Tea at Trianon: Beauty from the Kitchen and the Garden

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Sunday, August 4, 2019

Beauty from the Kitchen and the Garden

Just what I do with my creams. From NST:

THERE is something innately comforting about reaching into your kitchen cupboard or fridge to cook up a nourishing meal. And the same applies to making beauty concoctions using garden herbs or kitchen spices.

As a teenager, I remember applying fresh aloe vera from the garden to clear acne, using a paste made of yogurt and turmeric as a face mask and crushing hibiscus leaves and flowers to create a natural hair conditioner.

Turning to nature for beauty is nothing new. It’s an ancient tradition practised since the dawn of time. Cleopatra famously bathed in milk to keep her skin supple and moist and used everything, from honey and rosewater, to grapes on her face to keep her famed beauty intact. Helen of Troy, another famous beauty was believed to have used apple cider vinegar as a beauty tool while French queen, Marie Antoinette, was said to be addicted to a facial made of eggs, milk and lemon.

Throughout the ages, women have turned to nature to maintain or enhance their beauty because there’s comfort and safety in using familiar ingredients. (Read more.)

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