Ukubhuda/ukucomba…..Makeup

This is a beautiful woman from Matobo. She has done to her face what is called ukucomba or ukubhuda. This is very similar to the face powders used today but very different. This woman used soil. She had different types of colours for the art. She also used ash which is the base coat, just like nowadays there are foundations. She then applies the brown soil ontop which goes with her skin colour. So do women these days, they use powders according to their skin colour. Then she damps the other colours which she is going to use for the art. It is damped so that it lasts and comes out nicely on the face. For the lip colour she uses a coal.
Face paintings were popular back then.