Okay to be fair some women look completely different with and without makeup. This likely wasn't the case in Cinderella because of when and where the story took place. It likely was the case that simply because of how cleaned up she was vs her normal appearance it would have been that the prince didn't recognize her filthy and covered in ash. The best answer I found as to why no one recognized her was, "In the earlier versions of the story she cleans the fireplace regularly and is often smeared by the ash (and cinders, hence ‘Cinderella’ which isn’t her real name, just a nasty nickname). She does the cooking, over the smoky fire. She does the cleaning. So she’s grubby, dirty, ashy and smokey. All the time, for years. They’ve forgotten what she used to look like, and she’s grown up and changed a little.
The fairy godmother cleans her up: without the smudges, and with clean hair and nice clothes, she’s not easy to recognize, especially as they don’t expect to see her there."
Now I also had to wonder about what kinds of makeup she or her godmother would have used. I had thought it might have been heavy but with some research I learned it was yes/no. Apparently, in Victorian England woman were publicly discouraged from wearing alot of makeup but at the same time encourage to wear whatever they could get away with if it didn't look like a lot of makeup. Fairly interesting article here: https://hair-and-makeup-artist.com/womens-victorian-makeup/
Almost completely useless knowledge but hey that's the best kind right? I now, a 39yr male, know more about the types and uses of makeup in the Victorian era than I did and will likely never use that knowledge again. Cheers!!
The fairy godmother cleans her up: without the smudges, and with clean hair and nice clothes, she’s not easy to recognize, especially as they don’t expect to see her there."
Almost completely useless knowledge but hey that's the best kind right? I now, a 39yr male, know more about the types and uses of makeup in the Victorian era than I did and will likely never use that knowledge again. Cheers!!