Beauty Marks - Yes or No?

 Beauty is filled with styles that go in and out of fashion. At various times, a specifically placed beauty mark on the face has been important while at other times, the smooth face is preferred.

The reality is that most beauty marks found on faces are actually moles that appear but depending on the time, these might be popular enough that people placed one on their faces.

From medieval times on to the Salem Witch Trials, moles were seen as proof of the Devil having entered the body.  This is where the image of the ugly witch with the hairy mole on the over sized nose or chin came from.

At one point, society preferred the clear skin but Shakespeare loved beauty marks to the point, he often wrote about them.  Innogen from his play "Cymbeline" has a facial mole or beauty mark.  In fact, if you read his works carefully, you'll discover many of his female characters have moles or imperfections on their faces.

Sometime between Shakespeare and the 18th century, women in Britain became so enamored with moles that they used mouse fur attached to their faces but the government didn't like this idea so they out lawed the practice in 1650 but it didn't stop people. It was not only in Britain during the 17th and 18th centuries both men and women wore mouches or faux mole patches.  The word mouches is French for flies.

These mouches were used to cover up smallpox scars because smallpox raged across Europe killing both the ruling class and the commoner.  "Beauty marks" hid scars making the person look so much nicer.  These mouches became  so popular in Venice that there was a street in Venice dedicated to making them out of velvet, silk, taffeta, or leather.  These beauty marks might be made in the shape of a circle, star, heart, or half moon.

In addition, these mouches could convey information by it's placement.  Madame Du Berry, the mistress of Louis XV created a cheat sheet to decode mouches.  If the mouche was located on the cheek, it said you were a flirt but if the mouche were found near the lower lip, it said you were discrete.  Some placed the mouche on the right temple indicated the person was planning to break up with their current love.

Furthermore, it wasn't long before beauty marks signaled political choices.  If a woman placed the beauty mark on the left side of her face, it indicated she supported the Tory's while if it were placed on the right side, she supported the Whigs.

Beauty marks went out of fashion during the 1800's and recipes for getting rid of freckles and moles were abundant.  Society felt that moles were unattractive and undesirable so women did their best to get rid of them.  This attitude changed once again when Hollywood made movies which cause faces to be seen. Clara Bow and Jean Harlow were early proponents of the migrating beauty mark but  Marilyn Monroe is noted for hers but no one is sure if hers was real or drawn on.  It has been noted that her beauty mark was originally found on her lower left cheek but in 1959, it began appearing on her chin.

If you look at the stars over the decades, you'll notice there are always a few who sport the beauty mark such as Goldie Hawn, Elizabeth Taylor, Madonna, and Cindy Crawford.  Do you have a beauty mark?  I do and I'm proud of it because I'm joining several famous people.  Let me know what you think, I'd love to hear.  Have a great day.