Hujarvis Perfumes

Hujarvis was established by René Eyben at 175 boulevard Malesherbes, Paris in 1920. The company also produced toiletries and cosmetics. Of special note were their Cucumber or Lemon soaps, wrapped in glassine paper in sets of three. the company was still in business in 1925.

The perfumes of Hujarvis:

• 1920 Ambre
• 1920 Ambrette
• 1920 Chypre
• 1920 Clos Joli
• 1920 Dinis
• 1920 Fleurance
• 1920 Javane
• 1920 Lilas
• 1920 Mon Secret
• 1920 Rose Eternelle
• 1920 Violette Blanche
• 1920 Chypre Inconnu
• 1920 Son Envie
• 1920 Violane
• 1920 Violet
• 1920 Geranium
• 1920 Muguet
• 1920 Oeillet
• 1920 Jasmin
• 1920 Mirage

SAKS & COMPANY (ad from 1922):

Arranged to begin Monday - An Extraordinary Sale of $18,000 Worth of “Mon Secret” Paris Perfumes - And Other Hujarvis Toilet Articles at Less Than Half Price. 

One of the most extensive purchases of Hujarvis Perfumes, powders, and toilet soaps ever made, and by far the lowest prices ever announced for these Paris toiletries that ate internationally known for their exquisite fragrance and superlative quality. None of the perfumes, toilet soaps or powders here presented can possibly be duplicated after the termination of this sale.

HUJARVIS FLOWER ODORS 

In 2oz bottles…regularly $7.50...at $2.95. Odors include:

• Geranium

• Violette

• Lilas

• Rose Eternelle

• Jasmine

• Muguet

In 3 oz bottles…regularly $10.00...at $3.95. Odors include:

• Jasmine

• Carnation

• Geranium

• Lilas

CHYPRE AND JAVANE 

In beautiful cut glass containers, regularly $7.50...at $2.95 

HUJARVIS PERFUME

In 1 oz bottles…regularly $3.95...at $1.59. Odors:

• Muguet

• Carnation

• Clor Joli

• Lilas

• Dinis

• Aubrette

• Rose Eternelle

• Chypre

• Violet 

“MON SECRET” TOILETRIES 

• Miniature size perfume…regularly $1.25...at 50 cents

• Medium size perfume…regularly $6.50...at $2.95

• Large size perfume…regularly $12.00...at $4.95

• Face Powder…regularly $2.00... At 50cents

• Talcum…regularly $1.50...at 65 cents

• Toilet Water…regularly $6.50...at $2.95

• Eau de Cologne, 4 oz…regularly $2.00...at 95 cents

• Eau de Cologne, 8 oz…regularly $3.50...at $1.59

• Vanities of leather- hand painted, with puff and compact powder…regularly $1.50...at 59 cents

• Lemon Soap…regularly 35cents cake…3 cakes 59 cents

• 1 dozen cakes…$2.00

Another 1922 Saks & Company advertisement:

"Perfumes from France - Blended by Hujarvis - Specially Priced at $1.59. Exquisite perfumes that breathe the fragrance of a veritable flower garden. Individual- enchanting! Odors are: Chypre, Ambre, Violet and Lilac"

An article in Theatre Magazine, Vol 35-36, 1922 talks about Hujarvis perfumes, without actually naming the company's name...

"A Young actor told me that Marie Doro, with whom he has played was “quite mad” about perfumes, “Why don’t you go and talk with Miss Doro,” he suggested, “she could tell you a lot about perfumes…she has made a great study of them.” 

No sooner said than done. We obtained permission to see Miss Doro in her dressing room…and here is her more-than-interesting story. 

“How amusing that you should come just at this precise moment.” was Miss Doro’s introductory remark. “I am always perfume mad…But if anything I have perfumes on the brain a bit more than usual because of the perfume party I gave last week. It was a huge success if I am to believe my guests…What is a perfume party? Really it might have been called a choose-your-own-perfume party…It was like this.” 

“You see that perfume burner?” (We looked and saw on the dressing table a small round vase of glowing flowered yellow porcelain.) “I brought that back from Paris in the Fall…You put the perfume in the top, like this, turn on the electric bulb inside and the heat causes the perfume to be wafted through the room. I keep this one going in my dressing-room, and I have several more at home. Besides their perfuming capabilities they are such ornamental little objects, aren’t they? And they make wonderful night lamps, too- veilleuses, as the French call them - with that soft faint glow.” 

“As to the party…We had tea first…Then I talked a bit about perfumes in general, and how much they added to life in the way of beauty and charm, and of how some perfumes are chic and comme il faut, just like clothes, and some aren’t and how there is definitely such a thing as a good and a bad perfume, regardless of whether it happens to appeal to you or not, and so on.” 

“After the little talk…just a few minutes..not enough to bore them…I started the first perfume burner with a wonderful perfume I found in Paris on my last trip. It is the oldest known odor in France…created way back in 1685 by the gardener of Louis XIV, Jean Francois Muraour. The patent, which the King gave him, on the recommendation of Mme. De Maintenon, is still in existence. Isn’t it romantic? Isn’t it fascinating? The gardener refused to tell anyone his formula, saying always, “C’est mon secret!”. And so the perfume came to be known as “Mon Secret”… 

“It’s a delicious bouquet, “Mon Secret”! And the descendants of the original little old gardener have kept on where he left off, and have been manufacturing perfumes ever since…perfumes just as delicious as “Mon Secret”…real flower essences that are marvelous. After “Mon Secret”, I burned “Lilac” in another perfume burner, and the fresh spring fragrance filled the place. Then I took everybody into another room, and burned “Rose Eternelle”, and afterwards “Geranium”, and then we came back again to the first room, and I demonstrated “Carnation”, which I think is really the most wonderful of all. 

“The average carnation perfume you find is so crude, so harsh. But this is the very flower itself…You can almost feel the fine crinkled edges of the carnation touch your nose, so strongly does the essence conjure it up. You remember Galsworthy’s “The Dark Flower”…one of my favorite books…and how the crimson carnation and its intense perfume symbolized the dark flower of passion..” 

“After the flower odors, to wind up with, we had “Chypre” and “Ambrette” and “Clos Joli”…Ah, delicious! And before everybody went home,…there were only eight of ten of us in all…I presented to each one a tiny bottle of the perfume she liked the best. That’s why I said it should be called a choose-your-own-perfume party…Really it was great fun, and echos of it are still coming back to me.” 

“When I came back from France in September, these particular French perfumes of which I have been speaking could only be had on the other side…But I was astonished to find on going into one of the shops recently that they had arrived here too…and that besides coming in the larger ounce sizes, the firm responsible for their appearance had made them purchasable in these cunning miniature forms…A woman could easily afford to purchase several at a time, and use a touch here and there, as the mood for one or the other seized her…I think it’s so dull, don’t you, to have only one perfume, and be known by that alone? Like having only one dress, or one mood…It was these miniature bottles, I might add, that inspired me to the party.”

1922 Hujarvis Mon Secret perfume bottle, clear glass, frost "flower bud" stopper, sepia patina, label, drop-side box (worn). 4 1/2 in. Photo by Perfume Bottles Auction