hyper-refinement

Updated: May 9, 2025

Even the complexions of the women were artificial to mask the defects of a sparing use of soap and water, and they drenched themselves with perfumes to hide the unpleasant effects of this lack of bodily cleanliness. On the surface hyper-refinement, glitter and show; beneath it a crude materialism and an ingrained grossness of temperament.

Lord Frederick Spencer Hamilton - Here, There and Everywhere