Cosmetics

 Cosmetics are constituted mixtures of chemical compounds derived from either natural sources, or synthetically created ones.^[1] Cosmetics have various purposes. Those designed for personal care and skin care can be used to cleanse or protect the body or skin. Cosmetics designed to enhance or alter one's appearance (makeup) can be used to conceal blemishes, enhance one's natural features (such as the eyebrows and eyelashes), add color to a person's face, or change the appearance of the face entirely to resemble a different person, creature or object. Cosmetics can also be designed to add fragrance to the body.

Definition and etymology[edit]

A bust of the Egyptian queen Nefertiti showing the use of eye liner made of kohl

An 1889 Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec painting of a woman applying facial cosmetics

Kissproof brand face powder from 1926, from the permanent collection of the Museo del Objeto del Objeto in Mexico City

The word cosmetics derives from the Greek κοσμητικὴ τέχνη ("kosmetikē tekhnē"), meaning "technique of dress and ornament", from κοσμητικός ("kosmētikos"), "skilled in ordering or arranging"^[2] and that from κόσμος ("kosmos"), meaning "order" and "ornament".^[3] Cosmetics are constituted from a mixture of chemical compounds derived from either natural sources, or synthetically created ones.^[1]