well, arsenic-- in very small quantities tend to make the skin whiter (well actually-- it destroys red blood cells-- and make you anemic-) but its not the only the only poison used in makeup-- even today "red" lipstick uses coal tar dyes-- (take a lump of coal-- heat it with out any oxygen-- it will melt, and smoke)-- take the tar like reside and mix it with alcohol and fat-- and sell it for $10 for less than an ounce--Voila! Lipstick. (Coal tars are know to be carcinogenic.– But the thought is you don't "eat" lipstick.)
Do you ever read the ingredients list for makeup? iron (usually an oxide) for blush-- or eyeshadow-- copper too, (and copper is a poison too, just not as strong a poison as arsenic) titanium, too. Cleopatra uses eyeshadow made from kohl– a soft lead compound– and Queen Elizabeth (I) used a lead oxide to powder her face white.
Don't think "natural" cosmetics are better-- some dyes are made from soaking dead insects in alcohol to dissolve there their "shells"--ecto- skeletons- for dyes.. (Yummy!)
