When Queen Victoria claimed the throne in 1837, elite women were expected to stick to minimal, elegant makeup. Bold and loud makeup was associated with prostitutes. But not everyone followed the code as women secretly whipped up some classic and bizarre beauty tonics, one of them being beef marrow shampoo for silky soft hair. And we thought snail slime for radiant and youthful skin was enough to turn our stomachs over.

The Queen's strict moral dress code forced women to look for alternatives and come up with innovative ideas to maintain their beauty. "Beauty, What It Is and How to Retain It," a book originally published in 1873 and re-released by the British Library reveals a very rare picture of the era's beauty tricks, reports Refinery 29.

Right from face masks made from lard to the correct techniques of brushing hair, the book divulges it all. The book talks about the importance and effectiveness of brushing hair for 20 minutes in the morning and evening and also advises women to use a "soft badger-hair brush" to clean their teeth.

The book also provides skin care tips calling rain water the perfect solution to a healthy skin. "The water used for washing the skin should be rain-water, but if London rain-water, it must be filtered to clear it from smuts," it reads.

The name of the author on the book reads, "By a Lady" and she doesn't seem to think kindly of lipsticks. "Paint is used, we believe, by some absurd women, on the lips - we need scarcely say to their ultimate injury and always at the user's peril," the author states.

So it isn't just these days that brands whip up tonics and treatments with bizarre and sometimes icky ingredients for healthy skin. While the mindset is more open these days, women back in the Victorian era too had numerous beauty tricks up their sleeve.