Story of Pearls
Pearl
Beauty Benefits of Pearls
Pearls containing amino acids and natural minerals whiten freckles and make the skin look brilliant.
Pearls also can be used for preventing skin aging,
senile freckles, flecks, acne and furuncles.
As pearls contain over 20 kinds of minerals and various bioactive substances,
they have high whitening, moisturizing, cell-regenerating and cleaning effects.
Pearl powder has been used by noble women, including Cleopatra and Yang Guifei,
as an expensive cosmetic material and a medicine from old times.
Water-soluble pearl powder enhances skin immunity through maintaining the skin mild acid,
prevents skin aging, does moisturizing, promotes blood circulation and cell regeneration,
improves skin tones of faces and makes the skin clear and clean with its cleaning power.
To use pearl powder as a beauty material promotes absorption of cosmetics and makes the skin white and smooth.
Efficacy of Pearls as Described by Heo Jun in
“People can remove black spots, make their faces look brilliant and improve their complexions through mixing pearl powder with milk and applying it on their faces. ”
“Pearls which are cold and nonpoisonous can make the body and mind peaceful, protect eyes and suppresses furuncles.”
“Pearls appease the mind and the body, brighten eyes and make the face look younger.
Pearls cure the deaf and skin swelling of hands and feet.”
Women Who Really Loved Pearls
Empress Myeongseong
According to records, Empress Myeongseong regularly used pearl powder. It is not clear how pearl powder was conveyed to her or if pearl powder used by Empress Myeongseong was domestically produced or foreign-made, but it is assumed that it was produced in Russia considering that the empress was well acquainted with the wife of a Russian official named Karl Ivanovich Weber.
Cleopatra
Cleopatra invited Antony whenever there was party, but a part was not so surprising for Romans who were accustomed to delicious foods. When Antony blamed Cleopatra, she ordered a chamberlain to put vinegar in a wineglass and bring it. Cleopatra put her pearl earring which was the oldest and the most beautiful earring in the world in the glass and drank it after watching the earring melting. The other remaining pearl earring was brought to Rome as a trophy and became an earring of the statue of Venus of a temple at a party.
Empress Wu Zetian
Empress Wu Zetian who was very sensual had many male concubines. At that time, she supplemented energy through taking pearls. As a result, Empress Wu Zetian still stayed young and energetic when she was 63.
Empress Dowager
As pearls contain up to 92% of calcium carbonate, over 20 kinds of microelements, various vitamins and bioactive components, they are good for calcium supplementation and have effects of synthetic nourishment. Empress Dowager knew that pearls should be boiled and taken with ‘sundubu’ together to improve their wter-solubility and absorptivity and effectiveness. According to Chinese medicine, milk of women with abundant calcium is easily absorbed into the body and is good for supplemening yin energy. Empress Dowager took pearl powder and mother’s milk for long and corrected calcium shortage within her body, so she could remove lack of yin energy and could preserve her youth with a brilliant face and elastic skin. This can be said the beginning of water-soluble pearl powder.