Japanese Traditional Rouge Made From A Flower Called 'Benibana (Red-Flower)

In the connection I introduced one kind of beautiful red flower we can enjoy in fall in my previous post on the September 14th, I'd like to introduce a flower called "Benibana (Red-flower)" today. The flower is shown in the lower middle photo above. 

It doesn't look very red against the name. The reason why it got the name "Red-flower" would come from a fact that this flower has been one of the major ingredients for red color material since ancient times in Japan. Especially for cosmetic usage, the red color made from this flower had been the most expensive rouge that a lot of women had had a longing for putting on.

Actually there is one company that is still producing this traditional Japanese rouge even now although traditional rouges became almost extinct. They are now replaced with lipsticks made from chemical ingredients. The amount of the traditional rouge would be too small to find in shops nowadays. However you can see and try it at the manufacturing company's headquarter office in Minato-ku, Tokyo, because they have a small museum inside of their headquarter building.

You might think the traditional rouge doesn't have much color variation since it is made from only Benibana (Red-flower). In fact the line-up of it has a variety of different sizes and containers only. The color material itself is just one kind, but still you can enjoy all the colors in the color-sample shown on the left hand side photo. actually the color on lips can be changed depending on the layers of the rouge. In other word, people can make stronger colors by putting it on many times. 

Then, how strong color can be made on lips with the rouge? The deep pink color on the bottom of the color-sample is not the final state. It can go much further. Interestingly, when the color was put so many times, it will get a metallic green color as you can see in the lower right hand side photo. To tell the truth, the metallic color is the original color of the rouge when you open the container. The rouge is water-soluble, so people need to wet their lip-brush with water and make a solution of the color when they put it on their lips. After the color was put many times and got dry, it becomes the metallic green color again even on lips.

Have people ever used the metallic green color (which is called "Buprestid Beetle Color" in Japan) on their lips actually? Yes. Apparently during Samurai era some people who were edgy of fashion trend enjoyed using the color. However, it costed a lot, because to make the color the rouge needs to be put on so many times. It is like one small container can be finished at one time. 

Now you would understand why it was the most expensive rouge. What's more, it requires so many steps for the manufacturing process. As you can see the ingredient flowers in the photos above, they are almost yellow. The red constituent in the coloring matters is only 1% and 99% of the coloring matters is yellow. Therefore unbelievably huge amount of the flower petals are needed to make the rouge. That also makes it very expensive. The museum inside of the company building shows how the red color has been made out of the flower petals with their traditional way.

You can buy this rouge at the headquarter office. The smallest size costs 9000 Yen (about $89 with today's rate), but be careful if you try the green metallic color on your lips the price will be just for one time use!