The Mirror of the Graces by Unknown - HTML preview

RECIPES.

Paste of Palermo.

This paste for the hands, to use instead of soap, preserves them from chapping, smooths their surface, and renders them soft.

Taken, pound of soft soap, half a pint of salad oil, the same quantity of spirits of wine, the juice of three lemons, a little silver sand, and a sufficient quantity of what perfume pleases the sense. The oil and soap must be first boiled together in an earthen pipkin. The other ingredients to be added after boiling; and, when cool, amalgamate into a paste with the hands.

Fard.

This useful paste is good for taking off sunburnings, effects of weather on the face, and accidental cutaneous eruptions. It must be applied at going to bed. First wash the face with its usual ablution, and when dry, rub this fard all over it, and go to rest with it on the skin. This is excellent for almost constant use. Take two ounces of oil of sweet almonds, ditto of spermaceti; melt them in a pipkin over a slow fire. When they are dissolved and mixed, take it off the fire, and stir into it one tablespoonful of fine honey. Continue stirring it till it is cold, and then it is fit for use.

Lip Salve.

A quarter of a pound of hard marrow from the marrow-bone. Melt it over a slow fire, as it dissolves gradually, pour the liquid marrow into an earthen pipkin; then add to it an ounce of spermaceti, twenty raisins of the sun, stoned, and a small portion of alcanna root, sufficient to color it a bright vermilion. Simmer these ingredients over a slow fire for ten minutes, then strain the whole through muslin; and, while hot, stir into it one teaspoonful of the balsam of Peru. Pour it into the boxes in which it is to remain; it will there stiffen, and become fit for use.

Lavender Water.

Take of rectified spirits of wine half a pint, essential oil of lavender two drachms, otto of roses five drops. Mix all together in a bottle, and cork it for use.

Unction de Maintenon.

The use of this is to remove freckles. The mode of application is this:—Wash the face at night with elder-flower water, then anoint it with the unction. In the morning cleanse your skin from its oily adhesion, by washing it copiously in rose-water.

Take of Venice soap an ounce, dissolve it in half an ounce of lemon-juice, to which add of oil of bitter-almonds and deliquidated oil of tartar, each a quarter of an ounce. Let the mixture be placed in the sun till it acquires the consistence of ointment. When in this state, add three drops of the oil of rhodium, and keep it for use.

Creme de l’Enclos.

This is an excellent wash, to be used night and morning, for the removal of tan.

Take half a pint of milk, with the juice of a lemon, and a spoonful of white brandy, boil the whole, and skim it clear from all scum. When cool, it is ready for use.

Pommade de Seville.

This simple application is much in request with the Spanish ladies, for taking off the effects of the sun, and to render the complexion brilliant.

Take equal parts of lemon-juice and white of eggs. Beat the whole together in a varnished earthen pipkin, and set on a slow fire. Stir the fluid with a wooden spoon till it has acquired the consistence of soft pomatum. Perfume it with some sweet essence, and before you apply it, carefully wash the face with rice water.

Beaume à l’Antique.

This is a very fine cure for chapped lips. Take four ounces of the oil of roses, half an ounce of white wax, and half an ounce of spermaceti; melt them in a glass vessel, and stir them with a wooden spoon; pour it out into glass cups for use.

Wash for the Hair.

This is a cleanser and brightener of the head and hair, and should be applied in the morning.

Beat up the whites of six eggs into a froth, and with that anoint the head close to the roots of the hair. Leave it to dry on; then wash the head and hair thoroughly with a mixture of rum and rose-water in equal quantities.

Aura and Cephalus.

This curious recipe is of Grecian origin, as its name plainly indicates, and it is said to have been very efficacious in preventing, or even removing, premature wrinkles from the face of the Athenian fair.

Put some powder of the best myrrh upon an iron plate, sufficiently heated to melt the gum gently, and when it liquifies, hold your face over it, at a proper distance to receive the fumes without inconvenience; and that you may reap the whole benefit of the fumigation, cover your head with a napkin. It must be observed, however, that if the applicant feels any headache, she must desist, as the remedy will not suit her constitution, and ill consequences might possibly ensue.

Madame Recamier’s Pommade.

This was communicated by this lady as being used in France and Italy, by those who professionally, or by choice, are engaged in exercises which require long and great exertions of the limbs, as dancing, playing on instruments, &c.

Take any suitable quantity of Axungia Cervi, i. e. the fat of a red stag or hart; add to it the same quantity of olive oil, (Florence oil is preferable to any of the kind,) and half the quantity of virgin wax; melt the whole in an earthen vessel, well glazed, over a slow fire, and, when properly mixed, leave it to cool. This ointment has been applied also with considerable efficacy in cases of rheumatism.

A Wash for the Face.

This recipe is well known in France, and much extolled by the ladies of that country as efficacious and harmless.

