The Art of Perfumery, and Methods of Obtaining the Odors of Plants

BLACK AND BROWN COSMETIQUE. Such as is sold by RIMMEL, is prepared with a nicely-scented soap strongly colored with lamp-black or with umber. The soap is melted, and the coloring added while the soap is soft; when cold it is cut up in oblong pieces. It is used as a temporary dye for the moustache, applied with a small brush and water. SECTION XIII. HAIR DYES AND DEPILATORY. By way of personal adornment, few practices are of more ancient origin than that of painting the face, dyeing the hair, and blackening the eyebrows and eyelashes. It is a practice universal among the women of the higher and middle classes in Egypt, and very common among those of the lower orders, to blacken the edge of the eyelids, both above and below the eye, with a black powder, which they term kohhl. The kohhl is applied with a small probe of wood, ivory, or silver, tapering towards the end, but blunt. This is moistened sometimes with rose-water, then dipped in the powder, and drawn along the edges of the eyelids. It is thought to give a very soft expression to the eye, the size of which, in appearance, it enlarges; to which circumstances probably Jeremiah refers when he writes, "Though thou rentest thy face (or thine eyes) with painting, in vain shalt thou make thyself fair."--Jer. 4:30. See also LANE'S Modern Egyptians, vol. i, p. 41, et seq.