Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-11-30
OLD COURT RECIPES.
Shirley Dare Resurrects Some That
Have Considerable Merit.
HYGIENIC VALUE OF THE TOILET
Pretty Refrom in the Boudoir That the
Bellies Will Welcome.
AN UNREASONABLE CORRESPONDENT
WRITTEN FOR THE DIsPATcH.i


December winds call for special care of
the complexion, which begins to turn dry
and crack under their influence. Now the
cold creams, pastes and pomades are indis-
pensable.
From Madam, with her perfumed caskets
which when opened fill the room with the
odor of the ointment, to the school teacher,
who keeps her modest box of cold cream in
her desk to mitigate the withering effect of
furnace heat and cold wind after, and to
Biddy, who begs bit of mutton suet from
the butchers boy to heal her poor hands
hardly dealt with between washing dishes
and and handling ashes-all at this season
are interested in this subject. Here is de-
lightful recipe for a lip salve, to keep lips
| kissable and tempting, not blue, withered
and cracking into seams like the oriice
which serves for eating and speaking pur
poses on most women this weather. Imagine
baby being kissed by such mouth! No
other creature would be caught in kissing
distance of it. The recipe is from dainty
old collection by feminine hand tran
scribed from the MSS. of maids OF honor
and gouvernantes of we'll born girls:
A
Take yellow beeswax, 2% ounces; oil of
sweet almonds, quarter OF Il pint; melt the
wax in the oil and let The mixture stand till
it becomes cold. Scrape it into a marble
mortar and rub 1t with wooden pestle to
render it perfectly smooth. Keep it ior use
in galley pot closely covered.
The old recipes are very exact and sensible
in details, which at first glance we are apt to
| consider fnical or obsolete. The yellow
| wax is better than the white, for cosmetics
and salyes made with unbleached wax keep
| longer than the white. The cooling and
rubbing smooth when cold makes finer
cream than the common practice of stirring
| till cold, though you may try which you
like. As for galley pots, what a delight
| full little cold cream holder one makes from
a Liebig's extract jar, coated with pale
| pink or blue enamel and decorated with
| forget-me-nots and fine grass sprays! You
| know the idea now is to conceal the uses of
| cosmetic boxes and pots as far as possible,
| so that the toilet table shows an array of
| china. lacquer and bronzing fit for bracket
in a velvet-lined cabinet.
AESTHETICS OF THE BoUDoIR.
No stamp or label is allowed to mar the
| elegance of toilet creams, for the vouI e
ladies will want to put the putty box or pot
to further use when empty, filling them
| with bonbons or using them in the work
| basket or writing desk. Beside, no curious
| servant, visitor or impertinent young
brother can he the wiser about the contents
| of that innocent non-committal bit of porce-
lain or fancy ware. Our dearest girl friend
| cannot "give you away" the girls say,
when she is admitted to intimate chats in
| your own room. She never can hint to the
sister of your best beau that your smooth
| III icd fo pcfo nj Of
| Derose's double cream, for she has seen it on
your toilet and knew the pot as soon as she
laid her eyes on it.
The knowing cosmetic artist, following
| the latest light in his profession, will not
even adhere to one shape of pot or box, but
studies variety as far as possible. The last
| French fancy in lilac perfume comes in
| such lovely style, in pale amethyst crystal
bottles, with lilac painting and printing on
the paper labels, that window of them
| tempts one to liEger and buy for the sake OF
the bottles. Other toilet necessaries look
| like melted topaz and ruby.
PLEA FOR COSMETICS.
One can't in the least blame American
women if they do spend, as Kate Field says
they do, S62, 900, 900 a year for cosmetics.
Mighty sum indeed for women to spend in
| keeping their persons sweet and attractive,
|
are to spend it, and the women don't spend
| it nearly all, either Who buys'the expen-
| sive French tooth washes, essences and DO
| mades but gentlemen? Who use the finest
| face powders but the men who patronZe
first-cless BARRIERS? Take it any way you
please, send in the whole bill to the women,
and it comes to about So year for toile.
necessaries, not by any means all white lead
or calomel. Please remember that the cos
metic art is older than that of medicine and
was science before the latter was anything
better than conJuring. Let me give you
more of these nice old recipes. know that
women like them. Here is a fluid to clear
a tanned skin:
sprinkle them with alum and salt then wrap
| them in paper and roast them in hot ashes
squeeze out the juice and wash the face with il
| every morning; it will soon remove the tan
You see, from this verjulce. salt and alum
STEPPED hot together, you get an acid that
would take out indellible ink and that will Ger
| tainly whiten the skin. Only you must cerate
| after it to soften the cuticle.
Here is cosmetic water of great use tc
prevent pits after the smallpox:
Dissolve an ounce and half of salt in a pint
of mint water; boil them together and skim the
liquor. This is very useful wash for the face
after the smallpox in order to clear away the
scabs allay the itching, and remove the red
ness.
A WASH FOR BEAUTY.
Here is beautifying wash:
Take equal parts of white tansy and rhu
barb water. and to every half pint add two
drachms of sal ammoniac. This fluid is ap
piled with feather or hair pencil three O
four times day, to pimples or letters. on an,
part of the body.
Here is something to change the color o
the hair:
| First wash your head In sprinp water thar
| dip your comb in oil of tartar and comb your
times day, and at the end of eight days a
most the hair will turn black.
Now, if you ask your druggist for oil o
tartar and he tells you there is no sucl
thing, he doesn't know as much as he might
But if this gentle cosmetic is unobtainable
our little book tells us that "the leaves o
the wild vine (grapevine) change the hair
black and prevent their falling off," whel
used in decoction, of course 'The shell
of beans, green shells of walnuts, and re,
beet seeds do the same. These ingredient
are to be boiled in rainwater, wine of vim
egar, with some cephalic plant as sage
balm, laurel, etc." Not wild laurel, whicl
is poisonous.
ABOUT GLOVES AT NIGHT.
Some odd notions creep into print abou
toilet treatment. One lately SAYS that wear
| ing gloves at night wrinkles the hands an,
} makes them yellow. That depends entirel-
on the care taken in the matter. Worn a