The Beauty Mask: This Happy Hypocrite

Do you know the story of "The Happy Hypocrite" by the famous writer Max Beerbohm, in which the hero masks his face with the mask of an attractive young man in order to court his beloved, hiding behind his mask a tired, wrinkled face?

A woman resorts to the beauty mask in a corner of her home only because she knows full well — like that "Happy Hypocrite" — the wrinkles in her face and the fatigue apparent in her features, brought on by unceasing work, or accumulated worries, or failing health; and all of these vanish, and all is renewed, after using the beauty mask, which restores to her her radiance and her freshness.

The beauty mask is the oldest thing ever used for renewing the freshness of the face. It was dear to Cleopatra and to all the queens of history who knew how to play with the hearts of men.

What is this mask, and what is its true nature? Is it used at home, and does it require a long time to apply? What is it good for, and is it confined to women advanced in years only? Must it be used always? And does it make the face look ugly enough to call for hiding oneself while using it? These are questions that come to a lady's mind about the use of something she does not know. To ease the anxiety that troubles her, we offer some answers that may help:

The answer to these questions depends on you, Madam, and on the type of your skin. If you are young — that is, eighteen years of age — and are embarrassed by certain blackheads that sometimes appear on your face, or by enlarged pores, then you need a special cream mask, which you should use three times a week to obtain smoothness of skin and to keep your complexion pure and fresh. Apply the mask quickly, for it is fast to dry, and its drying makes it hard; and this hardness of it presses upon the pores and expels the dirt outward. It also stimulates the circulation of the blood, which cleanses the inside of the skin where the cream cannot reach.

The cream should be used over the nose, where the pores are prone to enlargement and are often filled with impurities that must be removed, and then on the forehead and chin, where perspiration is abundant owing to the activity of secretion in the glands.

Before you use the mask, clean your face well with a cleansing cream, removing it with a piece of the special tissue. Then spread the mask over your face quickly and firmly, leave it on for fifteen to twenty minutes, then remove it with a pad moistened with warm water, and dry well.

If your face is free of large pores and of abundant secretion, and your skin is smooth, then you need to use the "herbal mask" to preserve its smoothness. This, too, must be applied over a very clean face. After washing it with a cleansing cream and removing the latter with a piece of tissue, apply the "herbal mask" — a kind of jelly in a small tube which, when used, makes you feel a perceptible renewal in your skin, and a freshness, and then the pleasant scent of herbs. Spread it quickly over your face, your neck, and your forehead, leave it to dry for five to ten minutes, then spread a second layer over it.

To obtain the effect intended from this mask, lie quietly on your bed and let it do its work. While you rest, place over your eyes a piece of wool moistened with a solution to soothe the eyes; it is preferable that it be warm if you want a quick result. If, however, the eyes are reddened, cool the solution so as not to increase the redness. And after you have rested the required time, remove the mask with a pad moistened with warm water and wrung out.

As for the woman of thirty-five, who needs the years to disappear, she has a special way of using the mask: after cleaning the skin well with cream, and before applying the mask, massage the face and neck with "green water" (Eau Verte), pouring this solution onto a piece of soft cloth and pressing it against the skin — first around the chin, then around the mouth, moving upward toward the nose, and over the forehead. Use it thoroughly over the cheeks, especially if there is some drooping in the features or if any tendency to droop has appeared — taking care not to use it close to the eyes.

Do not be astonished if your face begins to peel and to redden, for this is to be expected after using the "green water," which cleanses the pores, regulates the circulation of the blood, and restores to the skin its vitality. Then apply the mask in two layers, leave it half an hour, then remove it and apply your powders as usual — and then look at your face in the mirror.

As for those who have never used the mask at all, to them I say that there is nothing in the world that will give you the beauty you seek, and with complete speed — if you carry out the operation of applying it faithfully and precisely — like the mask described above, by whose use you gain confidence in yourself, and that is the greatest help to you in life.

In my view, beauty masks are the one thing that grants you what your soul longs for; and the queens of Egypt, of France, and of England used them before us.

And there is something greater still: if you try the beauty mask a single time, you will not be long in becoming one of its enthusiasts, one of those addicted to it, for it alone restores to your face its freshness and its vitality.