The fabled Queen of the Nile, Cleopatra, famed for her intellect and her beautiful, flawless skin. While we can’t quite live like the Queen, we can certainly look into her beauty regime and perhaps create that same seductive glamour that will keep heads turning.
Here are 4 of her beauty secrets that helped this beauty legend make her mark in antiquity that we can all try to emulate.
1. Milk Bath
The secret to Cleopatra’s glowing skin was daily milk baths. It was said that she used to mix milk of a young donkey with fresh honey and almond oil. Now that’s fit for a queen, but not quite for the urban dweller like you and me who will have to clean up our own baths and basins at the end of it.
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Try: Lush Milky Bath Bubble Bar
This vegan moisturizing milk soap bar is a blend of soya milk powder, organic cocoa butter, olive oil, orange oil and patchouli. While there is a fruity hint to its name, smelling like oranges is what it’s not. Instead, it has a light floral scent and and a creamy undertone (that’s probably why it’s called Milky Bath, duh!) To use, simply crumble this under your running bath water for a bath ritual (almost) fit for a queen.
2. Rose Water As A Facial Toner
The old world romance of rose water is captivating, first classified as something with natural healing powers by the Romans. If the legendary Queen used it as a facial toner, why shouldn’t you?
Try: SW1 Shop’s Rose and Ginseng Brightening Facial Toner
Using deionized rose scented water and ginseng extracts, this facial toner gently refreshes dull skin, giving an enviable ‘out of the shower’ flow.
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3. Magnet Therapy
A lesser-known myth of Cleopatra’s routine has something to do with magnets. Yes you read it right. Cleopatra used to sleep with a magnet on her face, to fight signs of aging.
Try: SW1 Shop’s Opposites Attract Magnetite Mask
Instead of sleeping with a magnet every night, try a magnet bedtime mask. SW1’s Opposites Attract Magnetite Mask has a soft, soufflé-like texture to it, and smells surprisingly sweet and “non-metal”. Packaged into a pretty, mysterious-looking petite tub, the grey mask is to be applied like any clay mask. What happens next, you are guaranteed to find exciting. A small magnet is provided, which you are to remove the mask with it. Gliding the magnet slowly over the mask, the negatively charged mask peels unmistakably from your skin, picking up all debris that your skin (and pores!) has accumulated from environmental pollution. In a few easy swipes, the entire mask is completely removed, leaving a moisturizing residue behind, as if you have just applied serum to it.
Scientifically, it does a little more than just cleaning dirt off your face. The magnet activies negatively charged compounds of the face, stimulating cell renewal resulting in rapid turnover of the surface of skin and overall a healthy glow.
So, very weirdly, there was some science to Cleopatra’s magnet therapy!
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4. Sea Salt Body and Face Scrub
Cleopatra certainly knew that exfoliation was the key to any anti-aging regime. Rich is minerals, sea salt helps to clean pores thoroughly, balancing oily production, and has anti-bacterial properties which prevent skin from breaking out. Table salt is highly processed, so use natural sea salt instead, which is richest in minerals. The coarseness of the salt crystals will result in a refreshing scrub for the ultimate wakeup call for dull skin!
Try: Lush Ocean Salt Face and Body Scrub
This refreshing scrub does not only do deep cleansing, it also contains avocado butter, coconut butter and lanolin, which conditions the skin as it scrubs.
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