Ancient Egyptians used stibnite to make blueish black mascara, giving their eyes allure (and the origin of the 72 black-eyed virgins?). You can still see the Latin origin of antimony's name stibium in its modern chemical symbol:
The alchemist's symbol for antimony is:
which sort of resembles an upside down (heels over head?) version of the female symbol.
According to the Wiki, antimony is no longer used in mascara. Instead, carbon black (the same stuff that makes tires black) is used. link
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| Needles of stibnite in calcite |
