The Arts of Beauty/Chapter 10

If Satan has ever had any direct agency in inducing woman to spoil or deform her own beauty, it must have been in tempting her to use paints and enamelling. Nothing so effectually writes memento mori! on the cheek of beauty as this ridiculous and culpable practice. Ladies ought to know that it is a sure spoiler of the skin, and good taste ought to teach them that it is a frightful distorter and deformer of the natural beauty of the "human face divine." The greatest charm of beauty is in the expression of a lovely face; in those divine flashes of joy, and good-nature, and love, which beam in the human countenance. But what expression can there be in "a face bedaubed with white paint and enamelled? No flush of pleasure, no thrill of hope, no light of love can shine through the incrusted mould." Her face is as expressionless as that of a painted mummy. And let no woman imagine that the men do not readily detect this poisonous mask upon the skin. Many a time have I seen a gentleman shrink from saluting a brilliant lady, as though it was a death's head he were compelled to kiss. The secret was, that her face and lips were bedaubed with paints. All white ​paints are not only destructive to the skin, but they are ruinous to the health. I have known paralytic affections and premature death to be traced to their use. But alas I am afraid that there never was a time when many of the gay and fashionable of my sex, did not make themselves both contemptible and ridiculous by this disgusting trick. The ancient ladies seem to have outdone even modern belles in this painting business. The terrible old Juvenal draws the following picture of one of the flirts of his day:

But it is proper to remark, that what has been said against white paints and enamels does not apply with equal force to the use of rouge. Rouging still leaves the neck and arms, and more than three-quarters of the face to their natural complexion, and the language of the heart, expressed by the general complexion, is not obstructed. A little vegetable rouge tinging the cheek of a beautiful woman, who, from ill health or an anxious mind, loses her roses, may be excusable; and so transparent is the texture of such rouge (if unadulterated with lead) that when the blood does mount to the face, it speaks through the slight covering, and enhances the fading bloom. But even this allowable artificial aid must be used with the most delicate taste, and discretion. The tint on the cheek, should always be fainter than what nature's pallet would have painted. ​A violently rouged woman is a disgusting sight. The excessive red on the face gives a coarseness to every feature, and a general fierceness to the countenance, which transforms the elegant lady of fashion into a vulgar harridan. But, in no case, can even rouge be used by ladies who have passed the age of life when roses are natural to the cheek. A rouged old woman is a horrible sight—a distortion of nature's harmony!

Excessive use of powder is also a vulgar trick. None but the very finest powder should ever be used, and the lady should be especially careful that sufficient is not left upon the face to be noticeable to the eye of a gentleman. She must be very particular that particles of it are not left visible about the base of the nose, and in the hollow of the chin. Ladies sometimes catch up their powder, and rub it on in a hurry, without even stopping to look in the glass, and go into company with their faces looking as though they just came out of a meal-bag. It is a ridiculous sight, and ladies may be sure it is disgusting to gentlemen.