Page 49 Advertisements Column 1

Otago Witness, Issue 3511, 28 June 1921, Page 49

THE CYNIC AND THE BEAUTY COMPETITION. POWDER PUFFS IN THE BALANCE. THE recent “Daily Mirror’’ Beauty Competition seems, like a stone dropped in a pond, to have awakened a series of ripples which penetrate to all parts oi society. Hardly can one go to a “Victory Ball” for a few hours’ undiluted merriment not entirely unconnected with jazz, without finding that the dancing is to be interrupted by a “beauty competition.” Certainly the winners of these affairs do not leap into fame and fortune at a bound like the “Daily Mirror’s” lovely find, but they probably enjoy a certain amount of private satisfaction. One can imagine a cynic inviting his 1 idy guest to a beauty-competition-dance. They appear painted, powdered, and marcelled. They dance, until the small hours, in the tempered glare of electric lights. Comes the dawn. The lights are turned out: the curtains pulled back to let in the cruel morning' light. “Ladies,” says the host, “will you take your places for the Beauty Competition?” Need any more be said? Few of ns claim the perfection of beauty as set forth in someone’s criterion. “If you can face the sun when all the others are sitting with their barks towards the light,” but under more kindly illumination it is .possible to look one’s very prettiest at a dance. One must admit that the heat of ballrooms and the ardour of dancing are foes to the complexion, and what maiden in these days of serious dancing dares retire too frequently to powder her shining little nose? Yet even *’ : s has its remedy, a* the wise girls i s. Before coming to the dance Phyl.is uathes her face id neck with a solution of pure cleminie, which she rubs well into tile skin with her fingertips until it is quite dry. This done, her with a solution of pure cleminit?, which will remain unchanged during a whole evening’s dancing. I suppose every girl would like a new frock for each dance she goes to? But even the unemployed would find that rather a strain on the exchequer. It is a consolation, even if a poor one, to reflect that no amount of frocks will give a girl real prettiness—which is what counts in the end. A pretty complexion, which is the beginning of all beauty, is quite cheap, you know. For about one half-penny you can have a. clean, fresh, new skin (not the old one cleaned up for the occasion) for every dance you go to. I expect any girl could explain this apparent mystery. For the benefit of those who cannot, here is the solution. Get some mercolised wax from the chemist. It is rather expensive but it lasts a long time with care. Rmear it over your face before going to bed, not using too much, and wash it off fir the morning. The oxygen contained in the wax absorbs the outer skin which has become rough aid coarse, and gives the new skin below a chance to show itself. Quite simple, isn’t it? Certainly, the sort of complexion you get from using simple preparations hke the above should be an asset in nnv beauty com-petition-even the cynic's!