Cosmetics

“ The various cosmetics sold by perfumers, assuming such miraculous powers of beautifying the complexion, all contain, in different proportions, preparations of mercury, alcohol, acids, and other deleterious substances, which are highly injurious to the skin; and their continual application will be found to tarnish it, and produce furrows and wrinkles far more unsightly than those of age, beside which they are frequently absorbed by the vessels of the skin, enter the system, and seriously disturb the general health. ”

“ Our thanks, too, should be given to Science for ridding us of the old danger that was latent in the use of cosmetics. Nowadays they cannot, being purged of any poisonous element, do harm to the skin that they make beautiful. There need be no more sowing the seeds of destruction in the furrows of time, no martyrs to the cause like Maria, Countess of Coventry, that fair dame but infelix, who died, so they relate, from the effect of a poisonous rouge upon her lips. ”

“ Though we men will garner these oblique boons, it is into the hands of women that Artifice gives her pigments. I know, I know that many men in a certain sect of society have shown a marked tendency to the use of cosmetics. ”

“ By its use every kind of spots, impurities, roughness, etc., vanish from the skin, leaving it soft, clear, brilliant, and beautiful. It is harmless, costs little, and saves hundreds of dollars uselessly expended for cosmetics, powders, lotions, etc. It prevents and removes WRINKLES, and is both a complexion preserver and beautifier. Famous society ladies, actresses, belles, etc., use it.
Valuable illustrated pamphlet, with proofs and full particulars, mailed free by
THE TOILET MASK CO., 1167 Broadway, New York. ”

“ The deliciously inconsistent part of the whole thing is that no respectable woman ever dreamed of daubing herself up with cosmetics the way the ordinary barber plasters most men with powder and perfumed hair-tonic and toilet dope of all sorts. We have seen fat middle-aged men come out of a barber-shop with their face massaged and powdered, their hair greased back, their mustache waxed, their eyebrows smoothed into place, and their hands manicured, doing their utmost to look and smell like beautiful Circassian slaves. ”

“ To those, however, whose decayed countenances seem to justify them in the use of cosmetics, or, who are determined to employ them, instead of attending to the more effectual means of preserving the bloom of their skin, it may perhaps be of service to point out two or three harmless external applications, chiefly with a view to prevent them from using dangerous and pernicious specifics. ”

“ The use of skin cosmetics and paints is of remote antiquity, but varies in different nations according to their civilization and their sense of beauty. While among certain Oriental nations dark blue rings around the eyes, with yellow lips and nails, pass for beautiful, the European prizes only a white skin with a delicate tinge of red ”

“ It was after that, emboldened by pleasure and success, that I went back to that first drugstore. The Encyclopedia volume I had taken from the library, besides containing the information I wanted on Colorado, had an article on Cosmetics. I decided powder was unnecessary, although I could understand easily enough how important it must be to the native women, with their thick skin and large pores and patchy coloring; that accounted for the fact that the men were mostly so much uglier ... and I wondered if Larry used it, and if that was why his skin looked so much better than the others'. ”

“ In very cold weather a veil should be worn to protect the face from the cold and winds. In summer a parasol should always be carried, to protect the eyes and brain as well as the face from the hot rays of the sun.
The Use of So-called Cosmetics for the Face.—All skin specialists, and these are in the very best position to judge of the great amount of harm that is done, say emphatically that the use of face lotions and “paints” can only work the lasting injury of the complexion. They may assist in hiding the defects of nature, but they frequently contribute to increase these defects. ”

“ The woman behind the counter knew exactly what I should have, and was not interested in hearing any of my opinions. She even told me how to apply the mascara, which was helpful, since the other two were obvious, and anyhow I'd seen them used on television, and the lipstick especially I had seen women use since I'd been here.
It turned out to be a little more difficult than it looked, when I tried it. Cosmetics apparently take a good deal more experience than clothing, if you want to have it look right. ”

