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Toilet Preparations: Milk

Cucumber Milk. - Slice three or four large cucumbers with the skin on, add pint of water, boil, stir to a soft pulp, cool, and strain. Mix 1½ ounces of this cucumber juice, 14 ounces of 95 per cent alcohol, and ounce of grated castile soap. Let stand in a warm place over night; next day add 8 ounces more of the cucumber juice, 1 ounce of oil of sweet almonds, 20 drops of tincture of benzoin, and 5 grains of boracic acid. Shake well before using, and apply to the face two or three times a day with a soft cloth or sponge.

Milk for the Skin. -New milk, skimmed milk, and buttermilk each possess properties peculiar to itself, and they all make useful and simple washes having a general emollient action on the skin. If used daily they tend to make the skin soft, smooth, and white, and to preserve it from the effects of exposure to weather. Buttermilk is useful for freckles and acne, and relieves itching and local irritations of the skin. Pure, fresh cream is a simple and effective preventive of chapped hands and lips, and is excellent to cure these evils.

Milk as a cosmetic may be improved by infusing in it freshly grated horse-radish, or infusing in new milk or buttermilk a quantity of flowers of sulphur. These are useful remedies for freckles and other discolorations and slight eruptions of the skin.

Or mix flowers of sulphur with a little new milk and let stand an hour or two to settle. Pour off the milk from the sediment, and rub well into the skin before washing. This mixture is for immediate use only, and must be prepared daily. It may be prepared at night with evening milk and used the next morning, but not afterwards. Two or three tablespoonfuls are all that need be prepared at a time. Or boil 1 cupful of fine Scotch oatmeal-not breakfast food-in 1 pint of boiling water until it forms a clear liquid. Use a double boiler, or place the saucepan containing the oatmeal in an open kettle or pan of boiling water to prevent sticking or burning. Strain the clear liquid through a cloth, boil again, and strain a second time. Add rose water, elder-flower water, or orange- TOILET PREPARATIONS a flower water until the liquor has the consistency of milk. Add a few drops of your favorite perfume, and bottle for use.

Lemon Juice. - Dilute fresh lemon juice with five or six times its volume of pure soft water. This, however, should not be used too frequently on account of its acid quality and tendency to impair the work of the pores of the skin. It may, however, be used on occasion to relieve itching or local irritation.

Or mix equal parts of lemon juice, toilet water, and alcohol. Let stand over night, pour off the clear liquid, and strain through silk or linen.

Kalydor. - Dissolve 2 drams of tincture of benzoin in 1 pint of rose water, and use as a face wash for the complexion.

Magnesia Cream.-Mix fine powdered magnesia with rose water to a thin cream, dip the face in warm water to open the pores, apply a glycerin lotion, and afterwards apply the magnesia cream. Let dry and remove with a soft towel. Or dissolve fuller's earth in water, stir well, then let it settle, and use once or twice daily.