"An exhibition? Are the lip papers going to be featured there too?" Annie asked, her eyes blinking in surprise.
She was well-acquainted with the concept of an exhibition—after all, she, Nicole, and Helen were the ones in charge of organizing it. However, the sudden appearance of these lip papers was a complete surprise.
"Yes, we'll promote them at the exhibition," Nicole nodded firmly. This had been her plan all along.
"Goodness... the women will go absolutely mad," Annie said, rolling her eyes. Thinking of the sheer frenzy the noble ladies were capable of, she felt a lingering sense of dread.
Lucy stood quietly to the side. She didn't quite know what an exhibition was and felt it wasn't her place to interrupt. Having joined Sedona City only recently, she still felt a bit reserved.
"Alright, this is our chance," Nicole said, pressing her lips together before changing the subject. "Let's move on to the remaining two items."
"How do we make them?" Annie asked eagerly. The lip papers had already delighted her, and now she couldn't wait to see what was next.
"Next is the rouge cream (blush). It's designed to give the cheeks a beautiful, rosy pink glow," Nicole said, knowing full well this would make their eyes light up.
"It can actually make cheeks rosy?" Annie shouted excitedly. She was still young, and a bit of excitement was enough to turn her cheeks pink naturally. However, she had seen many middle-aged women, especially noble ladies, whose skin was pale or covered in blemishes. She often worried if she would look like that when she grew older.
"That's what the Master said. We'll know once we try," Nicole replied, sharing the same concerns as the fox girl.
"Tell us what to do, we're ready," Lucy added, equally moved. No woman is indifferent to the fear of losing her beauty as she ages.
"First, we prepare the dye," Nicole said. She took the beeswax, placed it in a ceramic cup, and poured in some of the dried hibiscus dye they had prepared earlier. She handed the cup to Lucy. "Place this cup in hot water to melt the beeswax."
"On it!" Lucy was bursting with energy.
"And what about me? What should I do?" Annie asked, standing on her tiptoes.
"We're going to mix the base powder for the rouge," Nicole said, bringing out several bottles containing various powders.
"What are these?" Annie asked curiously.
"This is rose powder, cornstarch, and pearl powder," Nicole introduced them one by one.
"Wait—pearl powder? As in, made from actual pearls?" Lucy gasped in shock.
"Yes, powder ground from real pearls," Nicole confirmed.
"Lucy, don't be so surprised. We aren't exactly short on pearls," Annie said, waving her hand while suppressing a giggle. Sedona City certainly didn't lack pearls—specifically small ones. Many small pearls found in the Treasure Pavilion were collected; some were used for medicine, but she hadn't expected them to be used in rouge. She could already imagine how high the price for this cream would be.
"Not short on pearls..." Lucy's eye twitched. Even as a princess, she had never been able to say such a thing.
"We mix the three powders in the correct proportions, then pour in the mixture of beeswax, hibiscus, rose, and comfrey dye. Stir it evenly, and that's it." Nicole kept stirring, adding dye until a pink cream finally formed.
"It's done! It really is pink!" Annie grinned.
"Extraordinary," Lucy marveled, barely resisting the urge to touch it.
"Now, for the last one: eyebrow tinting cream (brow pomade). It's for drawing eyebrows, making them dark and allowing you to shape them however you like," Nicole chuckled, as if remembering something. She thought of her mother, whose eyebrows were uneven and who used to secretly use charcoal to draw them, nearly scraping her skin raw. Nicole certainly didn't want to use charcoal for her brows.
"For eyebrows?" Lucy's eyes sparkled. This was yet another item that would win any girl's heart. For some reason, many women naturally had thin or sparse eyebrows, which only got thinner with age. Without eyebrows, a face could look quite strange or even plain. In this era, using charcoal was the standard, albeit clumsy, solution.
"Same process as before, but this time we melt the beeswax with dried fruit oil," Nicole said softly.
"I've got it," Lucy said, moving nimbly.
"Which powders this time?" Annie peered at the notebook. "Indigo powder, bamboo charcoal powder, and... coffee powder?"
"This time, the powders are all dark tones." Nicole took out three more bottles, mixed them in proportion, and added the beeswax and oil mixture. Soon, a dark eyebrow tinting cream was ready.
"Is that it?" Annie looked at the three items in front of her with wonder.
If Lucas were there, he would have called it the Cosmetic Trio. The lip papers were the lipstick, the rouge cream was the blush/makeup, and the tinting cream was the brow liner. An otherworldly version of a makeup starter kit.
"Come, let's test them," Nicole smiled, pulling the fox girl over to start working on her face.
"Wow, so pretty!" Lucy cried out in surprise, her eyes shimmering. The current Annie looked less like a young girl and more mature and noble—she finally looked like a true princess.
"Come, Lucy, your turn," Nicole turned to Lucy.
"Okay!" Lucy nodded repeatedly, her eyes full of anticipation.
"Close your eyes," Nicole whispered. She began to trace Lucy's features, lightly defining her brows, adding a touch of rouge to her cheeks, and finishing with the red lip paper. It took only a few minutes.
"Princess... now you truly look like royalty," Annie exclaimed. Looking at Lucy's cold, elegant beauty, the usual air of frailty had vanished.
"If you two go out now, you'll definitely draw a massive crowd," Nicole said with a satisfied smile. She had successfully created the trio Lucas had described.
"These will definitely be fought over. They might even be more popular than perfume," Annie said with certainty.
"Yes, these three items are incredible," Lucy agreed. She was once again amazed by Lucas's genius. He had created something that could generate even more wealth than his previous inventions.
"These three, plus perfume, will be the 'Four Essentials' for every noble girl," Nicole said, squinting her eyes as if she could already see the gold coins flying toward them. Only a woman could truly understand the magnetic pull of these four items.
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You can read advance chapters and view R-18 images of the characters on pat reon page.
pat reon.com/GreenBlue17
200 power stones.
Top 100. All time.