The face cream is not a product of the modern beauty industry. It is one of the oldest manufactured objects in the human relationship with the body, predating perfume counters and skincare routines and the entire vocabulary of self-care by several thousand years.
Ancient Egyptian preparations combined animal fat with plant extracts. Roman cold cream was made from beeswax, rose water, and olive oil, a formula so effective that its basic principle has never been replaced, only refined. In Renaissance Europe, women applied ceruse, a preparation of white lead and vinegar, to achieve the pale complexion the period demanded, fully aware of the damage it caused and continuing regardless.
What has changed since is the packaging, the marketing, and the price range. What has not changed is the gesture: a small amount of something carefully made, applied to the face, every morning and every evening, for a lifetime. That kind of persistence is not vanity. It is maintenance of the body's most exposed and expressive surface, and it has never required a trend to justify it.