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Toilet Preparations: Distilled

Diluents or Vehicles. - Distilled water, various perfumed toilet waters, as rose water, together with alcohol, rectified spirits of wine, and other spirits, are the liquids most often recommended for diluting toilet preparations to the consistency of creams, lotions, washes, and the like.

Distilled water may be prepared at home by attaching a tube to the spout of the teakettle, immersing as much of its length as possible in a basin of water shielded from the fire and kept cold, if convenient, with ice, and collecting the condensed steam at the opposite end of the tube in a fruit jar or other receptacle. The object of this process is to remove all impurities held in suspension, as lime and other minerals which are found in hard water; also vegetable and animal matter and other impurities.

In winter clean snow, melted, is equivalent to distilled water. Rain water collected in a clean vessel is a good substitute. The ordinary water supply, softened if necessary by means elsewhere recommended, will usually answer every purpose. Elderflower water, orange-flower water, and other perfumed toilet waters are often recommended, but rose water or plain distilled or soft water may be used as a substitute, if preferred, in all cases.

Perfumes. Substances used as perfumes commonly occur in several forms, i. e., the attar or essential oil, the essence, and the tincture or the "water," depending upon the degree of dilution. They can also be obin tained in powdered form, as sachets. The most convenient form in which to purchase perfumes is the otto or attar, i. e., the essential oil.

This may be purchased in small quantity and employed according to taste, a few drops being sufficient to perfume most toilet preparations in quantities suitable for domestic use.

The scent of these perfumes is familiar to most persons, but they can easily be inspected at a drug store and a selection can be made. It is not necessary, of course, to purchase or have on hand each and all the different perfumes recommended. In fact, perfumes are now used very much less than they were formerly, and a strong scent of cologne, musk, or other odor about an individual is regarded as a mark of vulgarity.

Many ladies who enjoy perfumes compromise by selecting any particular odor they prefer, as violet, rose, lavender, or heliotrope, and employ this exclusively in the toilet. Any of the essential oils may be substituted freely for the others, and the quantity may be varied to suit the taste as determined by experiment.

Coloring Matters. - The standard coloring matters employed for lip salve, rouge, cold cream, and the like are as follows: for rose pink or red, alkanet root or dragon's blood; for yellow or orange, palm oil or annotto; for blue, finely powdered indigo; for green, spinach leaves. Other coloring matter, as the various lakes and other mineral substances, are intentionally omitted. Utensils Required. - The utensils required in compounding the following recipes are usually at hand in every household. A small pair of druggist's scales or balances is a great convenience, and will be found useful in many ways. A graduate glass, marked for the measurement of fluid ounces, is also useful, and can be obtained of any druggist or dealer in photographic materials. A glass of the size of 4 or 8 ounces may be obtained at from 25 cents or less to 50 cents.

In addition to the above a small spatula or thin, broad-bladed, flexible knife, a small mortar and pestle, and one or two short pieces of glass tube or rod for stirring, will be found convenient. Ordinary porcelain-lined saucepans are the best receptacles in which to melt and mix the necessary ingredients. A double boiler is convenient, but if this cannot be had, a large saucepan may be partly filled with water, and a smaller one containing the ingredients to be melted placed within it so that the water will reach part way up the sides. A few nails or other solid objects placed in the bottom of the large saucepan will raise the small one so as to permit the water to circulate freely beneath it. In this way the ingredients may be melted without danger of burning or sticking to the pan. Care must be taken that the water in the outer saucepan does not all evaporate or boil up and flood the inner one. - Directions for Compounding.

First place the solid or liquid constituents used as a base in a double boiler or saucepan, as above suggested. Simmer with a gentle heat, but without boiling. When the solids are melted and the mass is warm enough to flow freely, first put in the coloring matter, if any, and simmer until the color has been fully incorporated. Next strain through linen while still hot.

Return the mixture to the double boiler, and while hot add such specific remedial agents as the oil of bitter almonds, honey, glycerin, benzoin, lemon juice, alum, etc. If rose water or distilled water is to be added to form an emulsion, lotion, or wash, take the mixture off the fire and add the water gradually, stirring briskly with a spoon or egg beater to insure forming a perfect emulsion. The last ingredient to be added is always the perfume, and this should be done after the mixture has cooled somewhat, but before it sets.

