TOILET LUXURIES.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XV, Issue XXII, 30 November 1895, Page 694

TOILET LUXURIES.

TOILET WATER. For a very refreshing toilet water, highly favoured by Portuguese ladies, take a pint of rectified grape spirit, half ounce oil of bitter orange, quarter ounce oil of citron zest, and one-half drachm oil of rose. Have all bottles for perfumery and extracts perfectly clean and dry, rinsing lastly with alcohol, for the least drop of water may make the liquid look milky or turbid, and may lead to fungus in toilet water. Perfumes should be tightly closed with glass stoppers, and kept dark and cold in well filled bottles, not to lose quality. Aud here follow some recipes useful in every toilet:— Bay Rum for the Hair.—Oil of bay, 240 grains ; oil of orange, 16 grains ; oil of pimento (allspice), 16 grains, alcohol, 1 quart; water, 25 fluid ounces. Dissolve the oils in the alcohol, and add the water. Mix it with two ounces of precipitated phosphate of lime, and filter through paper or quartz Keep for three months before using, and a year if possible, as it improves with age. Much of the bay rum found in shops is made by dissolving a chemical compound knowp as bay rum essence in alcohol, more or less weakened by water. The genuine bay rum is rightly esteemed as a stimulant to the hair, and is an oily, rich spirit, obtained by distilling the rum from West Indian molasses with the fresh leaves of the bay tree ( Myrcia acris), a species of myrtle, not to be confounded with the sweet bay. The best bay rum is imported from St Thomas, West Indies, and is four times the strength of ordinary * good ’ bay rum. If it has lost any of its esteem as a hair tonic, it is from the worthless quality of the stuff sold under its name. Pure bay rum has a most grateful and refreshing scent of wild orange,the most fragrant of all orange odours, and is valued as a wash to check undue perspiration as well as a stimulant in the bath.