BEAUTY IN MEDIEVAL TIMES

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 18949, 21 February 1925, Page 6 (Supplement)

BEAUTY IN MEDIEVAL TIMES

There have always l>eoil women ill evei'J j age who spent lavishly on toilette requi j sites. Medieval dames eoulfl have given j us points as to make-up and perfumes and j ointments, says a contemporary writer. ; They had beauty washes, lotions, creams,] rouges, ha it dyes, beaut Hi ers for the teeth j and the eyelids, lashes, and brows. '1 hey j used astringents ami reducers.. Everyone j has heard of Catherine de Medici's iron j stays. What is a mere rubber corset com-1 pared to those? -And Lucrezia Borgia and j others in her set used to pass the entire j day beautifying for some grand affair that j night. Meet Cateriua Sforzu also, who collected j six hundred reliable beauty recipes. At; j for that matter. Cleopatra did not disdain , the fashionable cosmetics of her day. Beau i water, raw meat, verdigris, and oils were j much discussed in Egyptian boudoirs. As j for perfumes, the lowly peppermint had I its place with cinnamon, aloes, musk, J amber, and cloves, and the crushed pulp of! flowers, and fastidious ladies, when the j world was young, not only perfumed them- j selves and their baths and their boudoi i but they poured it over their horses and j mules and ordered it sprayed round public j places where they were to spend a few j hours. j But in those days only the rich and I powerful could afford or were allowed the j luxuries of perfumes and ointments io make' the heart glad. Now almost every woman i spends a certain amount on toilette. ] requisites —and many of them spend i

badly, buying perfumes which do not suit their personality, and rouge and powcli-" which do not, tone witii their skin.;. The Frenchwoman takes the matter of scents very seriously. She does not go into a shop and buy the first bottle of perfume which pleases her. She considers the matter and tests the scent und_ discusses its merits as applied to her. A ery often she returns to medieval methods and limber own perfumer, who makes a secret scent, for her which she never applies to her handkerchief, but sprays upon hei person and on her clothes, so that it is a sort of aura of fragrance. Quick to follow French ideas, the American woman likes an exclusive, perfume, and Has her own perfumer and a nameless scent which is hers alone. A New York woman, who started a "perfume boudoir u. few yen vts «i£jo, lifts nut do «j. tor tunc 4 . Hoi method is to study the personality of a customer, the tastes she has, the colours she likes, and her disposition. 1 hen she will recommend a scent, violet lor the gentle, quiet woman, apple blossom for the young ;irul vigorous, something Oriental for the vivid brunette, etc. She charges a venrlv fee. for keeping you supplied with n, perfume which has the odour she selects for you.