“ Unless a woman's loveliness springs from generosity of heart and sympathy, her manners, no matter how perfectly practised, are nothing but cosmetics applied to hide a want of inner beauty; precisely as rouge and powder are applied in the hope of hiding the lack of a beautiful skin. One device is about as successful as the other ”

“ John Emerson is helping May Collins with her make-up, while Anita Loos and the director, Victor Fleming, give suggestions.
Although most women use cosmetics in their every-day life, they are lamentably ignorant of the principles of make-up. For example, not one woman in a hundred knows that she should never rouge her face until she has put on her hat, since the shadow and line of the hat changes the whole color and composition of her face. The average man's knowledge of the subject is limited to the use of powder after shaving. ”

“ What, sir, to say nothing more, can one be forever dealing in macassar oil, hair dyes, cosmetics, false moustaches, wigs, and toupees, and still believe that men are wholly what they look to be? What think you, sir, are a thoughtful barber's reflections, when, behind a careful curtain, he shaves the thin, dead stubble off a head, and then dismisses it to the world, radiant in curling auburn? ”

“ The first, the greatest, the commonest, the best of all cosmetics, is pure water and good soap used daily on every part of the body in all ages, and, except in sickness, at all times from the cradle to the grave. A daily bath is worth more to preserve the health and improve the personal appearance than all the Kalydor that was ever manufactured in the world. ”

“ While in the last century face-painting was a universal fashion, it is nowadays resorted to only by persons whose skin requires some artificial help. But nobody desires that the cosmetic should be perceptible on the skin. Hence it must be laid down as a rule that paints and all cosmetics should be so compounded that it is not easily possible to the observer to recognize that some artificial means has been employed for beautifying the skin. ”

“ The use of cosmetics is a necessity to most of our girls. They do not have the same complexion as have Swedish or German girls, for instance, and they must resort to the artificial. But it is interesting, and sometime quite amusing to observe how our girls apply the art of make-believe. Of course, all are not experts. One will often find that on a round face the rouge has been applied to the center of the cheek and the hair fluffed out at the sides. ”

“ Every Woman wishes to be Beautiful, and desires to have a Clear, Transparent, Soft, and Healthy Skin. Many use cosmetics, in a vain hope to produce this effect, some few foolish ones make their skin death-looking by taking arsenic. ”

“ However, supply, as usual, has followed demand, and there are now traders dealing specially in the materials for making-up, in theatrical cosmetics of the best possible kind at the lowest possible prices: "Superfine rouge, rose for lips, blanc (liquid and in powder) , pencils for eyebrows, creme de l'impératrice and fleur-de-riz for softening the skin," &c. Further, there are the hairdressers, who provide theatrical wigs of all kinds, and advertise the merits of their "old men's bald pates," which must seem a strange article of sale to those unversed in the mysteries of stage dressing-rooms. ”

“ Sometimes the container costs many times the price of the perfume. But as the finest perfumes are articles of luxury in the truest sense of the word, they require extreme care in their putting up; and good taste in the selection of the containers for fluids, pomades, cosmetics, powders, etc., is of as much importance to the perfumer as the possession of a sensitive and trained olfactory organ. ”

“ It is right and proper that women (and men also) should give due attention to their physical appearance. But when it becomes a mere matter of the outward show of cosmetics, powders, rouges, washes, pencils, and things that affect the outside only, then the emphasis is in the wrong place, and we are worrying about the wrong thing. ”

“ Many of them merely fill up the pores of the skin and give it a pasty look. Numerous cases of eczema and other diseases have followed the use of paints. Of the advertised cosmetics, many are not only worthless, but actually injurious.
Certain applications to the skin of the face are permissible and beneficial. “Virgin milk,” which is a milky-looking mixture, composed of the tincture of benzoin and rose-water, renders the skin soft, and is said to prevent the formation of freckles. ”

