The height of the coiffure or headdress - including hair, false hair, powder, hats and ornaments as one creation - increased in height after Marie Antoinette became queen. By 1778 it was often more than 20 inches high, sometimes as high as 3 feet, and ornamented to a theme of the day. A coiffure a la flore, for example, would include a basket of flowers perched on the mass of hair, while a coiffure a la victoire would involve the classical wreath of oak or laurel leaves.

Scented starch was used as face powder and to powder the hair until gray. Rouge was used not as delicate shading but in precise circles of unnatural color. Beauty patches in the shapes of circles, stars and crescent moons were carefully placed to draw attention to dimples or features of particular beauty.