Did you know that fashionable women in 18th-century Mexico sometimes glued giant black circles to their temples?

Known as chiqueadores, these unusual beauty accessories were worn by wealthy women throughout colonial Mexico, then known as New Spain. While they may seem bizarre today, they were considered the height of fashion among elite society.

Some historians believe they began as medicinal patches used to relieve headaches and migraines. Others point to a fascinating 18th-century courtship guide that suggested beauty patches could secretly communicate a woman's romantic status. A patch on one side might indicate her heart was taken, while the other could signal she was available for courtship.

Influenced by European beauty trends and royal portraits of Queen Maria Luisa of Parma, chiqueadores became one of the most distinctive fashion statements in colonial Mexican history.

History is full of strange beauty trends — but few are as unusual as this one.

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