Apply natural creams to your face
In compounding face creams one cannot be too careful and painstaking. It is much like preparing a salad or a charlotte russe, either of which can be utterly ruined by lack of care—or too much fussing.
The creme marquise is especially difficult for the woman who tumbles things together in a haphazard fashion. Unless compounded just so carefully, it will be likely to crumble, but when done according to directions it makes a cosmetic that is absolutely unrivaled.
The other creams which follow this formula are more easily made for the reason that they contain less fats and are therefore less apt to separate from the rose-water. The creme marquise is a whiter, harder preparation than any of the others.
Creme Marquise:
¼ ounce of white wax.
2½ ounces of spermaceti.
2½ ounces of oil of sweet almonds.
1½ ounces of rose-water.
1 drop attar of rose.
Shave the wax and spermaceti, and melt in a porcelain kettle. Add the almond oil and heat slightly, but do not let boil. Remove from the stove and add the rose-water, to which the perfume has been added. Beat until creamy, and put in jars. Cease beating before the mass becomes really hard. Be sure that your druggist weighs the wax carefully, for too much of this ingredient will spoil the creme by making it too firm. This delightful preparation should be applied immediately after washing the face, but can be used at any time. It is absolutely harmless. Get the best materials—and see that your almond oil is the real thing instead of a cheap imitation, which acts almost as poison to the skin.
Strawberry Cream:
White wax, ½ ounce.
Spermaceti, ½ ounce.
Sweet almond oil, 2½ ounces.
Strawberry juice, ¾ of an ounce.
Benzoin, 3 drops.
Take large fresh berries. Wash and drain thoroughly. Macerate and strain the juice through a piece of muslin. Heat the white wax, the spermaceti and the oil of almonds. Remove from the fire and add the strawberry juice very quickly. Beat briskly till fluffy, adding the three drops of benzoin just as the mixture begins to cool. Put in jars and keep in a very cool place. This quantity will fill a three-ounce jar. Apply every night as a cold cream. This is particularly excellent for sunburn.
Orange Flower Skin Food:
Spermaceti, ½ ounce.
White wax, ½ ounce.
Sweet almond oil, 2 ounces.
Lanoline, 1 ounce.
Cocoanut oil, 1 ounce.
Tincture benzoin, 3 drops.
Orange flower water, 1 ounce.
Melt the first five ingredients in a porcelain kettle. Take from the fire, and add the benzoin and the orange flower water, fluffing it with an egg-beater till cold. This recipe will make five ounces, quite enough to prepare at one time. For those who dislike oily creams it will be found delightful, as the skin absorbs it. The mission of the skin food is to do away with wrinkles. Massage must, of course, accompany its application. For hollow cheeks or dry, rough skin it is unexcelled. Its fattening qualities plumpen the tissues and so raise the lines of the face and gradually obliterate them.
Clover Cream:
Spermaceti, 1 ounce.
White wax, 1 ounce.
Oil sweet almonds, 5 ounces.
Rose-water, 1-3/5 ounces.
Powdered borax, 20 grains.
Essence of clover, 5 drops.
Dissolve the borax in the rose-water and add the essence of clover. Melt the white wax, the spermaceti and the oil of almonds, using a porcelain kettle, as tin or iron is injurious to the oils. When melted remove from the heat and add the rose-water (all at once). Then beat quickly with an egg-beater until the mixture is cold and firm. It is impossible for the rose-water to separate from the oils if directions are carefully followed. The recipe given above will fill an eight-ounce jar, so perhaps one-half the quantity should be tried at first.
Camphor Cold Cream:
Take one-half ounce each of spermaceti and white wax, melt and add three and one-fourth ounces of oil of sweet almonds, then add one-fourth ounce of camphor, broken into small pieces, and stir until dissolved. Then pour in one and one-half ounces of distilled water in which fifteen grains of borax have been dissolved. Stir until well mixed and beginning to thicken, then add four drops oil of rose, one drop oil of rose geranium, one drop oil of ylang-ylang, two drops tincture of musk, and two drops tincture of civet. Continue to beat until cold.
Cold Cream:
White wax, ½ ounce.
Spermaceti, ½ ounce.
Orange flower water, 2 ounces.
Almond oil, 4 ounces.
Melt all together gently and pour into cups to cool. When cold pour off the water, remelt, and pour into jars to keep.
Oatmeal Lotion:
Two tablespoonfuls fine oatmeal.
Boil and strain. When cold add One dessert spoonful of wine (white Rhine preferred), and the juice of one lemon.
Fluff over the face before going to bed, not wiping it all away. This is excellent for sallow complexion.
Rose Toilet Vinegar:
This toilet vinegar is made by taking one ounce of dried rose leaves, pouring over them half a pint of white wine vinegar, and letting stand for two weeks. Then strain, throwing rose leaves away, and add half a pint of rose-water. It can be used either pure or diluted, and is especially good for an oily skin.
Lavender Lotion (to soften water):
4 ounces of alcohol.
1 ounce of ammonia.
1 dram oil of lavender.
Add one teaspoonful to two quarts of water.
Astringent Wash: Place in a half-pint bottle one ounce of cucumber juice, half fill bottle with elderflower water, and add two tablespoonfuls of eau de cologne. Shake well and add very slowly one-half ounce simple tincture of benzoin, shaking the mixture now and then. Fill bottle with elderflower water.
This is very whitening, but its best mission is that of making large, open pores less noticeable and disfiguring.
Cucumber Milk:
Oil of sweet almonds, 2 ounces.
Fresh cucumber juice, 10 ounces.
White castile soap, ¼ ounce.
Essence of cucumbers, 3 ounces.
Tincture of benzoin, 38 drops.
Get the juice by slicing the cucumbers, unpeeled, boiling in a little water and straining carefully. The essence is made by mixing the juice with equal parts of alcohol. First dissolve the soap in the essence, add the juice, then the sweet almond oil very slowly, and finally the benzoin. Shake well for half an hour if possible. This is a most effective remedy for tan and sunburn.
