Odd Ingredients Make "Magic" Of Cosmetics

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30469, 17 June 1964, Page 2

Odd Ingredients Make "Magic" Of Cosmetics

stklla Mica Take a lorry-load of grubby-looking stone from an Italian quarry, a few drums of castor oil and beeswax, plus (and very important) a synthetic version of the grease which makes water run oS a duck’s back, and you are in.business—as a make-up maker.

Of course, there is more to the mysterious magic of cosmetics than these mundane ingredients—but not very much.

There is nor much doubt, j either, that the confidence and sophistication that makelap can bring is just as much lin the mind as on the face. The Latest survey shows j that in Europe, the Commonwealth and America, well over 80 per cent of women from 16 to 60 use some form of 1 make-np In Britain, women spend £7 million a year on lipstick alone: in .America, the yearly sum is nearly 100 million dollars. Historians may well trace women’s spurt of progress in the last decade by the crimson trail in their wake—lipstick on the cigarette ends in the boardroom and on whisky glasses in the clubs which were once for men only. Experts in social welfare have long known all about the startling effects a smear of lipstick ean have on a depressed mortal. Mass consignments of it were among priority goods sent to help rehabilitate women survivors of war-time concentration ■ camps: free lipsticks were given to unemployed girls during the American depressi.on of the ’thirties. In the make-up business price and quality do not necessarily go together. A product may cost a lot merely because it has to undergo many re-

! fining processes: another, which can be made cheaply and is marketed in a simple package may be just as good i—or even better. A face-cream may cost a lot because it contains an' ingredient which is costly' to obtain: ar it may be expensive because the makers, think that a woman wiU value it more and use ft witn greater care if it costs more The chief chemist ef one internationally -known cosmetics ton says: “There are. of course, some cosmetics which are techmcaiiy ‘finer’ than others. But you cant go by price or pack. You can judge only by how a make-up feels and by how your skin reacts ito it.” Most women, say the ex-, perts. have an inferiority complex ahout their skins. h» fact, over M per cent of women interviewed in a recent research programme . claimed to have “difitoiLt’’ skins—whatever that might tineam What it normally means is (that we are using cosmetics , which were not fa-mulaad for our kind of complexion. When powder changes colour, eye make-up cracks or comes • off, lipstick turns “blue"—we blame our skins. In fact, any good manufacturer should be able to stabilise the colours and staying power of his products. If a woman has bought a make-up which she has used properly, is claimed tn be for her kind skin, and which still does not . work efficiently. she stMuld send it back to the maker. She would be doing them a good turn. Often women keep make-up too- long. The experts advise j against hoarding precious

hotties, as chemists allow thmr products a marimum of ■me year's life. What is make-up made of" If we believed ail we read, we would be excused for believing moonlight and rose petals were the main ingredients. In fact, all face powders are basically made from “French” chalk quarried. ■ logically enough, in Italy—and mixed with coiouring. A lipstick, weighing per- , haps an eighth at an ounce, can contain up to eight waxes j (including beeswax), castor oil. three dyes and stains, and five smid pigments. Perfumes which marry hap- ’ ■ pily with the taste of oils in •he lipstick are not easy to -find, and are made up from blends of floral extracts and fixatives such as musk, ambergris and civet. Bat cosmetics scientists are going to extraordinary lengths to find new ingredients. For instance, zoologists have discovered that ducks ' stay dry because <rf an oil ■ on their feathers. Now a syn- ■ thetic version of this oil is providing nourishing cream : with a satiny texture. A new technique of deep freezing the essences of fruits and vegetables, so that the : vitamins remain “active,” has also found its way into the : cosmetics wtod: skin-care , creams and “moisturisers" are having “Jiving peach" juice .added W them. ■' A highiy-absorbest new • iferm of powder is at present ; ’jndergoing trials on the feet ■of soldiers serving in Africa. J Sometimes a new discovery .' is stumbled upon by accident. ■ For instance, women working in a textile factory recently : noticed how smooth their ■ nanSs were becoming. The : reason was traced back to a ; solation used to soften woollen fabrics. Now a version of this solution, is going into : a variety of expensive and i exotic skin creams.