calling all females (and cosmetic historians?): A question about mascara and eyeliner.

It has been pointed out to me in a recent crit I received that I confused eyeliner for mascara.
I went to project replace all "eyeliner" for "mascara"...but this is a medieval-esque setting...is that anachronous? Did I even use the word "anachronous" correctly haha?

I did some research and found that egyptians used "kohl" in their eyes. But i don't know if kohl=mascara. I though mascara was a modern invention in cosmetics. I'm afraid if I use "kohl" instead of "eyeliner" my readers might scratch their heads, because when I saw the word kohl, my first thought was the clothing store haha.

And now that I think of it, would the stuff that Egyptians used run if they cried? I may have to just ditch that description all together because maybe only modern makeup smudges via tears...

Bookewyrme said:

I'm fairly certain they would not have referred to kohl, however.

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duly noted, thank you!

sunandshadow said:

The ancient Egyptians used kohl with malachite eye powder, among other things. Kohl is in fact still commonly available as a makeup, but I don't think they called it that in the medieval period.

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Also duly noted, thank you!

benbenberi said:

If your story's medieval-esque is European-based and your characters are not prostitutes, they wouldn't be wearing either.

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Haha that's quite an excellent point you bring to the table! While its not really in medieval Europe, I had Italy in mind while making this country. So maybe its best to ditch it all together.

zanzjan said:

I do know a guy who is absolutely amazing with the stuff.

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Aw nuts, I originally had my title more "politically correct," but then I changed it fearing I was being offensive and stereotypical. I guess I didn't exactly sidestep that land mine. Sorry if I offended anyone, as that was not my intention

mayqueen said:

Women in Anglo-Saxon times may have darkened their eyelashes with soot, which would smear.

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Excellent fact, I can probably just say eye shadow and let the reader make that jump. Although, I don't want to suggest my lovely politician to be a lady of the evening, so I have to do more research on the cosmetic equivalents for red lights throughout the ages. Thank you!