Milk of Almonds, 1865

At beginning of the section on skin washes, the anonymous author of The Handbook for Ladies' Maids and Guide to the Toilette notes of cold creams, &c.: "They are frequently of more than considerable benefit. But their action is not to beatify the skin. It is to comfort it by soothing or softening it."  

MILK OF ALMONDS. The materials are, 4 oz of almonds. Blanch and pound them in a mortar and add a quarter of an ounce of curd soap. Rub this with the almonds for some time, the longer the better. Add one quart of rose water, until the whole is well mixed, and then strain through a fine piece of muslin, and bottle for use. Perhaps this is one of the simplest forms of washes which can be used. It may be accepted as a very general cosmetic, which can do no possible harm, while if it does no actual good, produces a grateful sense of coolness and causes elasticity of the skin. --The Handbook For Ladies' Maids (1865)

As usual, I decided to try this on a reduced scale: 1 oz of blanched almonds, 1/16 oz curd soap (about 3/8 tsp), and 1 cup of rosewater. I started by blanching the almonds in hot water, and then scraped the soap.

One ounce blanched almonds, and 1/16 oz grated soap.

Then I ground the almonds using a mortar and pestle, working the soap into the paste. 

The almonds like to bounce around at first.

I poured the rosewater over the almond-soap paste, which quickly turned an opaque white. I stirred it well, then let it sit for a few minutes while finding a funnel and cutting some scrap linen for a sieve.

With "milk" in the title, I should have expected this.

I strained the mixture through the cloth, separating the milky white liquid from the solid almond. Where it previously made a paste, the almond residue now stuck in small clumps. 

Milk of Almonds

I dabbed some of the finished milk of almonds on my hands and face. It leaves a nice rose scent (with a faint hint of almond, which I might be imagining). It definitely doesn't have the instant softening sensation of a modern moisturizing lotion, nor the greasy smoothness of a period cold cream. I'm not entirely sure what the book meant by 'elasticity', but it smells nice. 

Edited to add: this mixture has an unfortunately short shelf-life, and started going off about two weeks after making it. I noticed that the milk of roses didn't have the same problem, which I'm tentatively attributing to the spirits of wine. Since there's little other difference between them.