A New Supplement...: Paints (in perfumery and for the toilette).

A New Supplement to the latest Pharmacopoeias of London, Edinburgh, Dublin, and Paris, Forming A Complete Dispendatory, Conspectus, and Dictionary of Medical Chemistry, Giving All the Old and New Names, Including the New French and American Medicines, and Poisons; with Symptoms, Treatment, and Tests; as Well As Herbs, Drugs, Compounds, Veterinary Drugs, With the Pharmacopoia of the Vetenary College, Nostrums, Patent Medicines, Perfumery, Paints, Varnishes, And similar articles kept in the Shops; With Their Compositions, Imitations, Adulterations, And Medicinal Uses, Being a General Book of Formulæ and Recipes For Daily Reference in the Laboratory and at the Counter.
Fourth edition, corrected, improved, and very much enlarged.
By James Rennie, M. A., Editor of the Quarterly Journal of Foreign Medicine; the Pharmacopeia Universalis; Author of a Conspectus of Prescriptions in Medicine, Surgery, and Midwifery; the Pharmacopeia Imperialis, &c. &c.
London: Baldwin and Cradock. 1837.
London: Thomas Curson Hansard, Paternoster Row.

PAINTS, in perfumery and for the toilette, are chiefly various sorts of red and white, the red s being in general termed Rouge, and the whites, Pearl powder, &c. For each of these I shall select a few receipts.

Rouge. The vegetable substances which furnish rouge are red sandalwood, alkanet root, cochineal, Brazil-wood, and especially safflower or bastard saffron, which yields a very beautiful colour when mixed with a certain  quantity of talc. Some perfumes compose vegetable rouges with vinegar. These reds are liable to injure the bauty of the skin. It is more advisable to mix them with oily or unctuous matters, and to form salves. For this purpose you may employ balm of Mecca, butter of  Cacao, spermaceti, or oil of ben.

Mild Rouge. Take Brian¸on chalk, reduce it to a very fine powder, add to it carmine in proportion to the vividness of the red which you intend to produce, and carefully triturate this mixture, which may be applied to the skin without danger. The makers of rouge, out of economy, sometimes subsitute cinnabar for carmine. You may ascertain if carmine be genuine, by its not being altered either by the mixture of oxalate of ammonia, or by potass. The rouge of which I have just given the composition, may likewise be made up into salves; it then produces a superior effect, being a better imitation of the natural colours.

Common Rouge. Pound in a pint of good brandy 3ss of benzoin, 3j of red sandal-wood, 3ss of Brazil-wood and rock alum; then put them into red wine, which boil till it is reduced to one-fourth part. To make use of it, dip into it a little cotton, and rub the cheeks.
Or, Take 3ss of red sandal-wood reduces to powder, 3ss of cloves, and lbv of sweet almonds. POund the whole together. Upon this paste pour 3ij of white wine, and 3jss of rose water. Stir the whole well every day. In about  eight or nine days stir this paste int he same manner as you do the extract the oil of sweet almonds, and you will obtain a very good red oil.

Carmine Rouge. To prepare carmine, boil 3j or 3ij of cochineal, finely powdered, in eleven or twelve pints of rain-water, in a tinned copper vessel for three minutes; then add 3xxv of alum, and continue the boiling for two minutes longer, and let it cool; draw off the clear liqor as soon as it is only blood-warm, very carefully into shallow vessels, and put them by, laying a sheet of paper over each of them, to keep out the dust, for a couple of days, by which time the carmine will have settled. In case the carmine dfoes not separate properly, a few drops of a solution of green virtiol will thrown it doen immediately. The water being drawn off ,the carmine is dried in a warm stove; the first coarse sediment serves  to make Florence lake; the water drawn off is liquid rouge. See CARMINE.

Rouge Dishes. Of these there are two sorts: one is made in Porugal, and is  rather scarce; the paint contained in the Portuguese dishes being of a fine pale pink hue, and very beautiful in its application to the face.  Theo ther sort is made in London, and is of a fdirty red muddy colour; it passes very well, however, with those who never saw the genuine Portuguese dishes, or who wish to be cheaply beautified. The most marked difference between these two sorts is, that the true one from Portugal is contained in dishes which are rough on the true one from Portugal is contained in dishes which are rough on the outside; whereas the dishes made here are glazed quite smooth.

Spanish Wool.  There are several sorts of Spanish wool for similar use; but that which is made here in London, by some of the Jews is by far the best; that which comes from Spain being a very dark red colour, whereas the former gives a light pale red; and when it is very good, the cakes, which ought to be of the size and thickness of a crown-piece, shine and glisten between a green and a gold colour. This sort of Spanish wool is always best when made in dry and hot summer weather, for then it strikes the finest blooming colour; whereas what is made in wet winter weather is of a course dirty colour, like the wool from Spain. It is therefore always best to buy it in the summer season, when, besides having it at the best time, the retailer can likewise have it cheaper; for then the makers can work as fast as they pleas; whereas, in winter, they must choose and pick their name.

