CULT OF BEAUTY.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 40, 16 February 1929, Page 4 (Supplement)

CULT OF BEAUTY.

POWER OF WILL. WELL-KEPT HANDS. (By A PAKIS BEAUTY SPECIALIST.) To be born an ugly duckling—to die <•» beauty! Therein, is contained the spiritual essence of material optimism. This is the story of an ugly duckling For, by her own admission, Madame Renouardt was the ugly duckling of her family. Her mother was beautiful, her sisters were beautiful. "Where my sisters hair curled," said Jeanne, "mine was straight. Where their noses wert straight, mine was what you call liuuiau Xow, a Kouiaii nose may be worn comfortably by an adult, but by a child no! I looked pale and precocious-, and 1 was acutely unhappy. I used to plan to cry when I went to bed at night. . but somehow I never could . . . foi tears didn't come . . . liather I would spend the time planning to be beautiful planning how I could be beautiful. J think that waa the beginning of uiv self-control." The beginning, too, if we may interpolate, of her beauty . . . Who can tell 7 Perhaps the myrrh and cassia of those early, unwept tears, may have evolved the beauty that to-day has the power to smite with poignant blades oi beauty. Poignancy is the keynote of Jeanne Renouardt's beauty. The Soul of it. It is the secret of her subtle mouth, her green and tired eyes, her informed hands. "I do not know," Jeanne said, "that I have any definite beauty formulas. Beauty is largely common sense and appreciation. Will plays a certain part in type. By which I mean, that one can will to become a certain type and can achieve that type in great part." Oscar Wilde bears out the above theory when he says that ". . . just as the body absorbs things of all kinds, and converts them into swiftness or strength, into the play of beautiful muscles, and the moulding of fair flesh, into the curves and colours of the hair, the lids, the eyes, so the soul, etc. . . ." A woman should look like a woman and not attempt to simulate a quasimannishness. There are, of course, certain small habits more than anything else which most of us employ, ea-di according to our own persuasion. Madame Renouardt, when questioned, gave me the following formula, which I will hand on for the benefit of my readers. Said Jear-'ie:— "I never wash my face. Sensational, but a fact. Water does not agree with my skin, and I find that I obtain softer and smoother results by substituting a thoroughly good cleansing cream for water. Occasionally, very occasionally, I remove make-up with some extremely hot watoi —that is all. "Instead of ice. for skin stimulus, I use a patter. It is an affair very much in the nature of a patter for making butter balls, and with this ingenious device I tap my f.;«e smartly, night and morning, to keep the circulation current. "I use castor oil on my eyelashes and eyebrows, also on my hair. There is nothing so beneficial* to growth, and lu>tre and quality of the hair, nor for keeping the eyebrows and eyelids silky and healthy. "I shampoo my ha;r frequently with plain Castille soap, and with exceedingly smart friction of the scalp, and 1 brush it regularly and systematically. Every woman cannot be beautifully*feature !. but there is no woman who cannot 1 o beautifully clean, with clear eyes, and a sheen to her hair. (I may here note that I belong to the small army of the unbobbed. I suppose I am a freak! But at all events, 1 am somewhat out of the common.) "I am exceedingly particular about my nails. A potent mark of beauty is in well-kept hands. "I put strips of adhesive tape across my forehead at night, because I run constitutionally inclined to frown upon the world. Adhesive tape is an excellent thing for a brow apt t-> become furrowed, for sagging muscles, or any facial crease or droop. 1 believe in plenty of sleep, and regular hours. "I never exercise—unless it may be my wits, by which I mean, that I do not go in for golf or tennis or swimming. My ordinary activities suffice to keep me in condition. "I pay attention to prevailing modes and styles. A woman should know her own type and dress to frame that, not somebody eKe's. "One of the gravest mistakes of. woman to-day is the attempt to simulate extreme youth, long after youth has passed. Youth is beautiful, "but it is transient, and it is an error to seek to hold on to its skirts after it has fluttered its brief way past. "A woman of thirty-five may perhaps attempt to appear twenty-five, but when she appears to look eighteen reason is slaughtered. "As deeply as T care for beauty and for youth, I believe there is a beautv apart from youth, the beauty that comes of growth, and experience and maturity, and no other way. "The flappers are charming while thev are flappers. Thev become tragedies after that. "Beauty—make up—both are matters of common sense, a sincere and informed appreciation of what beauty aetunllv is. a knowledge of your own type and an ability to develop that type with tbe inevitable* passing of time." BEAU'n HINTS. « Enlargefi Pores. When the sebaceous glands are overactive, they produce an oily skin, and enlarged pores. One of tbe remedies for this condition, is a vigorous dailv massage and an application of hot towels. A simple cream should be used, followed by hot and cold towels. Creams containing wax should be avoided, as| tbey belp to clog the pores. It takes several months' r.«-=;«t Pn t treatment to overcome this condition. A Good Coiffure. There is nothing that can bring a man so promptly to a woman's feet as a 1 good coiffure. He is completely overcome by the looks of it. He likes to have it ! brush against his cheek. He even doesn't! mind it brushing up his face occasionally! when he is dancing with you. When a poet refers to someone's! tresses, you may be sure that he has not a frump in mind! '