Long before cosmetic surgery or social media filters, fashionable Europeans were creating their own version of the perfect complexion.

Beginning in the late 1600s and reaching the height of fashion in the 1700s, women and men at royal courts wore tiny black beauty patches, also known by the French name mouches, meaning "flies." Made from black silk, velvet, satin, or taffeta, the patches created the illusion of a perfectly placed beauty mark against the pale white complexion that was considered the height of elegance.

Not every patch was made from fabric. Some were cut from the thin, dark skin of a mouse, complete with its fine fur. The material was flexible, lightweight, and convincing enough to resemble a natural mole.

Beauty patches were fashionable, but they were also practical. Smallpox left many people with permanent facial scars, and the tiny patches provided an elegant way to conceal blemishes while drawing attention to the eyes, lips, or cheeks.

The patches came in far more than simple circles. Fashionable shapes included stars, crescents, hearts, diamonds, and tiny moons. Some people wore several at once, turning their faces into carefully arranged works of art.

Beauty patches are often said to have sent a secret message, with one position signaling flirtation and another expressing romance or discretion. While certain placements did become associated with particular qualities, historians have found little evidence that everyone followed a fixed code. More often, patches were placed wherever they best enhanced the wearer's features or balanced the overall look.