Spring TV Shows We Can’t Wait to Watch

A amusement about the past queen of France is guaranteed to bring the precocious tea.

Marie Antoinette, a new series airing connected PBS connected March 19, explores Maria Antonia's betrothal to Louis-Auguste—the soon-to-be crowned king of France—and the glitzy, glamorous and grandiose beingness they lived earlier they were guillotined during the French Revolution. 

But up of Marie taking her final breath, she was viewed as, er, driblet dormant gorgeous. After all, she earned the rubric of the queen of style. So, however was the precocious royal's je ne sais quoi encapsulated connected the show? Head constitution creator Mathilde Humeau turned to the past books, using them arsenic a palette to transform histrion Emilia Schüle into the enchanting queen.

"The play called for makeup," Mathilde exclusively told E! News. "It was a luxury for the precocious class. The much constitution you wore, the much affluent you were. I judge for this crushed she would person chosen to usage constitution to amplify her beauty. This unsocial would person been an vantage wrong the gossipy tribunal of Louis XV."

Cosmetics would've served different intent arsenic well, according to the constitution artist, who said it helped "mask the conditions."

At the time, cosmetics were formulated with lead—a toxic metallic known to origin precocious humor pressure, kidney harm and different wellness issues, per the World Health Organization. In particular, the astir fashionable tegument whitener utilized among royals and different aristocrats was called Venetian ceruse oregon Spirits of Saturn. The lead-based merchandise would've near the wearer with scars, spots and disfigurements, which is wherefore they'd use much layers of it onto their look to screen up their imperfections. Thus, creating a vicious cycle.

Marie's devotion to quality went beyond coating her look though.

In her research, Mathilde discovered that the empress concocted her ain elixirs, creating the celebrated look lavation Eau Cosmetique de Pigeon—"which, yes, was crafted utilizing the vertebrate itself," the constitution creator shared. "According to the Toilette of Health, Beauty, and Fashion, the look included the foodstuff of h2o lilies, melons, cucumbers and lemons, arsenic good arsenic the crumbs of French rolls, achromatic vino and stewed pigeons."

Marie would past code her tegument with Eau des Charmes, an astringent made of drops exuded by grapevines successful May.

"Her signature look mask, which is inactive fashionable successful France today," Mathidle noted, "was made from 2 teaspoons of circulation-stimulating cognac, 1/3 cupful of adust beverage powder, brightening citrus foodstuff and 1 ovum white."