BEAUTY NOTES FROM PARIS.

Auckland Star, Volume 55, Issue 152, 28 June 1924, Page 22

BEAUTY NOTES FROM PARIS.

[ FARIS, April 15. Reader, have you ever had a mud pack? Now, everyone has her pet phobia. Mine is complexion, and, of course, as everybody knows, a mud pack is supposed to make a woman "beautiful for ever." So, gathering my courago in my two hands —as the French say— I went last week into one of the most famous Parisian beauty parlours in this city. A pretty place this, "done up" in ' vieux rose, vieux bleu, and black —very modern, you will observe. In the foreground Madame llortense, svelte, Titian, rouged, powdeifcd, coiffured and manicured to a fare-thee-well, and dressed in the extreme of the extreme of the mode, greeted mc. r "Has Madame never had a mud pack before? Hoi! I restore ze complexion and make it quite adorable." I began to feel a little frightened, I must confess, when I ivas ushered into the torture chamber. The mud-packer happened to be man; quite a wonderful man too. He had' masses of curly hair, padded shoulders, a wonderful waist line, and pink nails. Quite a fascinating man as you will see. When I was asked to remove my dress I began really to feel quite nervous, but Monsieur Alphonse produced a sheet. I couldn't think of it as just a sheet. I thought of it as a winding sheet. I shuddered as he wrapped mc tightly up in it, covered nry hair with a wet rag, leaving only my beautiful face and neck exposed. Then my face was thoroughly "cleansed." It was "freshened" with something on a piece of cotton-wool, then it was plastered with something weighing anywhere from two to ten pounds, according to its locality and thickness. This was the mud! It appears it comes from Thibet. There was a huge wooden bowl full of it, and an enormous brush, the kind painters use to nnint houses with. Monsieur Alphonse plastered mc thickly over with mud. and then left mc to my own devices. Contrary to the popular belief, the | Orst hundred years were not the hardest, for, after the initial twenty minutes, I was conscious of a drawing sensation as though every pore was pulling in an effort to scrap my face completely. Then suddenly my little dog begun to yap and howl. I wondered what had happened. Although I didn"t feel equal to lifting my head from the pillow. 1 managed to raise myself on one elbow, and looked into the class. I have seen many terrible sights in my life, but I was utterly unprepared for the wnn and cracked Ethiopian *h->t l-.ok»d hack upon mc. I resembled the Sphinx and Methuselah, and all the oldest things in the world. I crave a low moan and returned to the pillow. BoKliy continued to howl. Alphonse returned, and I don't think I was ever so pleased in nil my life to see anyone as I was to behold Alphonse once more. He began to scrape off the mud. When it did come off at last it left my face sore and bruised. Even the healing lotion thai ho applied failed to make n>e feel much better, and the powder didn't succeed in calming it very much. But I forgot all I had gone through when I sow the result. Mv face was delicately pink, like an infant's, I and a little pinker where it ought to be. Hot Wax. But T was not at the end of mv adventures in the search for beauty. Monsieur Alphonse and Madame llortense both said my arms needed attending to. They must be treated witli hot wax and they would then be as beautiful as those of an infant. It was applied witli a spatula in small, hot quantities. It was not, I was told, necessary for it to be unpleasantly hot in order to nave it work well, but it was—regulation is seldom all that it should be.. And then, some skins can stand things very hot. Mine cannot. After the wax had dried on my arms and hardened until it clung with fanatical tenacity, I was told it had to be ripped off. Monsieur Alphonse produced a long sharp knife. I was on the verge of complete nervous collapse from expectation of what I should suffer, but there was really nothing to be terrified about, and when it was all over I had arms to match mv mud-packed face. And face and arms should mnteh. shouldn't they? Monsieur Alphonse then made mc a low bow, said he hoped to sec mc again very soon, and made his exit. Enter Madame Hortense. "Madam would like a henna shampoo, perhaps? Dye! Ah, non, non! I only restore hair to a beautiful natural colour!" She called to a pretty girl attendant dressed in a ravishing pink satin frock, knee-length, with a white muslin anron and a coquettish cap of the same. "Venez-ici, Totette!" Turning to mc, "Before, madam, zis girl's hair was of a dinginess like madam's, and now, after taking my famous restoration treatment, it is 'yellow like ze sun." But, my endurance had reached its limit.! After gazing at Totette's dazzling waves and curls, I snapped out "No, madam," enough for to-day." I seized my hat while madam gazed at mc reproachfully. Well the long and short of it all was that I made other beauty appointments. I devoted another week to the salons. I had electric baths, milk baths. I had my eyebrows shaped. I had my ringers pointed with small tweezers. I had a few stray freckles removed. I had several kinds of shampoos, and a round curl, and was waved by the famous Alphonse. I had herb packs, three "bleaches" and four "permanents." I needn't tell you that now my friends don't recognise mc. Cleopatra, Ninon de Lenclos, the Queen of Sheba, were all not in It, compared with mc. What's the world without beauty, anyway? TOWEL RAILS. USEFUL FOR QUICK DRYING. Hot water towel rails are still regarded as a luxury, but they should form part of the ordinary fitments of every bathroom and scullery. At present there is no convenient method of quickly drying towels that have been used after washing china and glass, but a hot water rail for this purpose is easily fixed in kitchen or scullery, and would save trouble. The fitting of hot-water towel rails is not such an expensive matter as to make them luxuries. There are many qualities, but for ordinary purposes iron tubing, painted and enamelled, is sufficient. This is quite inexpensive, and could be fitted at a comparatively small cost. Any local plumber can give advice about fixing, •hot-waticr rails, but it is advisable to go to one of the large furnishing ironmongers, because a variety of this kind of thing is stocked and a better idea is obtained of what can be done. Purchase can then be made through the local man. who would do the fitting. When buying a new house it is advisable to consult the builder, who will usually fit a hot-water rail in the bathroom without extra charge. ■-.....• ii ■***"» "~