makeup and all that face-smeary fun

So I found this antique tube of lipstick and it's a gorgeous color. It got me thinking about modern makeup, and how some of it just looks like the person tried to tie dye themselves, and some of it is nice and laid-back. I've never really seen the benefits of wearing makeup, other than for the stage, to hide tiredness, or to modestly highlight certain features. I wear chapstick and cream, but that's only in winter because that time of year here makes your skin look something like this.
I've been thinking of trying to wear some of this stuff though, like 50s cat eyes, red lipstick, etc. makeup is such an iconic thing, and I want to experience it for that sake. I've really been terrified of lipstick ever since I found out that it used to contain dangerous chochineal beetle extracts. http://www.ecouterre.com/crushed-red-bugs-are-in-your-lipstick-too/
http://www.treehugger.com/htgg/how-to-go-green-natural-skin-care.html
http://www.ewg.org/skindeep/#
Fascinating reading about historic cosmetics: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lipstick
Some of the things in this article that I found interesting:
"Carmine dye was expensive and the look of carmine colored lipstick was considered unnatural and theatrical, so lipstick was frowned upon for everyday wear. Only actors and actresses could get away with wearing lipstick. In 1880, few stage actresses wore lipstick in public. The famous actress, Sarah Bernhardt, began wearing lipstick and rouge in public. Before the late 19th century, women only applied makeup at home." 
"During the Second World War, metal lipstick tubes were replaced by plastic and paper tubes. Lipstick was scarce during that time because some of the essential ingredients of lipstick, petroleum and castor oil, were unavailable."
"A study by US consumer group Campaign For Safe Cosmetics, in October 2007 found 60 percent of lipsticks tested contained trace amounts of lead, especially in red lipsticks.^[30] The levels of lead varied from 0.03 to 0.65 parts per million. One third of the lipsticks containing lead exceeded the 0.1ppm limit set by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for lead in candy." 
Aaaaand no more candy for me.
I have an amusing image in my head of young women, when they want to become makeup-artists and cosmetologists, having to sit in a test taking room and fill in things about the histories of all the different makeups and brushes and things. The following links look useful and also quite scandalous re makeup companies...
http://www.ewg.org/skindeep/myths-on-cosmetics-safety/
http://www.treehugger.com/htgg/how-to-go-green-natural-skin-care.html
http://www.ewg.org/skindeep/#
"Cosmetic ingredients do not remain on the surface of the skin. They are designed to penetrate, and they do. Scientists have found many common cosmetic ingredients in human tissues, including phthalates in urine, preservatives called parabens in breast tumor tissue and persistent fragrance components in human fat. Do the concentrations at which they are typically found pose risks? For the most part, those studies have not been done. But a small but growing number of studies serve as scientific red flags (Swan 2005, Sathyanarayana 2008, Swan 2010)."