7th January 1938 French MARIE CLAIRE incl THO-RADIA advert (Radioactive Cosmetics !)

7th January 1938 -issue no 45 of the French women's magazine Marie Claire.

 There are 51 pages of fashion illustrations and photos,  health and beauty advice, gossip, fiction, cooking, handicrafts and dress making, home making tips and some brilliant 1930s adverts including one for THO-RADIA. (see 5th picture)
The front cover has come loose.
Tho-Radia  was a French range of radioactive beauty products launched in 1933 and advertised as being a scientific method of beauty (Méthod Scientific de Beauté).
The product range, which included a cleansing milk, skin cream, powder, rouge, lipstick and toothpaste, was called Tho-Radia as it contained thorium chloride and radium bromide, both of which are radioactive.
A booklet produced by the company claimed their products (in translation) 
"Stimulates cellular vitality, activates circulation, firms skin, eliminates fats, stops enlarged pores forming, stops and cures boils, pimples, redness, pigmentation, protects from the elements, stops ageing and gets rid of wrinkles, conserves the freshness and brightness of the complexion" 
Product advertising shows a face lit from below which makes it look like it is ‘glowing’.
The Tho-Radia cream was sold for 15 francs per 155 gram pot; soap, 3 francs per 100 gram bar; powder, 12 francs per 50 gram box; toothpaste, 6 francs per tube. Despite the relatively high price, it sold throughout France from 1933 through to the early 1960s.
When tested in the 1960s, the products were still found to be radioactive

The front cover of the magazine is a little grubby (from long years of storage in the French attic where they were found) but the inside is clean and offers a fascinating insight into the lives (and inherent dangers)  of the late 1930s fashionable French woman.