This is a 1952 Lydia Lane article, where Joan Fontaine talks about a whole lot of beauty stuff. Enjoy!

Joan Fontaine made “Ivanhoe’ in England, and while she was abroad the State Department asked her to represent Hollywood at a film festival in Berlin Joan was telling me about this the other afternoon as we sat in her Brentwood house with a fabulous view. “I had to talk to thirty thousand people and it was frightening,” Joan said. “Shyness is something I’ve always had to struggle ” with it’s only rarely that I feel buoyant, and most of the time it’s a mask. I love the life of an actress and the emotional release it gives me,” Joan said thoughtfully, “but I never wanted a public life.” “Is it because of being shy?” I asked. ‘” “That, and the fact that if you’ve never been somebody you can never be a has been” she answered.

“Do you feel appearance is a major factor in success?” “IN MY PROFESSION it’s mighty important,” she said. When I was married to Brian Ahem we had our own plane, One evening we had dinner at Romanoffs after a flight. I was in my flying togs with no makeup, since I didn’t have time to change. Edwin Goulding was telling us what a difficult time he was having finding a star for ‘Constant Nymph.’ ‘She has to be as natural as a child and in this glamorous town I can’t find anybody. How about me, I asked. He seemed, to notice me for the first time, and that’s how I got the part.” “Are you a selling glamour short?” I asked.

“Glamour to me is being neat, clean and’ well groomed,” Joan answered. “What most people feel is glamour is merely an attitude toward yourself and other people. Joan wears her blond hair drawn back from her face with a chignon. When I asked about this she told me, “I cut my hair when everybody else did, but I found it was fluffy and did something to the planes of my face which made me look rather ordinary. One of the great mistakes people make is to wear a hair-do because it’s new. You must be analytical about yourself, or you’ll lose your individuality.”

“Do you do your own hair?” I wanted to know. Joan took me into her dressing room and showed me a hair dryer in its own niche, with a window on one side and a telephone on the other. “I take my messages, have lunch here, or do my nails,” she said, as she pulled down a board with a manicure get on the side. And as we walked back to our tea cups Joan mentioned that one of the secrets of success was learning to use time advantageously. “The other,” she added, “is “is concentration. I don’t believe you can divide creative energy and reach the top. An actress has no emotional out let if she’s not working. I’m very fond of painting it gives me a release. I find, however, when I start a motion picture I don’t have as much pent up emotion as when I m not working. So now I only paint be tween screen assignments.” We talked about dieting and Joan confessed she preferred being careful all the time of the feast – or – famine – routine.”

“I eat everything, but only a little of it,” Joan said. “If you’re at a dinner, instead of refusing desert take just a spoonful of it and pretend it’s the last bite.” I asked Joan if she had a favorite exercise. “Dancing,” she said quickly. “When you go dancing for an evening, think of the exercise you have. You use every muscle, too. If you want exercise at home,’ you can always scatter a deck of cards on the floor and give yourself the job of picking them up first by bending from the waist with stiff knees and then by bending your knees down and keeping your back straight” Joan laughed, “But the best way, if you really want a work-out, use a samba pack.”

Joan has such a lovely skin I wanted to know how she took care of it “I have finally hit upon the right routine,’ she said. “I have tried lots of fancy things in beautiful bottles, but now I use just oil. I like it better than cream. I take my make-up off with oil, and use it at night, too.” WHEN I ASKED Joan to tell me her top beauty secret she said without hesitating, “Conservation of energy. I do as much as I can lying down.” Joan told me that she feels fatigue and tension spoil even great beauty. “But I have another that’s important – it’s not over-doing. My mother used to tell us, when in doubt don’t overdo anything,  including make – up, per fume or accessories. People should have daylight and night make-up,” she added: “I’ve seen girls at a foot ball game who looked poor in night make-up and girls in a night club all washed out.”

“As much as I love perfume, I hate too much of it” “Do you have a favorite perfume?” I wanted to know.  “No. After I wear a scent for a while I can’t smell it myself and that’s part of the pleasure. Joan said enthusiastically. “The other night I was going to a party where I was meeting new people. I put on a glamorous new scent which I could smell and I felt gay and had a wonderful time.” Joan showed me her perfume closet .”I’ve learned the hard way not to let the light get on them. The bottles looked so pretty,” she concluded, “but the fragrances went bad in strong light”.