WOMEN’S NOTES.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LV, Issue 176, 25 June 1935, Page 10

WOMEN’S NOTES.

THE HOME. (By Aliss Alary Tallis.) Renovating a tiled fireplace.—lf the tiles of your fireplaces do not fit in with the colour schemes of the rooms, or if they are chipped, or discoloured they can be easily painted up to look like new, in any colour you wish. Buy from your store lib of the very best fiat wall paint, and the smallest amount of mixing varnish you can get. Be sure that you get flat paint and not distemper. Flat wall paint is procurable in a variety of shades, so you should have no trouble in matching your colour scheme. To every pound of paint add 2oz of the mixing varnish. This should give an attractive eggshell gloss, though it will vary a little with the brand of paint. To be quite sure you get the gloss you want, add the varnish and uaint a little on a piece of glass or slate, and let it dry. If there is not enough gloss add a drop more varnish. Clean the tiles down first with soap and water and then rinse well with clean, warm water. Dry with a chamois leather. You will need to apply two coats of paint, and the first should be thinner than the second. Add three ounces of turpentine to a pound of the mixed paint. AVhen it is nearly dry—after about 3 hours—take a small wooden skewer and mark out the pattern of the tiles, to show the mortar where the tiles are joined. After about 8 hours, or when the paint is no longer soft, apply the second cont. This should have no turpentine added, and when it is nearly dry repeat the process of marking out the pattern. The heat of the fire will quickly harden the paint, so that nothing short of red-hot coal will even mark it. Any paint left over should be put aside for touching up once or twice a year, as necessary. The paint may be cleaned down, like the tiles, with soap and water. The cost, will work out at about 2s for the paint for one fireplace, or perhaps not quite so much, and about Is for the varnish. BEAUTY.

The Almond Oil Scrub.—A dry skin iR cured by an almond oil scrub and the routine is this : After a hot bath and the usual soap and water scrubbing. rub your body dry with a coarse towel. AA’hile you are doing this, put a bottle of almond oil in hot water. This is the easiest way of warming it. Then. using a small, stiff brush, scrub this oil well into the skin. Start at the throat, then brush it across the shoulders and upner arms. Be specially generous with it on the upper arms, where gooseflesh appears. Pour oil on the brush and reach as far down your back as you can. Use your fingers, or a pad of cottonwool for spreading the oil over the trunk of your body, because the skin over this area is sensitive. and the action of the brush might prove too harsh. Keep the oil bottle in the hot water, because the scrubbing over the thighs necessitates the use of hot oil. It is here that dry blemishes form, and the skin teels rough to the touch. AVi th more oil on the brush, scrub over your hips and thighs, using as much pressure as vou can stand. First, move the brush upwards from your knees to vour hips; then reverse the action and brush from your hips down to your knees. AA’lien voir have a liberal coating of oil oyer your skin, move the brush in a circular direction until you have completelv covered this area. Go over one thigh for a minute, then repeat over the other thigh. In this way the beneficial results of stimulation are gained without the harsh effect of prolonged brushing. If the skin is still rough after this treatment, applv more oil and repeat the brisk scrubbing. Aon won't he able to remove, all the roughness the first time, but after two or three oil baths vour skin will be as soft as a baby’s. The lower part of your legs should receive more vigorous scrubbing than any other part of your body. AA T hen you have finished Scrubbing the oil over vour legs. use your hands to “mould” the contour of your ankles. Cup both hands over one ankle — your fingertips should meet on the instep—then with firm pressure move vour hand up the calf of your leg. Repeat this ten times oyer each ankle. Now dip your fingers in the oil and massage over the soles of your feet, between the toes, and over the heels. AA 7 ork the oil over and around your toe-nails, then use an orange-wood stick to remove anv loose cuticle. Keep the oil on the skin for about 20 minutes to half-an-hour, if you can. wrapping yourself in a hath towel meanwhile. Then lather your body briskly and thoroughly and use warm water as a final rinse, or if you are lucky enough to have a shower, use that. As a finish to the routine, pat eau-de-cologne—it stimulates and cooks the skin, closes the pores, and imparts a softness that will make you fee] really “alive.” This oil bath routine should be repeated at least once a week. In summer, though, when the body has been exposed to the sun, and sunburnt, you will be well advised to leave out the eau-de-cologne finish. Just scrub the oil over the body, then take a warm bath, rinse off the soap with tepid water, and pat the skin dry. Talcuin powder would be much better finish than eau-de-cologne in this case. COOKING. Stuffed lollies for the table. —Stuffed cherries: You will require glace cherries, either fondant cream coloured and flavoured with vanilla or liqueur, or marzipan; castor sugar or (if the cherries are to be glazed) £lb. of loaf 6Ugar, and J gill of water. Cut each cherry in half and put in the filling, allowing it to show. The cherry may now be rolled in castor sugar or it may be glazed. The latter process is quite simple: Put the water into a clean pan which has been rinsed out with cold water, add the sugar and dissolve slowly. Remove any sugar which may have collected round the side of the pan with a wet pastry brush, taking care not to let water from the brush get into the syrup. Allow the syrup to cook (without 6tirring or shaking the pan) until it reaches 300 deg. or until a little dropped into cold water forms a hard ball and is crisp. Remove the pan from the fire and with a skewer, or a two-pronged fork, dip each cherrv in the glaze. Place them on an oiled sheet of tin. The dipping must l>e done quickly as the syrup soon hardens. AVrap each cherry in tinfoil or waxed paper. Do the work in a dry atmosphere. Stuffed dates : These are made in exactly the same way as stuffed cherries, using instead of cherries the best box-packed dates. After removing the stone and stuffing the date, decorate it by making three diagonal lines with the back of a knife across the filling.