Nail polish originated in China and dates back to 3000 BCE. Around 600 BCE, during the Zhou dynasty, the royal house preferred the colors gold and silver. However, red and black eventually replaced these metallic colors as royal favorites. During the Ming dynasty, nail polish was often made from a mixture that included beeswax, egg whites, gelatin, vegetable dyes, and gum arabic.
In Egypt, the lower classes wore pale colors, whereas high society painted their nails reddish brown, with henna. Mummified pharaohs also had their nails painted with henna.
In Europe, Frederick S. N. Douglas, while travelling in Greece in 1810–12, noticed that the Greek women used to paint their nails "dingy pink", which he understood as an ancient custom. Early nail polish formulas were created using basic ingredients such as lavender oil, carmine, oxide tin, and bergamot oil. It was more common to polish nails with tinted powders and creams, finishing off by buffing the nail until left shiny. One type of polishing product sold around this time was Graf's Hyglo nail polish paste.
