COSMETICS. 



THE SKIN. 



WHAT are \ve to say about the propriety of painting the skin? 

 The subject is one that would soon lead the inquiring mind 

 into troubled waters ; or, if the figure of speech be thought 

 unfitting, would lead it to troublous issues. A lady about to 

 paint, or varnish, or enamel herself, has first, if she be wise, 

 to consider the matter from a hygienic or health-disposing 

 point of view. She has to consider what the skin is, what it 

 has to do, and how the interior economy may resent any vio- 

 lation done to this delicate expansion. Having decided to 

 rouge upon a white ground, she has to consider what the 

 white ground shall be, and what the pink to be laid upon it. 

 Ah, ladies, you do not think of these matters you never will 

 think of these matters ! The perfumer, then, must do it for 

 you, as he does for the most part conscientiously. The white 

 pigments used for skin-purposes at the present time are com- 

 monly harmless ; time was when a verdict so favourable could 

 not have been given. As for rouge, the best is a preparation, 

 by a treatment unnecessary to state here, from the coccus cacti, 

 or cochineal insect ; an inferior sort is got from safflower, the 

 petals of a flower used in dyeing. White skin-pigments usu- 

 ally go under the name of ' pearl-powder ;' though the com- 

 position of none of them has anything to do with pearls, and 

 though so-called pearl-powders differ extremely in their nature. 

 I shall treat of their composition by and by; pausing now 

 to note the troubled waters, or troublous issues, as may seem 

 the trope most fitting, to which I adverted. 



