AIDS TO BEAUTY.

Globe, Volume XXIII, Issue 2336, 29 September 1881, Page 4

AIDS TO BEAUTY.

[“Milliner and Dressmaker.”] I came across a curious volume recently, some account of which cannot fail to be of interest to lady readers. The little book might fairly be called an essay on beauty and its preservation ; and it was written in 1857, by Lola Montes, Countess of Landsfeldt, in French, for the benefit of the Canadians, among whom Lola Montes lived for some time. Every one knows the Countess of Landsfeldt’s name, and the fame of her beauty, her wit, her extraordinary and adventurous career, has travelled far and wide. This little book of hers, entitled “L’Art de '• Beaute ohez la Femme,” is not like Ihe generality of books of toilet; it is also, I must in all fairness observe, strongly contradictory. The Countess of Landsfeldt expatiates over and over again on the value of perfect abstention from dyes, and decoctions, and powders, and pomades ; and, at the same time, she furnishes her readers with a series of most tempting recipes for the home manufacture of various lotions for the skin and hair. While deprecating the use of beautifying agents, she tells you how best to employ them. The recipes she gives for cosmetics of all kinds, are not infallible, she says, but most women in modern times have found them extremely useful. She also strongly advises every woman to make her own lotions —not only on the ground of economy, but also as a matter of security. Patented cosmetics are, she declares, ruinous to a woman’s beauty j they have spoilt the finest skins, and destroyed susceptible nervous organisations, and if a woman is determined to improve her hair or her complexion by artificial means, the countess implores her to be her own manufacturer.

“ The Art of Beauty in Women ” was written more than twenty years ago, and it had an enormous sale in Canada—over ninety thousand copies being sold out almost immediately. Lola Montes’ style was admirably calculated to touch her readers’ fancy ; and then apart from the merits of the book, her wide-spread, I am afraid I must say, notoriety, would have sufficed to make anything she wrote “ go down,” to use a 00110-

quiolism. Much of her advice, however, is extremely good, opart from any consideration respecting the authoress, and deserves to bo noted in a journal devoted to the interests of women. In her chapter on beauty of figure Lola Montes insists npon the fact that the beauty of figure is greatly affected by the amount of restraint put upon young people, (3-irls should bo left to grow according to the tendencies of nature ; they should not be impeded by tight stays, or tight boots, or tight clothes ; and they should bo taught, directly they reach an ege when they are capable of appreciating the advantages of beauty, that there is nothing so necessary to beauty as health. Young girls and young married women often neglect the simplest and surest means of securing health, that is, exercise. In alluding to the preservation of the skin and the complexion, Lola Montes says that the three first requisites are temperate habits, regular exercise, and cleanliness. This is something like the old French saying which may be thus translated :— “Alight heart, daily exorcise and moderate meals, are three doctors who may always be trusted.” Lola Montes declares that the freshest and fairest and healthiest of women must find their health give way after an interval of what is termed society life, which includes often unhealthy feeding, insufficient exercise, undue excitement and late hours. Perfect and entire cleanliness is also absolutely necessary for the preservation of the skin and complexion ; and Lola Montes accounts for the marvellous softness and smoothness of skin of Oriental women.by their habits of bathing constantly, sometimes twice a day. A bath should bo as indispensable to a woman as a mirror, cries Lola! Apart however from these natural methods of retaining any small amount of good looks with which wo may have been blessed, Lola dercribes various artificial processes by which women may keep off the ravages of lime for many years, to her groat advantage. She does not recommend Rachel's bath of white' of egg, or a more modern French actress’s bath of hot milk —a tepid bran bath is, she thinks, more rational and more scientific, and has as good an effect as can be desired in softening and purifying the surface of the body. The classic beauties of the great days of Rome and Greece used to bathe their skins with a sponge soaked in cold water, and follow this up by prolonged friction with a dry towel before they began to “ paint the lily.” Many Spanish women, whose skins are famous for their softness and smoothness, use a lotion which Lola Montes strongly recommends. It consists of some bran boiled in white vinegar for four hours, to which are added five yolks of eggs and a suspicion of ambergris. Distil the whole, then bottle it and cork it tightly for about a fortnight, after which time it will be fit for use, and will be found very pleasant to the skin. Another face-wash that Lola strongly recommends, is composed of two handfuls of jasmine flowers distilled in a quart of rose-water and a quart of orangeflower water. Pass the mixture through a sheet of porous paper, add a scruple of musk and a scruple of ambergris, and you will have as agreeable a lotion as you can desire. Then after giving these recipes, Lola Montes proceeds to explain that the human face has no real beauty save that of expression. She says :—“ I have had the privilege of seeing the most celebrated beauties of the gilded courts of fashion, from St. James’s to St. Petersburg, from Paris Hindostan, and I have never discovered any art that could triumph over a coarse nature and a hard heart. The real sources of woman’s beauty, are, after all, the innocent grace and activity of the soul, the energy and vivacity of spirit, that give animation, and charm, and brilliancy to her organisation.” After a page or two devoted to these fine sentiments, the Countess de Landsfeldt gives a summary of divers lotions calculated to enhance the beauty of the face. She does not believe n the efficacy of sleeping with a raw beefsteak on each side of the face, as I have heard recommended often ; but she advocates, for ladies who are anxious about their appearance, the adoption of Madame Vestris’ plan of covering the face with a thick paste at night before going to sleep. The composition used by the famous actress, Lola Montes assures her readers, was made of the whites of four eggs, half an ounce of alum, and half an ounce of oil of sweet almonds, all beaten together until they form a thick paste which is spread on the face or on a piece of muslin which is laid on the face. The Countess, while giving these items of information, inveighs against the custom of drinking and eating strange draughts and substances for the purpose of increasing the brightness of the eyes, or decreasing the too vivid color of the cheeks. All this, however, with due deference to Lola Montes, was written more than twenty years ago, and since then the art of painting the human face has advanced at giant strides. The muslin masks have been replaced long since by complexion masks for night wear, made in some objectionable looking flat and. flabby fat atuff that looks like the skin to be found in suet; all kinds of devices have been discovered, which were unknown twenty years ago. The painting of the face is infinitely more general, now, and is practised by an entirely different class of people. _ Young married women and unmarried girls in good society and with spotless reputations are to bo seen with whitened faces and dyed hair! and people have ceased to be astonished at the spectacle—in fact, they often fancy that women who are guiltless of artificial adorn* ment look at a disadvantage! At the conclusion of this curious little volume there are some reflections on beauty which are not all familiar to English readers. A Spanish list of feminine perfections detailed by throes, is very characteristic, and is little known, I am very certain, in England. There are a certain number of things necessary to female beauty, the saying runs : three should be white, the akin, the teeth, and the hands ; three black, the ©yea, the eyebrows, and the eyelashes j three red, the lips, the cheeks, and the nails ; three long, the body, the hair, and the hands ; three short, the teeth, the ears, and the feet; three broad, the chest, the forehead, and the eyelids ; three small, the mouth, the waist, and the ankle ; and three fine, the fingers, the hair, and the lips.” ________