THREAD: Explanation of some makeup elements iconic to China's Northern and Southern Dynasties ( #mulan 's time) + the Sui and Tang dynasties (so ~400-900 CE) 1/?

Huadian are probably the most iconic of these. The styles below are all from actual artifacts depicting women back then.

In the Ballad of Mulan, one of the first things she did after going home is stick on a yellow flower huadian, heavily associated with unmarried women 2/?

Xiehong aren't depicted a lot in modern media, but you see them all the time on artifacts. I suspect they were used to slim the face? They're also called Dawn Makeup 晓霞妆, so it's possible that you're supposed to smear it, but I haven't seen that done 3/?

Yedian, dimple dots!! The origin of this one is a little...um...but whatever, it really does look cute lol 4/?