Make-up Kits

If you’ve seen the film “Memoirs of a Geisha“, from which our cover image was derived, you’ll recall the exquisite makeup used by the top Geisha girls, especially the intense red rouge they would delicately paint onto their lips and dilute to create a soft, natural pink tone for their faces. This unique, all-natural makeup is called “beni”, and it’s making a comeback after decades of decline.

Though its beauty is unmatched, beni’s high cost and scarce availability caused it to be quickly replaced by standard makeup and lipsticks in the post-WWII years. Now, however, Japanese cosmetic company Isetan-Honten is reintroducing Kyobeni Rouge for those women who would like to re-establish a link to an ancient and honorable tradition while pampering themselves with a frighteningly expensive beauty product.

Kyobeni Rouge, from Japan’s Isetan-Honten

Kyobeni Rouge is undeniably expensive. According to Britain’s Daily Telegraph, Isetan-Honten’s “new collection costs from 70,000 to 300,000 yen ($675 to $2,850) for a pot holding less than a third of an ounce, or 30 to 50 applications, so an evening’s use can cost up to $100.”

Traditional Geisha’s makeup kit

The selling cost can be justified by the manner in which beni is made. The process starts with a certain species of orange-petalled safflower found in Japan’s Yamagata mountains, and only flowers hand-picked before sunrise in July are used. These flowers contain 99% yellow pigment but just 1% red – and it’s the red pigment that must be isolated through soaking and steaming.

Geisha FAQ

Geishas compared with a Maiko/Geisha apprentice is less showy. A Geisha kimono is usually a strong base color with a simple design and subtle patterns based on scenes from nature or traditional Japanese themes, according to the seasons. Similarly, the Obi / cloth around his waist, as most tend to be brocade fabric of a single color, usually adorned with minimal Obi belts and brooches.Read more about geishas here

Geishas & Maiko gallery here

Neck Symbols

The white makeup covers the face, neck, and chest, with 2 or 3 unwhitened areas forming a W-V shape left on the nape, to accentuate this traditionally erotic area, and a line of bare skin around the hairline, which creates the illusion of a mask.

Maiko

Teahouse were primarily designed to serve tea and Dango/Rice cake to people who visited a holy place – Shrine. Later came more activities and it also offered sake/rice wine along with light entertainment. Female hostesses played shamisen – stringed instruments. Traditional dance drama/Kabuki were only the beginning of the male actors. It is said that this was the beginning of how a Maiko/Geisha apprentice originated.

As an apprentice Geisha, Maiko called which actually means, loosely translated dancing children, may learn a traditional song and dance, to play the shamisen, conversation and poetry, also arranging flowers /Ikebana, a great art in itself. They learn also, by following an older Geisha in the work, the art of selecting a beautiful kimono and wear it up and everything to do with the traditional Japanese tea ceremony. The training to become a Geisha takes three years.

At the beginning of her career so she always wear heavy white makeup. An elderly Maiko usually help because it is pretty hard to do it yourself. Take time to learn. When the white foundation is on then left unpainted two points in the neck to give the illusion that they wear a mask. For special occasions, like when a Maiko debuts, or when a Maiko Geisha will then leave it unpainted three points. The eyebrows are painted black with a hint of red and then painted the outline of the eyes in red and black. The red eye-makeup reduces a bit of, as of the date of becoming a Geisha.

Last, painted lips, the middle of the lower lip and painted during the first year of training as a Maiko left upper lip unpainted. After his first year as also painted the upper lip of the half and then third and last year painted lips completely. This to see what rank and age have a Maiko. Maiko is usually that which is most photographed by tourists because she is more colorful than a Geisha.

mboogiedown

Geisha Lips

Want an all-natural lip color that lasts look no further then to the beautiful Geisha. Beni the traditional Geisha lipstick and rouge is made from the Safflower plant that is harvested before sunrise, because of its ability to lose its color after sunrise, in July at Japan’s Yamagata Mountains. It is then painstakingly crushed, soaked, and steamed into a paste. Afterwards it can be applied with a brush and depending on how much water is used the color ranges from pale pink to very bright red. One application can last a couple cups of coffee and multiple licking of the lips.Newly full-fledged geisha will color in only the top lip fully.
,

Most geisha wear the top lip colored in fully or stylized, and the bottom lip in a curved stripe that does not follow the shape of the lip. The geisha round the bottom lips to create the illusion of a flower bud.

Erikae

An Erikae is the debut of a new Geiko/Geisha, in which she will wear her most formal kimono and present herself to the ochaya, okiya, and local stores to thank everyone for supporting her. She will wear a katsura, or wig, styled in the Tsubushi Shimada, and wear a white collar instead of a red one.

FAQ

Geishas compared with a Maiko/Geisha apprentice is less showy. A Geisha kimono is usually a strong base color with a simple design and subtle patterns based on scenes from nature or traditional Japanese themes, according to the seasons. Similarly, the Obi / cloth around his waist, as most tend to be brocade fabric of a single color, usually adorned with minimal Obi belts and brooches.

Everyday hairstyle of a Geisha is a relatively simple set of hair. Full-part wigs are worn for formal occasions and dance performances. At the more formal dress, she has a white makeup and wearing a black kimono with five symbols, two front and three at the back. A white-collar under the kimono is a sign of high status Geisha.

Compared to the old Japanese Geisha is a very different life today. The girls become Geishas of her own free will and stay as long as they wish. There are few Geishas left the profession and in danger of disappearing. Many old Hanamachi/Geisha district has also disappeared recently. There are those who talk of reinstating the traditional geisha’s world, but if this will ever happen is uncertain. Perhaps Geishas becomes another form of tourist attraction that will be adapted to the more modern Japan.