Nostalgia by Germaine Monteil c1941

Nostalgia by Germaine Monteil: launched in 1941.

Nostalgia was available in the following forms:

• Parfum
• Eau Concentree
• Cologne
• Dusting Powder

Home Journal, 1947:

"Exciting news from Germaine Monteil is the debut of a French perfume, Nostalgia. This is a lovely, lingering fragrance that should suit the exacting Monteil clientele. Handsomely packaged, one ounce, $25."

Fragrance Composition:

 So what does it smell like? It is classified as an aldehydic floral chypre fragrance for women. It begins with powdery aldehydes and bright citrus notes, followed by a dominant lilac, jasmine and rose bouquet, resting on a warm and rich, mossy, woodsy base.

• Top notes: aldehydes, bergamot, lily of the valley, daffodil
• Middle notes: lilac, rose, jasmine, spices, stock, iris, herbs
• Base notes: vetiver, oakmoss, patchouli, sandalwood, ambergris, musk, labdanum

Bottles:

Nostalgia was housed in several different bottles based on the concentrations, parfum, Eau Concentree , eau de cologne, etc.



Parfum:

The parfum was housed in a cylindrical bottle of clear crystal manufactured by Verreries Brosse in France. The bottle was molded with horizontal banding and the bottle was decorated with a gold foil paper label (sometimes the gold finish on the label wears off leaving a silvery looking foiled label) along the upper top of the bottle, just below the base of the stopper. The base of the bottle is molded with "Germaine Monteil Made in France".

The bottle had an unusual, chunky glass stopper, which looked more like an overcap. Instead of having a just a stopper plug, the stopper was hollowed underneath and had a plug in the center so that it could be placed into mouth of the bottle, forming a tight seal.

After the bottle was filled with perfume, the person at the factory in charge of sealing the bottle, would take the baudruchage cords and wrap them around the neck of the bottle several times, make a knot, then take the loose ends of the cording and pass them onto the little notches cut along the edges of the stopper (east to west) and then tie the cording just under the stopper to form the seal. She would then attach a small metallic foil paper label to the tail of the cords.

To open the classic Nostalgia crystal flacon, use the following tip provided by Parfums Germaine Monteil themselves in 1963:

Gently slide the gold cord from grooves in cap; tap the top gently on table (not marble or metal); twist off top.

You can see how the baudruchage cords are positioned in this advertisement below.

When the perfume was introduced, the the half ounce bottle retailed for $15, the one ounce bottle for $25.00, and the two ounce bottle was $45, a larger size bottle sold for $75 (it may have been a four ounce size).

• 1/2 oz = 
• 1 oz = 
• 2 oz =

Other parfum bottles were the 1/8 oz size black plastic "Perfume Flaconettes" perfect sizes to carry around in purses. Also available was the "Ambassadeur" purse bottle introduced in 1957.


Eau de Cologne:

The Eau de Cologne bottles came in two different shapes, one that resembled the horizontally ribbed parfum bottle and the other was an interesting two handled urn design (introduced in 1949), both bottles had screw caps.

• 2 oz
• 4 oz 
• 8 oz

Eau de Parfum:

In 1949, the Eau de Parfum was introduced to the line. The Eau de Parfum was available in three sizes and ranged in price from $5, $8, and $12.

Eau Concentree:

The Eau  Concentree was introduced in 1954 as a long lasting eau de cologne type of fragrance concentration. It was housed in oval bottles with screw caps, in the late 1950s, the fragrance came in plastic coated bottles fitted with atomizers. Three sizes with retail prices set at $5, $8, and $12 in 1954.


Bath & Body Products:

Nostalgia was also available in perfumed soap and dusting powder.

Fate of the Fragrance:

Discontinued, date unknown. Still being sold in 1963.

RSS Feed Widget