Perfumes are volatile, and if added to a heated mixture are likely to be wasted by evaporation.

Compounding of Pastes and Powders. The above instructions apply especially to liquid compounds. The solid constituents of pastes may be rubbed together in a mortar, and kneaded with the hands or with a spatula on a marble or metal slab, a clean piece of zinc, or a kneading board. In some cases an egg beater can be employed if the consistency of the mixture will allow it. Almonds for pastes may be reduced in a mortar to the proper consistency by moistening them with rose water and grinding them with a pestle, or by heating them with water in a saucepan until the mass assumes a granular consistency, somewhat similar to cooked oatmeal. Both methods are TOILET PREPARATIONS employed, but the former is the more common. The materials for toilet powders may be compounded by simple mixture in a mortar or other suitable receptacle. General Suggestions. We would suggest to the novice that it will be well to first prepare a small quantity of some good toilet powder (preferably based on wheat starch), a good cold cream, and, if desired, one of the liquid emulsions or lotions as a wash for the face and hands.

Other preparations, as pastes, rouge, aromatic vinegar, and the like, may be made up as occasion demands. Persons experienced in these matters will, of course, need no suggestions.

Tables. A number of tables have been prepared which contain practically all the standard recipes for the toilet in use by beauty doctors and others in all parts of the world. An exception to this statement has already been noted; all recipes containing preparations of lead and other injurious mineral drugs have been absolutely excluded. A list of the different ingredients is given at the left of the table, and the name of each preparation is quoted at the top. Under each name and opposite the names of the different ingredients will be found the amount of each to be employed. General directions for compounding the following recipes have already been given. Special directions follow each table when necessary. SIMPLE HOME PREPARATIONS The following simple homemade preparations are suggested in addition to the more elaborate receipts given later:

To Remove Freckles. - Preparations recommended for the removal of freckles are usually of an acid character containing alum, lemon juice, horse-radish, buttermilk, and the like; also mineral drugs, as salts of lead, mercury, bismuth, and others. It cannot be too clearly stated that all such preparations are distinctly injurious to the complexion, and their frequent use is not to be recommended. Most young persons of light complexion are annoyed by freckles, but these ordinarily pass away in later life, and the wisest possible course is to pay little attention to them and allow nature to effect a cure. The application of preparations advertised to remove freckles, the ingredients of which are unknown, should be avoided lest they contain bismuth, which is liable to blacken the skin, or lead or mercury, which active mineral poisons.

The following recipes, the active principles of which are principally animal or vegetable acids, are less injurious; but it must be borne in mind that all cosmetics of an astringent nature do their work by contracting the pores, which thus become weakened and in time are unable to discharge their natural functions. The result may be, in later life, wrinkles and sallowness, and the last state of the complexion may be distinctly worse than the first. are Grate a fresh horse-radish root very fine, cover with fresh buttermilk, and let stand over night. Strain through cheese cloth, and wash the face night and morning with the resulting liquor.

Or squeeze the juice of a lemon into half a tumbler of water, and use two or three times daily as a face wash.

Or dissolve in lemon juice as much sugar as it will hold, and apply with a soft brush frequently until the freckles disappear.

Or apply a lotion containing glycerin, but this is hardly a specific. Or mix 2 ounces of lemon juice with 1 dram of confectioner's sugar or powdered rock candy and dram of powdered borax. Let stand for 4 or 5 days, shaking occasionally, and apply with a camel's-hair brush two or three times a day.

Or to 1 pint of distilled soft water add 1 dram of sal ammoniac and ounce of cologne. Rub on the face and hands two or three times daily.

Or dissolve in 4 drams of rose water 1 dram of muriate of ammonia, and apply two or three times a day with a camel's-hair brush.

Or put in a double boiler 1 ounce of grated Venice soap and 1 ounce of pure soft water (or distilled water); melt with gentle heat and continue the heating until the water is evaporated and only the melted soap remains. Remove from the fire, and stir in ounce of lemon juice, ounce of oil of bitter almonds, 4 ounce of deliquidated oil of tartar, and 3 drops of oil rhodium. This is said to be a recipe of the celebrated Mme. de Maintenon, the mistress of Louis XIV of France.