Catherine of Medici and Margaret of Valois introduced these arts of the toilet into France. That country soon became the leader in this respect, and for many years the greatest luxury in perfumes and cosmetics prevailed there. The golden age for these articles lasted from the commencement of the seventeenth to the middle of the eighteenth century, during which time the _mouche_ or beauty patch also flourished. "There were at that time hundreds of pastes, essences, cosmetics, a white balsam, a water to make the face red, another to make a coarse complexion delicate, one to preserve the fine complexion of lean persons and again one to make the face like that of a twenty-year old girl, an _Eau pour nourir et laver les teints corrodés_ and _Eau de chair admirable pour teints jaunes et bilieux_, _etc._ Then there were _Mouchoirs de Venus_, further bands impregnated with wax to cleanse and smooth the forehead; gold leaf was even heated in a lemon over a fire in order to obtain a means which should impart to the face a supernatural brightness. For the hair, teeth and nails there were innumerable receipts, ointments, etc. However, of special importance were the paints, chemical white, blue for the veins, but, chief of all, the red or rouge, mineral, vegetable, or cochineal. The application of rouge was at that time no small affair, it was not only to be rouged, but the rouge had also to express something--_Le grand point est d'avoir un rouge qui dise quelque chose_. The rouge had to characterize its wearer; a lady of rank did not wear the rouge like a lady of the court, and the rouge of the wife of the bourgeois was not like either of them nor like that of the courtesan. At court a more intense rouge was worn, the intensity of which was still increased on the day of presentation, it being then _Rouge d'Espagne_ and _Rouge de Portugal en tasse_. It may seem incredible, but for eight days a violet paint was used and then for a change _Rouge de Serkis_. Ladies, when retiring for the night applied a light rouge (_un demi rouge_), and even small girls wore rouge, such being the decree of fashion. The ladies dyed their eyebrows and eyelashes, and powdered their hair, both natural and false, for, about 1750, they commenced wearing wigs and chignons. Powdering was done partially for the purpose of dying the hair after dressing, and partially for decoration; white, gray, red and fiery red powders were in vogue."