NOTES FOR WOMEN.

Thames Star, Volume LIX, Issue 16625, 22 October 1925, Page 2

NOTES FOR WOMEN.

HERBS AND BEAUTY

All through the ages herbs have had a close association with healing and beauty. Long before beauty culture was heard of certain herbs were known to possess peculiar virtues which gave strength to the body and colour and clearness to the complexion. It would be better for many of us if we avoided cosmetics and returned to the simple herbal recipes of our grandmothers and great-grandmothers. The camomile flower, one of the oldest known herbs of beauty, is used both as a beverage for clearing the complexion and as a lotion for softening and whitening it. As a beverage, the camomile tea should be taken the last thing at night. It is made in a similar way to ordinary tea. Three or four dried camomile flowery are placed in an earthenware teapot, and half a pint of boiling water is poured oyer them. They are then allowed to ‘‘draw” for five minutes, and the tea is poured off and sweetened with a lump of sugar. When it is to be used as a lotion tbe camomile preparation is made stronger. Place about five of the dried flowers in a bowl, and pour oyer them half a pint of boiling water. Cover the bowl for about ten minutes, and when the lotion has slightly cooled, sponge it on the skin with a small pad of cottonwool. Sage and thyme were used as a cure for depression, and parsley was the foundation of a lotion for whitening the skin. To make the lotion, take a handful of parsley, wash it well, place it in a saucepan with a. pint and a-lialf of boiling water, and boil slowly for a quarter of an hour, Then strain, and add a little powdered alum, borax, and camphor. It is claimed that if this lotion is dabbed over the skin with a pad of cotton-wool regularly every night for a fortnight, it will whiten the darkest and most discoloured neck and arms.

THE HOLIDAY OUTFIT

SUITABLE FROCKS AND FANCIES

Gone are the days when you packed up everything you possessed, and went off for your holidays attired in your most dilapidated hat, your oldest coat, not to mention shoes, which but for the journey 'would quite likely never have seen daylight again. Nowadays a smart woman’s travelling costume is as smart, if not smarter, than any 'other part of her wardrobe, especially her top coat ,which, if expense has to be considered, will do duty as a lightw(tight coat over summer frocks, minus its heavy lining, of course. Better 'still, why not choose a model resembling a coat frock, which will then serve three purposes, since it can be worn with a lingerie blouse? Clothes for travelling have become almost standardised. They resemble

UNUSUAL JAM JARS

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their first cousins, sports clothes. The woman who looks right is she who walks about in a kasha skirt, matching crepe-de-chine jumper, and closefitting felt hat, to say nothing of serviceable Oxford brogues and lisle stockings. Unfortunately, one still secs the type of woman wlroi travels in a ribbon hat, possibly a beaded frock yind bag to match, high-heelecl shoes "and silk hose, and she doesn’t look comfortable either. Clothes for holiday wear, unless you are staying in a very smart hotel, should be anything but imposing and formal. That is where the beauty of little lace frocks comes in, because heavy lace does not get that ragged look or lose its freshness, as other materials do. For the same reason uncrushable chiffons prove faithful friends and aro quite unperishable, no matter what hardships they endure by way of folding and squeezing. Neither of these types of garment looks pretentious nor- out of place, as the elaborate evening toilette looks, with its dressed-up and waiting-for-something-to-liappen appearance. For, after all you are supposed to be on holida/ and having breathless enjoyment out of every minute.

Sports costumes are the things to bother about, for with one more or less formal toilette you have nothing more with which to concern yourself. Little pleated crepe-de-chine frocks, with long sleeves and matching scarves are more than desirable. Attractive and useful is a gaily embroidered little linen coat, and though we may be tired to death of our little puddingbasin hats, not for the whole world would we change them, so we take our series to match each outfit.

Flowers, especially those uncrushable blossoms, which 'do so much by way of transforming a simple frock into something a little smarter or giving an air of sophistication to a but-ton-hole, should be packed into a very odd corner of the trunk, together with scarves and gloves. They will all prove invaluable and assist in making you look well dressed.

'Hie average breakfast table jamjar is a very uninteresting thing! Enterprising cliinaware manufacturers appear to have discovered this, and some paticularly charming and unusual jam jars are now making their appearance.

One attractive specimen, in sunshine yellow pottery, is made in the shape of a high hamper, the lid of which simulates a pile of glowing flowers in brilliant colourings. Peeping perkily out of the middle blossoms is a laughing cherub, who seems to beg you to lift him and have some more marmalade!

Another fascinating container is fashioned like a crinolined lady, her flowing skirts daintily painted in delicate pinks and blues. ’This shape suggests a new use for the quaint powderjar which you probably received as a Christmas gift last year. Why not use, it as a jam jar? When the family wearies of the presence of the crifloline lady on the table, she can return to your bedroom, and continue her decorative duty there!

LIMITED INCOMES. ECONOMY IN HOUSEKEEPING. Where the income is limited, it stands to reason that the strictest economy must he observed in household matters, though this need not necessarily imply meanness. Wonderful things may he done with those sometimes unconsidered trifles which careless housewives throw away. Bones especially ham and beef bones —bacon rinds, the congealed gravy beneath cold dripping, the water in which meat has been boiled, vegetable peelings, and waste parts, will all help to make stocks for soups and gravies. Lemon peel, fresh or dried, is useful for flavouring stewed fruit, or for infusing in milk, or for seasoning veal stuffing. The kernels of stone fruits will greatly improve the flavour of the jam which is being made from the fruit. Sour milk is a wonderful lightening agent when making girdle and soda scones. Egg shells act as a cleansing agent for jellies, while volumes could be written on the uses of stale bread. “Prime cuts’’ are rapidly becoming a thing of the past, but ninny tasty dishes can be made with the cheaper parts of meat, provided you know how to cook them. Long, slow processes are indispensable in order to extract the full flavour and goodness from cheap meat. These slow processes, incidentally, save on the fuel bill. Fruit or vegetables stewed in closed jars, baked custards and other light puddings, delicate pieces of fish, beef tea, dried fruits, pulses and cereals which require several hours’ cooking, may,' in iaet, be cooked quite conveniently in a warm oven after the fire has burned itself >out or the gas has been turned off. “Seasonable'’ foods are at their best and cheapest two or three weeks after they first appear; but no good housekeeper should ever be tempted to buy food which has seen its best days merely in order to save a lew doubtful coppers, for she will get no real bargain.