that the earliest records of lipstick are from Mesopotamia about 5000 years ago. In those days crushed semi-precious stones were smeared over the lipsThe ancient Egyptians squeezed out a purple-red colour from iodine, bromine and focus-algin leading to serious diseases. In course of time this came to be known as the-kiss-of death. Cleopatra did the trick with beetles which when suffered through the pestle gave out a deep red colour. Ants provided the base. Henna was also a favourite with the Egyptians. The shimmering effect came from the scales of fishlipstick became popular in 16th century England. She introduced the fashion of chalk white faces contrasted with lips that were blood red. During those days lipstick was made from bees wax and plants. It was not until World War II that lipsticks really took off – the push being given by the film world.The lip liner soon came to be introduced. The lipstick and the lip-liner came to be known as the lip-duo. In 1990 another type of colouring for the lip hit the shelves that did not have wax and was made from semi-permanent liquid.http://www.theoriginof.com/lipstick.html