What is the popular term for stage makeup?

By the 1840s, most theatre stages in the western world had adopted gas lighting in preference to candles or oil lamps. Gaslight was brighter, made the stage more visible and could be dimmed with taps through a gas table. However, the brighter gaslight was not without its problems; it showed up shoddy costumes, sets, and theatre interiors, and made many existing stage techniques unusable. Actors were also flooded with light which some players considered very unsatisfactory.

As brighter lighting became more common, actors were forced to change the way they dressed, acted and used make-up. The old powder make-up did not cope well with the new lighting conditions – which washed colour from the face – but there was no viable alternative until commercial greasepaint became available in the 1870s. Some actors stayed with powder after greasepaint was introduced but by the 1890s – when major theatres had installed even brighter electrical lighting – greasepaint had become an essential component of an actor’s toolkit.

The use of greasy substances in western theatrical make-up goes back to at least the eighteenth century when W. R. Chetwood (1749) described the use of ivory-black mixed into grease for blackening the face. It was removed with fresh butter.