Violet Powder, 1865

"A lady's toilet-table is incomplete without a box of absorbent powder; indeed, from our earliest infancy, powder is used for drying the skin with the greatest benefit...The most popular is what is termed violet powder."

-- Graham's Magazine (1856)  

 

"Violet Powder. This preparation is universally applied for drying the skin after washing, especially at the joints, which if left even damp produces chaps and chafing often followed if neglected by inflammation....Unperfumed powder is, therefore, the best to use, dusted over the part with a little brush made of swan's down called a puff."

--The New Household Receipt Book (1853)

 

"One of the most innocent and best preparations for whitening the skin is Violet Powder...the genuine powder is composed of the various starches obtained from the potato wheat and other well known sources. It is then mixed with magnesia, orris or other ingredients and when properly blended it forms a most excellent preparation..."

--A Popular Treatise on the Human Hair (1865)

After a year without dressing up, many of my historic cosmetics have gone off. As I set about replenishing my supply of highly-scented hair-styling aids, it seemed like a good time to start a more systematic investigation of the mid-Victorian Toilette. So here we go. The first new item will be some violet powder. As noted above, it's basically scented starch with or without added talc--very like a modern baby powder. Talcum powder was also used well into the 20th century as a standard part of women's grooming, so there may be more recent sources that can shed light on the finer points of using it.

The recipe I chose is from the Handbook for Ladies' Maids and Guide to the Toilette (1865), mostly because it's straightforward:

VIOLET POWDER--Powder six ounces of pure white starch, and sift it through fine muslin. Add two drachms of orris root, to which is due the cooling property of the powder. Some people add scents to this mixture, while others add rose pink mixed with stone blue. All these additions must be condemned. By the way, in its use let us recommend the advisability of smoothing the powder after it is applied.

 

A very complicated recipe.

A drachm is 1/8 oz, so this is basically starch mixed with powdered orris root in a 24:1 ratio. Another recipe in Graham's Magazine uses a 6:1 ratio, with essential oils added for additional perfume. The New Household Receipt Book calls for a ratio of 3:1 starch to orris root, while deploring the use of perfumes. They also mention that talc is used in some commercial "violet powders", along with the wheat or potato starch, orris root, and potentially others scents as well as coloring agents. 

Violet powder. Not violet. Is a powder.

I used corn starch instead of the wheat or potato starch more common in period, because it's much more readily available today. I also decided to start with the 24:1 ratio and see how it worked. When I first mixed them up, I couldn't tell that the powder had any scent. Now when I open the container, there is a delicate floral scent.

I don't have any conclusive results yet on use. Those will have to wait until I'm dressing for multiple days at a time, I fear. However, I can promise that I won't be using it to treat skin wounds, as in The Corner Cupboard (1858).