Turkish Rouge, 1855

I previously made the "Turkish rouge" from Arts Revealed (1855), but never documented the process, and decided to give it another try. The recipe is very straightforward: alcohol tinted with alkanet.  My first attempt produced a deep red liquid (so far so good), which imparted no actual color to the skin (less ideal). I decided to try it again with more meticulous attention to the amount of each ingredient, to see if it works better a second time.

Four ounces alkanet, with 3-cup mug for scale.

The recipe calls for 1/2 pint alcohol (or 1 cup), and 3 cents worth of alkanet (~1/2 oz weight* ~1/2 cup volume). I decided to convert into volume measures for this receipt, since I don't have a scale fine enough to weigh out fractions of an ounce. Anyway, by volume, this is just a 2:1 ratio of alcohol to alkanet, which is very easy to scale up or down.   

When previously making up this rouge, I re-used some alkanet root (sanctioned by no less authority than Miss Leslie herself), and didn't measure anything: I just poured enough alcohol over the shredded roots to cover them, and left the jar in the cupboard for a few days. And then for a few weeks, when the rouge didn't seem to have much affect on my skin. This time, I not only used fresh alkanet (in a little bag for easy removal) and measured the ingredients, but also made of point of monitoring the color progress by taking samples at hourly, and then daily increments. 

The lighter vial soaked for 2 hours,
the darker 12 hours, and the large container for 24 hours.

Even setting the jar out in the sun, after 10 days, the color of this rouge wasn't particularly strong. It's honestly lighter that the Hungary water I've tinted with alkanet (which also has an alcohol base), and looks more like the hair oil that I've similarly colored. Though, in the case of the hair oil, it soaked for closer to 30 minutes, not multiple days (the Hungary water steeped for a month).

After ten days.

Even setting the jar out in the sun, after 10 days, the color of this rouge wasn't particularly strong. It's honestly lighter that the Hungary water I've tinted with alkanet (which also has an alcohol base), and looks more like the hair oil that I've similarly colored. Though, in the case of the hair oil, it soaked for closer to 30 minutes, not multiple days (the Hungary water steeped for a month).

When I tried applying this rouge to my skin, it didn't leave any color at all. I tried it on bare skin and over some white powder, but couldn't see any change. I've noticed this with all the alkanet cosmetics I've tried: lip salve, hair oil, or Hungary water, none of the red alkanet color shows through on the body. I did managed to stain some handkerchiefs with the Hungary water, but that was it. And the hair oil, at least, has been tested extensively--we used it in some Fort programs, and none of the participants' hair or skin took on color from it, whether blond, brown, black, red, grey, or white.

I'm starting to wonder whether the alkanet I buy today differs somehow from the 1850s alkanet. Or if I'm using the product wrong. Or if something else if going on. For what it's worth, neither the hair oil nor scented water benefit from transferring color, while my on-going research into lip salve suggests that it was rarely--if ever--intended as a coloring agent. This particular rouge, then, is the one recipe I've found in which the alkanet is certainly supposed to color the body, rather than coloring the cosmetic itself.

At any rate, further experimentation will be needed.

*This value from Miss Leslie's Lady's New Receipt Book (1850), which mentions that "the price of alkanet does not exceed six cents per ounce". It's actually in a discussion of using alkanet to tint lamp oil pretty shades of red.