Saturday, March 29, 2014

Royal Secret by Germaine Monteil c1935

        Royal Secret by Germaine Monteil. "For that feeling of utter luxury."

Germaine Monteil was a celebrated French fashion designer at 39 boulevard des Capucines, Paris, and also had a boutique at 663 Fifth Ave, NY. The company was acquired by BAT in 1969 and sold on to the Benckiser Group in the early 1990’s.

Germaine Monteil and his company launched a range of fragrances, and his best known and best selling fragrance was Royal Secret. Royal Secret was launched in 1935.





Fragrance Composition:


 So what does it smell like? The original version is a sweet and spicy oriental fragrance for women. It starts with a fresh citrusy top, followed by an exotic floral heart, resting on a sweet, powdery amber base. A classic modern blend, regal, exotic, floral, spicy, citrus.
  • Top notes: African orange, lavender, spicy note, peach, verbena, galbanum, bergamot and lemon
  • Middle note: rosewood, carnation, cinnamon, ylang ylang, ginger, African orange blossom, violet, jasmine, lily-of-the-valley, Bulgarian rose and geranium
  • Base notes: incense, benzoin, civet, patchouli, sandalwood, tobacco, myrrh, musk, patchouli, vanilla, amber and vetiver

Cue, 1960:
"A new kind of perfume — one to be used in or immediately after the bath — is news from Germaine Monteil. Royal Secret Bath perfume is a heady compound of high-concentrate oils, mellowed and made fragrant with spices, herbs and flowers. Half an ounce is $5. One ounce is $8."

The New Yorker, 1960:
"Germaine Monteil's Royal Secret Bath Foam is a tobaccoy-scented powder that one sprinkles on the water (and, reward)."

Harper's Bazaar, 1967:
"Glad news, beamed to sophisticates to whom Germaine Monteil's flowery, "herbsy" Royal Secret perfume has become second nature: six delightful new accessories now deepen the Royal Secret entity."

Playbill, 1980:
"Germaine Monteil gives you perfume to burn in the Crystallerie Noel collection of French Opaline frosted glass. The candlestand, fat and shimmery, lights up with the Oriental perfume of Royal Secret, $15."


Bottles:

Royal Secret was available in the following:
  • Perfume Spray
  • Spray Concentree
  • Eau de toilette
  • Bath Perfume
  • Luxury Powder Bath-Foam
  • Moisture Bath
  • Powder Mist
  • Lux Bath Powder
  • Box of Three Soaps
  • Luxury Lotion
  • Luxury Cologne


Fate of the Fragrance:


The perfume was later discontinued but in 1998, Five Star Fragrance reformulated Royal Secret with modern ingredients and was relaunched. It is still classified as an oriental fragrance, but it lacks the dominant ambergris note of the original and has a more dominant vanilla note.
  • Top notes: bergamot, grapefruit, fresh greens, lemon
  • Middle notes: cinnamon, muguet, jasmine, violet
  • Base notes: patchouli, vanilla, cedar and sandalwood

1999 - Royal Secret II was launched by Five Star Fragrance, in association with the Lancaster Group; Discontinued (date unknown).

Royal Secret is still being sold by Five Star Fragrance though it really doesn't resemble the original fragrance, the new fragrance is more vanilla than ambergris.

Products once available,:
  • Eau de Parfum Spray
  • Luxury Bath Powder
  • Spray Concentree
  • Bath Perfume
  • Luxury Lotion
  • Cologne
  • Shower Gel
  • Soap
  • Perfumed Candle
  • Scented Drawer Liners

4 comments:

  1. Is there any chance someone will continue the Royal Secret line?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I too would love to see the original Royal Secret brought back. I bought the new version but it’s not the same. Such a shame as the old version was truly sensual!

      Delete
  2. Is there a secret recipe to combine the above oils to create the Royal Secret scent?

    ReplyDelete

All comments will be subject to approval by a moderator. Comments may fail to be approved if the moderator deems that they:
--contain unsolicited advertisements ("spam")
--are unrelated to the subject matter of the post or of subsequent approved comments
--contain personal attacks or abusive/gratuitously offensive language

Welcome!

This is not your average perfume blog. In each post, I present perfumes or companies as encyclopedic entries with as much facts and photos as I can add for easy reading and researching without all the extraneous fluff or puffery.

Please understand that this website is not affiliated with any of the perfume companies written about here, it is only a source of reference. I consider it a repository of vital information for collectors and those who have enjoyed the classic fragrances of days gone by. Updates to posts are conducted whenever I find new information to add or to correct any errors.

One of the goals of this website is to show the present owners of the various perfumes and cologne brands that are featured here how much we miss the discontinued classics and hopefully, if they see that there is enough interest and demand, they will bring back these fragrances!

Please leave a comment below (for example: of why you liked the fragrance, describe the scent, time period or age you wore it, who gave it to you or what occasion, any specific memories, what it reminded you of, maybe a relative wore it, or you remembered seeing the bottle on their vanity table, did you like the bottle design), who knows, perhaps someone from the company brand might see it.

Also, if you have any information not seen here, please comment and share with all of us.

Featured Post

Faking Perfume Bottles to Increase Their Value

The issue of adding "after market" accents to rather plain perfume bottles to increase their value is not new to the world o...