Product of the week:
Almond Cold Cream from our Apothecary's Formula
Based on an age-old formulation, our Almond Cold Cream is part of our amazing Apothecary’s Formula range and is already a firm favourite in our shops and online. If you’re looking for a vintage beauty regime, it doesn’t get much more historic than cold cream. It’s believed that it was invented in Greece in the second century by Galen, and in France it’s still known as cerat de Galien (Galen’s wax). This clever chap mixed grease and water into a potion that proved beneficial for the skin and we’ve been using something similar ever since.
Vintage George W. Smith Cold Cream Packaging
A few centuries later, in 1650, Nicholas Culpepper included a description of cold cream in his London Dispensatory:
Take of white wax four ounces, oyl of roses omphacine a pound; melt in a double vessel, then powr it out into another, by degrees putting in cold water, and often powring it out of one vessel into another, stirring it till it be white; last of all wash it in rose water, adding a little rose water and rose vinegar.
Vintage Davidson & Bulkley Cold Cream Packaging
The formulation has changed a little since Galen’s experiments, but its core essence of a moisturising cleanser has stayed with us; and for good reason. This splendid concoction has the unique ability to deep cleanse whilst nourishing the skin, which has seen it remain a firm favourite all over the World. Cold cream was a real hit in the 1940s when women liberally used it all over their bodies to achieve all-round glowing skin, but more to the point in a time of austerity it was an affordable luxury for everyone.
Vintage Louis Lehn Cold Cream Packaging
