Chapter 279 Cosmetics
Franz was concentrating on scribbling and correcting a winter melon the size of a human face on the desk, euphemistically calling it a creation, which surprised Adjani.
After all, as far as she knew, although the Grand Duke showed great admiration for the artist on the surface, after contacting him in private, she found that he did not understand art at all, let alone spend time on such trivial matters that had nothing to do with running the country.
Out of curiosity, she decided to approach quietly; after walking around the table, she suddenly saw a human face on the winter melon.
"Ah!!!" Adjani's sharp cry made Franz's eardrums feel the stinging sensation of listening to a soprano singing at close range.
"Oh my God! Did you mean to scare me to death?"
"Well... can you tell me how a face grows on a winter melon?" She said with an extremely exaggerated expression. She even tried to get up several times, but fell down again because she was immersed in an atmosphere of panic and extreme confusion.
This is of course not because she is not smart enough or has little knowledge, but because people of that era have cognitive limitations.
It is hard for us to believe that until the 1980s, the top list of Westerners' most feared things was still occupied by werewolves and vampires.
The Asian magic used by Franz was completely legendary for Adjani, and even exceeded her imagination.
People's fear of the unknown is almost instinctive, which made her look very out of control.
"What's this? It's just a painting."
Franz said casually.
"Painted? Do you know what you are talking about? How come there are eyebrows on a winter melon?"
Franz then pulled off the eyebrows from Winter Melon's face and placed them in front of her.
"Look carefully, don't you think 'she' looks a little familiar?"
The latter shook his head.
"It's made from the hair you shed."
Franz took out another large plate with various powders in it.
"This is makeup."
"Cosmetics?" Adjani gradually understood. It seemed that what was placed in front of her was some kind of high-tech product. "It's similar to the mixture of white lead, white wax, and arsenic you used, except that this thing is much safer and has more tricks."
Franz has long been dissatisfied with the morbid aesthetics of this era - whiteness is regarded as beauty. That kind of whiteness is not a healthy whiteness, but a sickly paleness like a dead person.
So tuberculosis in this era was called an elegant disease. Some Europeans even take the initiative to get this disease in order to pursue this so-called elegance.
Romantic literature at that time highly praised tuberculosis, calling it a love disease. In writers' writings, tuberculosis patients are often portrayed as noble people with romantic, tenderness, persistence, elegance, sentimentality, sentimentality and artistic accomplishment.
Franz, who came from a later generation, didn't like dead faces.
So when a series of cosmetics such as makeup and foundation were developed, he brought them into the palace, preparing to personally take the lead in fundamentally changing the palace and the people's preference for this perverted aesthetic.
The east has small feet and the west has a thin waist. Everyone is a pervert, no one can blame anyone.
Adjani's eyes moved quickly between the cosmetics, Franz, and the winter melon, trying to confirm the relationship between the three.
Franz looked at the other person's expression as if his brain was overloaded and couldn't help but say.
"Would you like to experience it for yourself?"
"What did you say?" At this time, Adjani completely lost her usual mature, intellectual and confident appearance, like a silly girl who didn't understand anything.
"Close your eyes." She obeyed. After a quarter of an hour, Franz stopped what he was doing. After all, this Polish lady had a good foundation and did not need to wear too much makeup to highlight her appearance.
"Can I open my eyes?" Adjani asked.
"Yes, go look in the mirror." Franz said with a smile. He was quite confident in his masterpiece. Adjani walked to the mirror and was stunned by the sight in front of her.
She couldn't believe her eyes, as if she saw herself more than ten years ago again, and tears suddenly flowed out like broken beads.
"Don't cry, tears will turn your makeup into mud!"
After she heard it, she immediately wiped it with her hands subconsciously. Of course, the result became more and more confused. After seeing her makeup and tears turning into "mud", she couldn't stop crying.
Under this cycle of evil deeds, Adjani's appearance soon turned into a big painted face.
"Okay, don't be sentimental and go rinse it off."
Adjani stubbornly didn't want to leave the mirror and tried to put the makeup back on with her hands. Franz had no choice but to persuade.
"If you are really reluctant to part with it, why not give you a few sets? You can study it slowly in your spare time in the future."
"Really?" She was immersed in disappointment a few minutes ago and immediately became excited again. After all, there is no upper limit to a woman's pursuit of appearance.
"When have I lied to you? Go ahead. Cosmetics are designed to be used by people. As my right-hand man, you will naturally receive preferential treatment." Franz said with a smile.
Adjani kissed Franz on the cheek excitedly, and then rushed to the bathroom.
In fact, in addition to these simple cosmetics, there are also some more complex and expensive similar products in the process of being developed.
When this project was first proposed, not many professors showed interest in it. Even the cosmetics in Franz's hands were made by himself by mixing kaolin + clay + natural dyes.
However, hard work paid off, and several professors finally changed their initial attitudes. There were even students at the Royal Academy for Women in Vienna who began to study chemistry in preparation for devoting themselves to this research that they regarded as highly mysterious.
The price of cosmetics during this period was ridiculously high. A bottle of soju lotion usually cost between 1 and 20 gold louis, and the most expensive could even reach 200 gold louis. (Note: 1 gold Louis = 20 francs) The cost of these cosmetics is usually less than 1 franc; so if this advantage can be better utilized, and with the effective cooperation of industrial model production, the cost can be further reduced.
At this time, the price of cosmetics on the Austrian Empire market usually ranged from 10 to 100 florins. However, the most expensive one was a rose essential oil that cost up to 15,000 florins.
Franz aimed at the mid-to-high-end market. After all, given the poor spending power and desires of the poor at that time, they were not able to enjoy expensive luxury jewelry. Therefore, he was confident that his products could easily beat those on the market at that time. similar products.
At the same time, it can rely on enough influence to compete with those merchants for market share; just the word "royal" can be worth the hundreds of years of painstaking efforts and sky-high advertising expenses of those merchants.
However, he still had some misunderstandings about the cosmetics market at that time, that is, the era of metallic foundation had passed, replaced by rice powder and pearl powder.
Taking white as beauty is just a taste of the upper class. On the contrary, pink makeup has won the love of the emerging citizen class in the city, so the rouge box is the mainstream of this era.
Ruddy cheeks are considered a sign of good health, so women often use blush or rouge to brighten their appearance.
However, the foundations and cosmetics of this era were still mainly single-toned, which was still several grades behind the makeup developed by Franz.
As for the production of high-priced rose essential oil, liposuction was still used at that time, which not only consumed a lot of manpower and time, but was also a huge waste of raw materials.
The simplest method in the industrial era is of course the distillation method. The principle is to use the insoluble nature of oil in water to achieve large-scale oil-water separation. This is simple, effective and cheap.
The purified industrial product is actually close to the effect of liposuction.
In fact, even if the liposuction method is used, the price of the product has not changed, so Franz is very sure to win by this method. After all, the strength and status of the two parties are not at the same level.
Of course, this prince who admires the fierce collision of technology will not drive people to death. He will leave a part of the market share for the other party; even if the other party is willing, they can join his industry and become one of its departments.
Thanks to book friends I Have a Sword Named All Things One and Brother KFC for their rewards.