Amelia Huber Hollister: An Upper Class Victorian Lady Readies Herself For The Evening...

Amelia Huber Hollister emerged from her ornate copper bath tub, placing the modesty sheet, that had been draped over the top of the tub and had covered her completely in the tub, to the side because, of course, it was sopping wet.  She patted herself dry.  She had used jasmine bath salts in the water and the whole bedroom smelled beautiful.  Amelia put on her midnight blue silk kimono and sat down at her dressing table.  She let down her honey colored hair and began to brush it.  She was very proud of her very wavy hair, even though she often had to put it though the absent crown of a wide brimmed straw hat and saturate it with lemon juice; then she went to sit in bright sunshine.  This was to keep her hair fashionably light.

Amelia next spread Lady Pomprey's Flower Facial lotion all over her complexion, which did not just stop at her jawline; she also worked the white stuff which was made of glycerine, rosewater, bergamot, lemon balm, vanilla, lavender oil and zinc oxide, into her neck.  Amelia was only twenty five, but she didn't want to end up looking like her Aunt Frances, with all that crepe-like skin!  Next, Amelia applied pearl powder to her face with a big wool puff and rouged her cheeks with puff on a wooden stick from a red powder, powdered amaranth, that she kept in a tiny gold compact studded with blue brilliants.  She colored her lips with pomegranate juice and picked up her crystal bottle of rosewater to spray herself with it by squeezing the big net covered rubber bulb.

She sighed.  She had instructed the cook Bertha May to make her husband Herbert's favorite dinner tonight: Roast beef with candied carrots and new potatoes, plus kidney pie and a dessert that she loved, - plum cake with raisin hard sauce.  Herbert would be coming home from his job at the bank soon.  Amelia made sure that she had plenty of Napoleon brandy ready for Herbert and also that there were enough of his specially crafted Cuban cigars.  Herbert's maroon satin smoking jacket with the black velvet lapels was laid out over the back of the bedroom chair...