“ As many ladies attempt to improve their complexions127 by the use of the pernicious cosmetics, which are continually and unblushingly advertised as beautifiers of the skin, most of which are either worthless or dangerous, (for if they have any effect, it is that of conveying mercury, lead, or bismuth into the system, and too frequently laying the foundation of diseases which are often dangerous, and sometimes fatal;) ”

“ Being a New Treatise on Perfumery the most favorable to the Beauty without being injurious to the Health, comprising a Description of the substances used in Perfumery, the Formulæ of more than one thousand Preparations, such as Cosmetics, Perfumed Oils, Tooth Powders, Waters, Extracts, Tinctures, Infusions, Vinaigres, Essential Oils, Pastels, Creams, Soaps, and many new Hygienic Products not hitherto described. ”

“ It is especially woman, who everywhere exercises the arts of the toilet, while, with the exception of perfumes and agents for the hair, man is but seldom referred to as making use of cosmetics. The young girls of ancient Egypt used red and white paints, colored their pale lips, and anointed their hair with sweet-scented oils; they dyed their eyelashes and eyelids black to impart a brighter lustre to the glance of the eye, and [Pg 19] the mother of the wife of the first king of Egypt is said to have already composed a receipt for a hair-dye. ”

“ As it is not possible to separate perfumes with hygienic effects from cosmetics, we shall describe the latter in connection with the former.
To repeat, hygienic perfumery has to deal with such substances as have really a favorable effect on health. No one will deny that soap takes the first place among them. Soap promotes cleanliness, and cleanliness in itself is essential to health. But it would exceed the scope of this work were we to treat in detail of the manufacture of soap and its employment in the toilet ”

“ The luxurious ladies of ancient Rome, who sacrificed so much time and attention to the adornment of their persons, always superintended the preparation of their cosmetics, which were of the most innocent and simple description—the first receipt we subjoin was one in general use with them, and will be found efficacious in removing roughness, or coarseness, arising from accidental causes, and imparting that polished smoothness so essential to beauty. ”

“ Have you a clean comb? Can you supply me with cosmetics, fancy-soaps, tooth-brushes, bandoline, pomades, hair-oil, combs, hair-pins, curling-tongs, hair-brushes, shaving-cream, razors, scent, and articles for the toilette? ”

“ Equip yourself with perfumes, essences, tinctures, extracts, spirit waters, cosmetics, infusions, pastiles, tooth powders, washes, cachous, hair dyes, sachets, essential oils, etc. All ladies like perfumes. Once let it be known that you are an authority on the subject, and you will lack neither patronage nor profits. ”

“ He found a bottle of something that smelled of alcohol and belonged in her cosmetics, and began removing most of the mess. By being careful, he got the wax and most of the dye smell off, while leaving his hair darker.
"Better wash up," she called.
There was a razor among the things she had bought. He daubed some of the dye on his upper lip, where the stubble of a mustache was showing. It was easier there, if it didn't wash off in soap and water. ”

“ Girls, when you dress your hair too startlingly, wear waists that are too low or too thin, use powder and rouge, you remind boys and men of the wrong kind of woman. The best time for cosmetics, if you must use them, is not during your school days. ”

“ But, independent of the savage races, who consider painting and tattooing the body and face an embellishment, and taking into consideration only the earliest civilized nations, it is astonishing how many arts of the toilet have been preserved from the most ancient historical times up to the present. "In the most ancient historical times, people perfumed and painted, frizzed, curled, and dyed the hair as at present, and, in fact, the same cosmetics, only slightly augmented, which were in use hundreds, nay, thousands, of years ago are still employed to-day." ”

“ He further recommends certain remedies for making large eyes small, and small ones large. The chapter on the hair is very fully treated. To prevent the hair from coming out, rubbing with oil, and then washing with sorrel and myrobalan is recommended. For promoting the growth of the hair, the use of dried frogs, lizards, etc., rubbed to a powder, is prescribed. Means for making the hair long and soft and curly are also given, and others recommended for eyebrows and eyelashes. As depilatories lime and orpiment are prescribed. Paints are also classed among general cosmetics. ”