TAKE YOUR BEAUTY OUTDOORS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22397, 19 October 1934, Page 17

TAKE YOUR BEAUTY OUTDOORS

A dose of natural sunshine comes as near to being a beauty potion, an elixir of charm, as anything that the apothecaries and beauty specialists of all the ages haye ever concocted (says Dorothy Cocks, in the Ladies’ Home Journal). I’ve rubbed elbows with a lot of the cosmetic wizards of the present day. Their products—the- creams and lotions, fine soaps and face powders you find in the stores—are excellent. Sound products of modern science. They do much to repair , the harm of our crazy modern mode of life. But they aren’t miracles. Whereas sunshine is a miracle! It does | obscure magical things to the calcium and phosphate and other sordid minerals of your tissues. Transmutes them into pep, radiance, positive physical charm! I’m a great believer in what might be called the “ overflow ” theory of personality. The theory that personality, attractiveness —“ It ” —are a kind of magnetic radiation from an abundantly healthy individual ... an overflow of physical energy, which pours outward from you in electric - sparkles, when and if your physical vitality is in excess of your physjeal needs. A woman who is below par. in health, constantly overdrawing her physical and nervous reserve, is seldom a vitally attractive person. Whereas a woman with supei’b health is usually dynamic, stimulating, attractive to people. And that’s what sunshine can do for you! Pile up that reserve which generates personality. Rechargd your storage battery of charm. I think one of the greatest tragedies of civilisation is the fact that we live so much of our lives indoors and bundled up. Thank our stars we are learning to move out and under the sun, in a minimum of clothes. No wonder the scanty bathing suits reveal ugly, distorted figures! We’ve been living like moles for centuries,! No wonder the Greek goddesses had such divine figures! They knew how .to dress scantily ~nnd play outdoors. Their beauty secret, long forgotten in the dark Middle Apes and Victoria’s era, is coining to light again. Tf you are so careless as to let your face get badly sunburned, you may question whether sunshine is any beauty aid. But that will be your own fault. There are any number of good preparations to protect your skin from burning until it gains a little hardihood of its own. If your skin is comparatively opaque, a heavy application of your powder foundation and a generous powdering will be enough. If your skin is dry. an oil rubbed into it while you sun bathe will prevent soreness and blistering. If your skin is thin, fair, or sensitive, you should, surely use one of the creams that definitely screen out the burning light while you tan to .your heart’s content. , Don’t let yourself get badly sunburned. It coarsens and thickens your skin for :months afterwards —and that’s not becom'ing in this age of femininity. Moreover, a bad sunburn is a burn, with the attendant fever, toxic condition, destruction of red blood corpuscles. No health in that! ; So take your tonic sunshine in modera- | tion. j But take ft! For in moderation, it j ■vitalises all your system. Makes your eyes clear, brighter, more sparkling. Makes your cheeks and lips rosy with health. Makes your skin glow with that inner radiance that is so seductive. Makes you look vivid instead of insipid. And, more practically, sunshine is grand medication for certain skin faults. For pimples, for bumps under the skin, for the scars and pits that follow eruptions. For •dandruff. For the dull, muddy complexion that characterises poor circulation and many digestive ills. The fashion oracles tell me that the now clothes are more and more designed for the woman with “ shape.” So more and more of you will be writing, to ask me how to develop the bust. Now is your chance, in these summer mouths, to take part in the exercises that will mould your shoulders, chest and breasts in lovely proportions. Swim —-there is no exercise so good for firming flabby breasts of coi--recting flat-chestedness. Play tennis—it is grand for lifting and modelling a shapeless bosom. Play golf—it lifts the breasts and diaphragm, hardens and shapes flabby upper arms. I can never conscientiously sanction massage of the breast, about which so many women write me. These tissues are too delicate for amateur treatment. But sports and exercises which use the muscles of the chest, diaphragm, shoulders, and upper arms, are all excellent to give rounduess and firmness to the breasts. Air and sunshine can do a lot of good to your hair too. Gradual sun tanning of your scalp, to tone and invigorate it is ] sometimes all that is necessary to correct i mild dandruil or oiliness. If your hair \ has a tendency to dryness, however, pro- ■ tect it from too sudden or prolonged ex- ' posure to sun, just as you protect your j skin. Use a rich, oily scalp pomade, an oily i scalp tonic, or an oily hair dressing (rubbed into the scalp and brushed down the length of the hair), to keep your hair ; from becoming parched and brittle. i Sunshine bleaches the hair. So if you cherish the even blondness or the par- ■ ticular chestnut tint of your locks, stick ! to shade hats and beach umbrellas. And now a word about your toes. After years of seclusion, toes are coming right out in public, not only on the beach, but

at the most formal evening parties. And not all toes can stand this amount of social attention. They don't show oil well. Do yours? Barring actual bunions, you can do almost as much for toes as you can to make your hands pretty. And by the same process. Manicure your toenails as regularly and carefully as you do your hands, if you’re going to indulge in sandal footwear. Scrub them vigorously with hot water and soap and a determined brush, to remove dead, dingy cuticle. Shape the nails roundly (not pointed for toes) with an emery board. Cover an orange-wood stick with cotton, wet it with a cuticle-remover preparation,, and work this gently but thoroughly under the nail tips, all around the cuticle edges, and over callous spots. Then scrub your toes again, and go over each nail painstakingly with a corner of the Turkish bath towel, wiping away all the scraps of dead skin that make toes look so unkempt and unused to a social life. Then apply nail polish, if you want your toes to be very dressy. The vivid and deep shades of polish are even more gay and smart on toes than they are on finger tips. With evening sandals, though, I think the pearly or pastel rose shades are even more alluring and newer. Use your hand lotion or hand cream all over your feet to make them have a .nice complexion to set off sandals prettily.