The oldest 'lipstick' in the world is 4,000 years old and Iranian. Researchers have analyzed and identified the contents of a finely sculpted chlorite bottle, dated by radiocarbon between 1900 and 1700 BC.
It is of a dark red cosmetic preparation, based on hematite, manganite and braunite, mixed with waxes and vegetable oils, which, due to its specific composition - very similar to that of a modern lipstick - was probably used to color the lips.