The New Movie Magazine (Dec 1929-May 1930)

FIRST AIDS to AUTY By ANN BOYD THE real trouble with all attempts at home facial treatments is that they are seldom pursued persistently enough to accomplish any lasting good. They are, like diets and special exercises, started with great hope and enthusiasm, kept up for a few conscientious days and then forgotten entirely. A week's use of any regime or any group of preparations is not a fair trial; your new treatment may show a few good effects but it cannot overcome the handicap of years of neglect or the wrong sort of care. Those who are obliged to make a habit of facial care are the movie stars who have done much to abolish the old superstition that too many cosmetics are bad for the skin. Actresses constantly wear the heaviest makeups in the studio and yet they are perhaps the youngest, freshest group of women in the world and they have the best complexions. To apply an effective movie make-up an actress must have a skin that is not only free from blemishes but scrupulously clean. Make-up can change the screen appearance of features to a certain extent but it cannot gloss over a poor skin or personal carelessness. The cleanliness which is so important is the result of no mere hasty scrubbing. First, the skin is washed with warm water (not too hot) and fine, light-textured soap. It is then rinsed carefully, given a cold-cream rub for further cleanliness, a good cleaning again with a cream remover and then another rinse with cold water, followed perhaps by a light rubbing with ice. It is well to remember, however, that ice should not be left too long on the face unless your skin is very oily or your face unusually plump. WASHING the face, simple and commonplace as that may seem, is the important start of any beauty treatment. Some women imagine that they have skin that will not tolerate soap. In most cases this is, to be blunt, a delusion. The better toilet soaps not only are pure but they are tuned to suit the most delicate skin. There are wonderful women, too, who use only cold water on their faces. For the most part you hear of these heroines only in novels. The average woman, living as she does in an age of motoring, athletics and the dust of cities, needs two cleansing agents — soap and cold cream. 104 BEAUTY IN WINTER Movie stars have done much to abolish the old superstition that too many cosmetics are bad for the skin. How the movie stars make up. Dorothy Jordan, the Metro Goldwyn-Mayer player, is concentrating upon the art of making her eyes beautiful. IN foggy, moist climates the skin needs less care, which accounts for the fine complexions of English and Irish women. But the American climate is harsher, and generally drier and our social life is more urban than rustic. Nature can be counted on only to take care of those who take care of themselves. For instance, since this is winter, in addition to your cleansing cream, you will need a heavier cream, one with considerable body to it. This cream you will find essential after you have been exposed to cold or wind. Or you may prefer one of the liquid creams which may be applied before or after going out into the cold. This is no modern, superfluous fad. Two generations ago your grandmother kept her skin smooth and unchapped in winter by rubbing it with mutton tallow. It was one of her home-made beauty preparations. Today you will find less crude, more atti-active and more effective lotions on any list of toilet accessories. Actresses constantly wear the heaviest make-ups in the studios and yet they are the youngest, freshest group of women in the world. And they have good complexions. Special attention to the skin is essential in winter. Ann Boyd tells you here the answers to your beauty problems. OTHER handicaps to a good winter skin are lack of exercises, too many rich foods and too little sleep. Girls who exercise strenuously all summer let down in winter, although indoor gymnasiums and swimming pools are almost as plentiful as public libraries. The week-end vacation, so essential in summer, deserves to be carried over to the cold months, for the sake of its exercise and relaxation. Lack of sleep is a more serious deterrent to a clear skin. In Hollywood, when an actress (Continued on page 117)