Common Oil Rouge, 1833-1865

COMMON OIL ROUGE Take one ounce of finely powdered French chalk; carmine, fifteen grains; and oil of sweet almonds half a drachm. Mix well. This is only another modification of the last recipe [chalk rouge]. It is immeasurably inferior to the acidulated liquid rouge.  

--The Handbook for Ladies' Maids and Guide to the Toilette (1865)

So, this would be a 32:1:2 ratio of chalk/carmine/oil (1 oz = 8 drachms = 480 grains).  Right off, this is going to be a less saturated red-pink than the chalk rouge (32:1 versus 5:1). The oil, however, didn't really change the consistency of the rouge. I supposed I expected it to make more of a paste or even a liquid, but this 1:16 oil to chalk just made the upper layer clump slightly, and no amount of stirring or grinding incorporated it further.

Not sure what the oil was supposed to do. It's still a powder

I wondered if there was a typo in the amounts, and looked up another recipe to compare. The Toilette of Health, Beauty and Fashion (1833) gives a similar rouge recipe: "Take French chalk prepared, four ounces; oil of almonds, two drachms; carmine, one ounce." (16:1:4) The first thing I noticed is that the chalk to carmine ratio is 4:1, four times as much carmine as in the oil rouge recipe, but quite close to that first chalk rouge recipe (5:1). Compared to the oil rouge receipt, there's half as much chalk and twice as much oil (relative to the carmine), which is intriguing. The Druggist's General Receipt Book (1857) confirms that "a few drops" of oil are often added to chalk-, talc-, and starch-based rouge powders.

Anyway, the results:

Clockwise from bottom: chalk rouge,
common oil rouge, carmine.

Edited to add: After applying three consecutive powder rouges (chalk, talc, and chalk+oil), I realized that the oil does have an important role: it makes the rouge powder less apt to fly. With the other two, gently opening the container will get small amounts of powder airborne, and loose powder also works its way into the lid gap (and from there onto the sides of the tin), staining the hands and surrounding area. The oil rouge is much better behaved and spreads around less. It does need a little more attention to remove any small clumps of powder while applying it.