CULT OF BEAUTY.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 71, 24 March 1928, Page 4 (Supplement)

CULT OF BEAUTY.

THE IDEAL HAND. 8 ' » DIMPLED KNUCKLES. 0 . 1 {By a Paris Beauty Specialist.) n The hand that tempts on© to raise it r to—generally his —lips should be, of c course, a beautiful hand! What makes a beautiful hand? T Well, if beauty were .an absolute term, the , question might be easily answered: Whiteness, softness, slimness, perfection of rosy nails, being the item 3 combining for perfection. But beauty is r merely a relative term. There are four or five hands, not much like each other, yet each a claimant for the adjective i in the interrogation above. The ideal hand, as generally accepted, p is long, narrow, slender, but not thin. p white, and having every digit terminated by a narrow nail, fine, and like a delicate pink seashell. It should be also slightly _ curved, the filbert nail or the almondshaped nail being mentioned in olds''- fashioned books of beauty. There are other hands, very lovely ii not long and slender, a plumper, more cushiony hand, usually with a moiv satiny skin, and dimples all over the knuckles, a hand it is nice t.< clasp. Generally, this type lacks the filbert kind of nail. For nails have a curious tendency to duplicate the characteristics of the hand to which they belong. So the naila of the specimen just described would probably be wider than the others, and care would have to be exercised in keeping the half-moon visible. Really, the "baby hand" just grown larger. A third type of hand more closely approximates to the first, being long and slender, perhaps even too slender. \ The artist and musician rarely own hands ever as well padded as type No. 1. Use develops muscles, and weget what 1 have heard called the "intellectual hand, with very blue veins prominent at the back. Lovely Hands Rare. But many of us have hands not really quite conforming to any of these types just, so to speak, "hands." They are frequently not beautiful; in fact, the strikingly lovely hand is quite rare. And all that remains for us is to see to it that Art supplements Dame Nature when the mood of the latter has been stingy. It seems a mere truism that hands should be clean! But we sometimes see hands that are not clean! For one thing, in a city it is not easy, it is not always possible to keep them clean all the time. And a long morning or afternoon of engagements does not offer many opportunities of freshening them up. applying powder, buffer, or even soap and water. The business woman is in a worstplight than the woman whose time is spent in shopping, art galleries, or lecture room and concert hall. She ha> not the chance to resort to hot water, clean towels, and fair to middling soap' Many offices supply only cokl water, ami perhaps only paper towels. Here are a few suggestions for all. Keep in your handbag, a little bottle of some good skin lotion, probably sold for the face, but never mind. Also, in your private desk drawer, some cleansing tissues, or, better, some scraps of verj veiy old towels. When the hands art grimy, don't use cold water and hard soap, liquid or powder. Use a lotion. As all these lotions contain alcohol, th* drying effect will not be the best thino for your skin. Therefore, keep a smafi pot of very fine cold cream, and apph this, before the soft towel, or cleansing tissues. I have heard many women gest glycerine and rose-water in placo of the cream, but glycerine does not suit every skin, and, anyway, a pot of , cream is easier and lighter for your handbag than a bottle of glvcerine and rosewater. Protect Your Hands. The use of gloves should be more general than we often find it. An old pair without holes should be kept in that pnvate drawer, and put on for any little job of dusting, pte., so incidental to office or secretarial work. Dust dries and hardens the hands, the cuticle, and selves Penetratea ridges the nai,s themAgain, gloves should be worn in the street. City girls have to seize and < grasp so many objects that have been ■ f,n grasped h ? ot hers, possibly unwashed as well as ungloved, that thov sliould shield their hands by gloves from contact with these surfacesf s°uch as doT I handles, railings of steps, and so on ' Always avoid washing the hands when ! possible, and particularly under unfav- ' ourable conditions. « Did no one ever tell y ou , when you ; were a httle girl of the immense ZZ ' The* r 7 the . 6weets you didn't eat" 1 The same negative-positive applies to •' hard water a„d crude ,„ap ith Where the akin of the hand is in a p?„p S e°r f, 3 , ir g, followed by .the putting on of an 5 f d gloves, should prove bene . ficial. Old erloves ara OA fi ~ ® . of I, ™°" >»V.™e s :. . Nev f r think your hands are an m, i SKlS.roVaCd^r 6 J tndwrisr; ** J