Take equal parts of the seeds of the melon, pompion, gourd, and cucumber, pounded and reduced to powder or meal; add to it fresh cream, sufficient to dilute the flour; beat all up together, adding a sufficient quantity of milk, as it may be required, to make an ointment, and then apply it to the face; leave it there for half an hour, and then wash it off with warm soft water.

A Paste for the Skin.

This may be recommended in cases when the skin seems to get too loosely attached to the muscles.

Boil the whites of four eggs in rose-water, add to it a sufficient quantity of alum; beat the whole together till it takes the consistence of a paste. This will give, when applied, great firmness to the skin.

A Wash to give Lustre to the Face.

Infuse wheat-bran well sifted, for three or four hours in white wine vinegar; add to it five yolks of eggs and a grain or two of ambergris, and distil the whole. When the bottle is carefully corked, keep it for twelve or fifteen days before you make use of it.

Pimpernel Water.

Pimpernel is a most wholesome plant, and often used on the continent for the purpose of whitening the complexion; it is there in so high reputation, that it is said generally, that it ought to be continually on the toilet of every lady who cares for the brightness of her skin.

Eau de Veau.

Boil a calf’s foot in four quarts of river water till it is reduced to half the quantity. Add half a pound of rice, and boil it with crumb of white bread steeped in milk, a pound of fresh butter, and the whites of five fresh eggs; mix with them a small quantity of camphor and alum, and distil the whole. This recipe may be strongly recommended; it is most beneficial to the skin, which it lubricates and softens to a very comfortable degree. The best manner of distilling these ingredients is in the balneum mariæ; that is, in a bottle placed in boiling water.

Rose Water.

Put some roses into water, add to them a few drops of acid; the vitriolic acid seems to be preferable to any—soon the water will assume both the color and perfume of the roses.

Another.

Take two pounds of rose-leaves, place them on a napkin tied round the edges of a basin filled with hot water, and put a dish of cold water upon the leaves; keep the bottom water hot, and change the water at top as soon as it begins to grow warm; by this kind of distillation you will extract a great quantity of the essential oil of the roses by a process which cannot be expensive, and will prove very beneficial.

Virgin Milk.

A publication of this kind would certainly be looked upon as an imperfect performance, if we omitted to say a few words upon this famous cosmetic. It consists of a tincture of benjoin, precipitated by water. The tincture of benjoin is obtained by taking a certain quantity of that gum, pouring spirits of wine upon it, and boiling it till it becomes a rich tincture. If you pour a few drops of this tincture into a glass of water, it will produce a mixture which will assume all the appearance of milk, and retain a very agreeable perfume. If the face is washed with this mixture, it will, by calling the purple stream of the blood to the external fibres of the epidermis, produce on the cheeks a beautiful rosy color; and, if left on the face to dry, it will render it clear and brilliant. It also removes spots, freckles, pimples, erysipelatous eruptions, &c. &c. if they have not been of long standing on the skin.

Lavender Water.

Take four handfuls of dried lavender flowers, and sprinkle on them one quart of brandy, the same quantity of white wine and rose-water; leave them to remain six days in a large bottle well-corked up; let the liquor be distilled and poured off.

Sweet-scented Water.

This agreeably-scented water is not only a pleasant cosmetic, but also of great use in nervous disorders.

Put one quart of rose-water, and the same quantity of orange-water, into a large and wide-mouthed glass; strew upon it two handfuls of jessamine flowers, put the glass in the balneum mariæ, or on a slow fire, and when it is distilled, add to it a scruple of musk and the same quantity of ambergris.

Eau d’Ange.

Pound in a mortar fifteen cloves and one pound of cinnamon, and put the whole into a quart of water, with four grains of anniseed; let it stand over a charcoal fire twentyfour hours, then strain off the liquor, and put it up for use. This perfume is most excellent, and will do well for the hands, face, and hair, to which it communicates a very agreeable scent.

Remedy for the Toothache.

In two drachms of rectified spirits of wine dissolve one drachm of camphire, five grains of prepared opium, and ten drops of oil of box; mix them well, and keep it well corked for use. If the pain arise from a hollow tooth, four or five drops on cotton to be put into the tooth; or six or seven drops to be put on cotton into the ear on the side where the pain is felt. Should the patient not feel easier in a quarter of an hour, the same may be repeated. It has never failed on the second application.

An excellent Eye-Water.

Take six ounces of rectified spirits of wine, dissolve in it one drachm of camphire, and half a pint of elder-flower water. Wash the eyes night and morning with this liquid; it clears the vision, and strengthens the sight.

Dentifrice.

The following is one of the best recipes for tooth-powder:—

Take of prepared chalk six ounces, cassia powder, half an ounce, orris-root, an ounce. These are to be well mixed, and may be colored with red lake, or any other innocent substance, according to the fancy of the user. This dentifrice is to be used with a firm brush every morning; the teeth should also be brushed before going to bed, but it is seldom necessary to use the powder more than once a day.

THE END.