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| Norma Shearer as Marie Antoinette |
Although it's a subjective thing, I'm quite partial to the sight of a well-formed, well placed, dark mole. As it happens, I'm certainly not alone there, as in 18th Century Europe, when men were fops and vied with women to be prettier than they, dark 'beauty spots' were quite the thing for both sexes.
If nature didn't supply you with a perfect, natural mole, you could stick one, two or even three, strategically on your face using gum. You didn't just have to confine yourself to the conventional circle either, as the beauty spots were available in stars, hearts, teardrops and crescent moon shapes.
The spots were called mouches, the French word for flies, which is a pretty unappealing, if apt, name, and were made from velvet or silk. They were worn by both women and men and provided a dramatic, dark contrast to the highly elaborate and very pale, powdered wigs and hair extensions worn during the same period. The mid to late 18th Century was a particularly flamboyant period for fashion, especially in the French court of Versailles, which was the fashion capital of the day.
As a stylistic fashion statement the decorative mole has never entirely gone away and every know and then there's a bit of a resurgance in popularity. Marilyn Monroe started a craze for them in the mid 20th Century, as did Madonna and Cindy Crawford some decades later.
Monroe Piercing
Image from Wikipedia
Photo by Laurie Bartley
Also known as a Madonna or Crawford, the Monroe piercing is a stud or labret worn in the position a decorative mole would usually be ideally placed.The variation on this is Angelbites, which appear on both sides of the lip.
One bonus of the Monroe piercing is that, because the area is soft, there are few nerves, thus it's a relatively painless place to be pierced. The area around the lip also heals faster. One disadvantage is that the constant rubbing of metal on the gums and teeth area can cause damage, although this can be offset by using plastic backs on the studs.
Applied Beauty Spots
Stick-on beauty spots can be hard to find these days - the beauty industry is generally more concerned with removing spots than applying them. There are however, a few companies that make them. Hoottiedots is one:
With a little imagination, you could always make your own.
Johnson and Johnson assorted beauty spots. Alas, no longer available
Tattooed beauty spot by Crown of Beauty
Tattooed Beauty Spots
I'm not sure I'd be too keen on this option as they never seem to look entirely natural but if a permanent beauty spot is what you're after, it's easy enough to go to a cosmetic tattooist and get one.Cosmetic tattooists specialise in permanent make-up and they can tattoo a mole for you in a variety of shades, sizes and position it wherever you desire. The tattoos take about ten days to heal, providing there's no complicating infections, which would be fairly rare.
