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Kerry Grist

Kerry is an Assistant Curator who works with the Science Museum Group Collection at Blythe House, and was previously a Collections Assistant for the Medicine Galleries.

The modern-day cosmetic market is vast, with many people following beauty regimes to some degree every single day. This is nothing new, with evidence of embellished looks seen in Egyptian drawings and referenced in the works of Roman philosophers. But throughout history, the search for beauty has come with risks – as far back as in Ancient Egypt the iconic heavy lined eye look was achieved with kohl, a black powder made from galena, a mineral form of lead sulfide.