Tudor Cosmetics

The Elizabethans went to extreme lengths to follow the fashions of the era, using many cosmetics with many foul ingredients. Elizabeth did hold many of the traits to be 'beautiful', but she used makeup to enhance and exaggerate them. Before Elizabeth reigned, people were more concerned about the care of their skin, using beeswax, honey and sesame seed oil to smooth and soften it, but as Elizabeth came to the throne, makeup was more widely and more excessively used. In 1562, after a few years of ruling England, she contracted small pox. This left her young, smooth skin ridden with scars, which is when the extreme use of white makeup came in. Elizabeth's makeup was deadly, as it was a mixture of white lead and vinegar, but known as 'Ceruse', which poisoned her slowly, and created scars and blemishes. The ceruse was not often removed, and throughout the day more would be applied over the top to keep her as pale as possible. The face paint was of a smooth texture, which dried on the face shiny, so people had to be careful not to laugh or move their face too much, or their makeup would crack. The lead inside the ceruse eventually poisoned many women, leading to their untimely deaths.
(Drea Leed, 1996-2008, Elizabethan Makeup (online), [viewed 3/10/2014], available from:http://www.elizabethancostume.net/makeup.html)

Elizabethan Makeup
http://laurenleto.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/elizabethan-era-picture.html
2011.

As Elizabeth grew with age, her health deteriorated. Dental care was important to the Elizabethans, but they did not have the right equipment and ingredients to keep their teeth clean. With the excessive sugar intake the Tudors had, even Elizabeth's teeth began blackening and rotting away. It became such an issue that her cheeks began to cave in, so she had to stuff them with rags for public appearances. As the people noticed their Queen's blackening teeth, they wanted their own blackened teeth as well, it cannot be questioned that Elizabeth was a trend-setter! People used cosmetics to blacken their teeth, which then became a status symbol of nobility, as only the richer people could afford so much sugar. 

(Linda Alchin, 2014, Old Elizabethan Recipes (online), [viewed 3/10/2014], available from: http://www.elizabethan-era.org.uk/old-elizabethan-recipes.htm)

Portrait of Elizabeth I attributed to Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger or his studio, ca. 1595.
viewed 3/10/2014 @http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_I_of_England