Many retail business experts believe that cosmetics comprise one of the least-worked fields of daily commerce—proportionate to the possibilities, says The Nation's Business. They expect that the increase of the amount of rouge and perfumes used in the next few years will be more than the increase of any other every-day article.
Thirty years ago, or even less, while there was no serious objection if a woman used a dash of perfume, it was regarded as wasteful and extravagant if she paid a high price for it. Using rouge, of course, placed her beyond the pale. Today not only is rouge permissible, but the better grades of perfume have come in the minds of many people to be less of a luxury than an every-day requirement.
The modern idea seems to be that if we may have good music to please the auditory sense and cultivate beauty to please our vision, it is no less proper to add to the joy of life through the olfactory sense. The shop girl earning as little as $15 a week is willing to darn the heels of her stockings and wash them out each night, that she may pay $7 an ounce for perfume; and she does so without feeling that she is extravagant. 