Colour Papers. These papers are of two sorts; they only differ from the above in the colour, which is here laid on paper; chiefly for the convenience of carrying it in a pocket-book.

Oriental Wool The coloured wool comes from China in large round loose cakes of the diameter of three inches. The finest of these gives a most lovely and agreeable blush to the cheek; but it is seldom possible to pick more than three or ´four out of a parcel which have a truly fine colour; for as the cakes are loose, like carded wool, the voyage by sea, and the exposure to air, even in opening them to show to a customer, carries off their fine colour.

Colour Boxes. These Bozes, which are beautifully painted and japanned, come from China. They contain each two dozen papers, and in each paper are three smaller ones, viz., a small black paper for the eyebrows; a paper of the same size, of a fine green colour; but which, when just arrived and fresh, makes a very fine red for the face; and lastly, a paper containing about 3ss of white powder (prepared from real pearl), for giving an alabaster colour to some parts of the face and neck.

Mild White. Take a piece of Brian¸on chalk, of a pearl-grey colour, and rasp it gently with a piece of dog's skin. After this sift it through a sieve of  very fine silk, and put this powder into a pint of good distilled vinegar, in which leave it for a fortmnight, taking care to shake the bottle or pot several times each day except the last, on which it must not be disturbed.  Pour off the vinegar so as to leave the chalk behind in the bottle, into which pour very clear water that has been filtered. Throw the whole into a clean pan, and stir the water well with a wooden spatula. Let the powder settle again to the bottom; pour the water gently off, and wash this powder six or seven times, taking care always to make use of filtered water. When the powder is as soft and as white as you could try it in a place where it is not exposed to dust; sift it through a silken sieve, which will make it still finer. It may be either left in powder, or wetted and formed into cakes like those sold by the perfumers. One pint of vinegar is sufficient to  dissolve a pound of chalk. This white may be used in the same manner as carmine. If the ointment with which it is applied is properly made, this paint does not injury to the face. The same ingredients may be used for making rouge.

 Pearl Powder. Of these powders there are several sorts; the first and finest is a magistery made from real pearls, and is the least hurtful to the skin. It gives the most beautiful appearance, but is usually too dear for common sale or use: still the good perfumer ought never to be without it, for the use of the curious and the rich.
Imitated by oither kinds of powder, some of which are made from mother-of-pearl, and some from oyster-shells; but, as the magistery made from these is never so impalpably fine as the former, they leave a shining appearanece on the face, which shows the art that has been used on the very first view. Or, 3ss of French chalk and 3iij of flake white.

Bismuth Pearl-Powder, which can be made next in quality to the genuine sort of above-mentioned, is as follows: Take 3iv of the whitest and driest trisnitrate of bismuth, and 3ij of fine starch-powder; mix them well  together,m and put them into a subsiding glass, which is wide at the top and narrow at the bottom. Then pour over them a pint and a half of proof spirits, and shake and stir the whole well; after ehich let them remain together, to subside for a day or two. When all the powder has fallen to the bottom, pour off the spirit from it quite dry; and then place the glass in the heat of the sun, in order to evaporate any remaining moisture. Then turn out the white mass, which will be in the shape of a cone; all the dirty parts, if any, forming the top or small end, which are to be carefully scraped off, and the remaining part of the cake is to be again  pulverized, and to have more proof spirit poured over it. Now proceed, in all respects as before; and if there be any moisture remaining a second time, the cone is to be placed on a large piece of chalk, made very smooth, to absorb all its moisture. Now cover the whole with a bell glass, to preserve the compound from dust and dirt, and set it in the heat of the sun, which, if it be very hot will soon dry and whiten it. After this grind the mass with a muller on a marble stone; and keep the powder in a glass bottle, having a ground stopper, freeform any communication with external air.
This powder is apt, hoever, to blacken on the face, as may be shown by experiment. Place a little oxide of bismuth on a dish, and pour over it some Harrowgate water. Its beautiful white colour will instantly be changed to black, by the sulphuretted hydrogen gas, with which the water is impregnated, acting on the oxide. A lady painted with this powder was sitting in a lecture-room, where water impregnated with sulphuric hydrogen gas was handed round for inspection. On smelling this liquid the lady in question became suddenly black in the face. Every person was a course alarmed by this sudden chemical change; but the lecturer explaining the cause of the phenomenon, the lady received no further injury than a practical lesson to rely more upon natural than artificial beauty in future.

Another White. To one part of Venice talc, pulverized, put two parts of oil of camphor; let them digest in the water-bah till the whole becomes very white.

A White Salve which may be used for Paint. Take 3iv f very white wax, 3v of oil of bitter almonds, 3j of very pure spermaceti, 3jss of white lead washed in rose water, and 3j of camphor. Mix the whole up into a salve.