British novelist Horace Walpole described the effect of lead powder on a woman. In 1740 he wrote: "Her half of her face is swollen, leaving traces of syphilis, partially covered with plaster, partially coated with white powder. For the sake of the map, the quality of the white powder she bought is very inferior and is not qualified for flushing the chimney. "Wolf's sharp commentary refers to the skin that is corroded by mercury."

At the end of the 18th century, the powder on the face became more popular, and people even turned a blind eye to the most obvious and dangerous evidence. In 1767, the famous British actress and niece Kitty Fischer died of lead poisoning because she used lead powder. Another famous death was Maria Gunning, the wife of Count Coventry, England. Maria Gunning was known for her beauty. In the 1750s, she began to apply lead powder on her face. In the 1760s, her health began to deteriorate. When she was awake, she looked in the mirror and looked at the pale face with stains and the skin became so dry that she eventually placed her room very dark so that no one could see her embarrassing appearance. It is widely believed that she died of cosmetic poisoning and is "a victim of cosmetics." Tens of thousands of people attended her funeral, but among those who are familiar with Maria Gunning, few people will recognize the bald, toothless, cognac old woman in the coffin, which is glamorous.