Keep Your Face Fresh

The cleansing preparation, "cleansing cream," is used, as its name indicates, as a cleanser to remove the dirt clinging to the surface of the skin. The skin should be polished with it, and it should then be removed with a special soft paper or with cotton. If you use cotton, it should be wrung out in a vessel containing a skin-toning preparation, or in hot water, and the cream removed with it. You will find this method more effective than any other. There are three kinds of cleansing cream: heavy, medium, and light; and since you are a young girl whose skin is fresh and tender, you should use the lightest kind, for the heavy and medium creams suit those older than you, whose skin is thick and in need of nourishment.

The nourishing cream, "skin food"

There are likewise three kinds of skin-nourishing cream: heavy, medium, and light. In most cases you should use the light kind, for your skin will not absorb the heavy cream; but once you have reached the age of thirty, you should use the medium kind, which supplies your skin with extra nourishment—especially for your neck—the nourishment your skin needs during those years. Most women use an excessive quantity of skin food, especially around the eyes, and it slips their minds that the skin can absorb only a certain amount of this cream. So remember this fact when you use the skin-nourishing cream.

The toning preparation ("skin tonic")

This kind is useful for removing the traces of the cleansing cream, and it is an effective agent in toning the skin after that nourishing cream has been on the skin. If your skin is oily by nature, pat a little of this preparation on it every morning before making up your face.

The cleansing milk ("cleansing milk")

Since this is non-greasy in composition, it is a wonderful cleanser for the daytime. Women whose skin is oily by nature generally prefer to use the cleansing milk at night as well—though I advise every woman who uses it also to use a good kind of skin-nourishing cream, of the light kind, one night a week; otherwise, after a few years, they will find their skin worn and inclined to wrinkle.

The foundation preparation ("foundation cream")

Three kinds of this cream are made. The first is the vanishing cream, which has no color and melts away into the face when applied, leaving the skin smooth without powder, though it does not last long. The second is thicker than the first and protects the skin from cold and wind; it is useful above all in making dry skin smooth to the touch. The third is the heavy, light-colored cream, useful for a pimpled skin or one bearing the small blemishes that mar the beauty of the face—those blemishes that are always in plain view just when a girl wishes to look her very best. On the whole, my girl, I advise you to use the vanishing cream in the summer months, and the medium-heavy cream to protect your skin in the winter months and on cold days.

Powder

Use the best and finest kinds of powder, and avoid the cheap kinds, for they are dangerous and may end in poisoning your skin. Choose your powder a shade slightly darker than your skin, for a shade lighter than the skin makes you look like a ghost and does not become you at all. Remember, too, if your complexion is a rosy red, to choose a powder with a faint red tint; and if your skin is by nature smooth to the touch and translucent, you should use a fine powder blended with a little "cream." Make sure the lid of your powder box is shut tight, so that it keeps its scent. Take great care that your velvet powder puffs are clean, and wash them once every two weeks—or sooner than that if cream has stuck to them, for greasy puffs waste the powder and spoil the toilette of the face.

Lipsticks

Do not put a thick layer on your lips, and do not smear it beyond their outline. The best way to fix it on your lips is to put a layer of powder over them after coloring them, and then remove a little of this powder.