Parfumerie Lina Cavalieri

After retiring from the stage, opera star Natalina "Lina" Cavalieri ran a cosmetic salon in Paris.

Like other beauties of the stage, Lina had endorsed other brands in the early 1900s. Palmolive and Gelle Freres were two of the most well known companies that she used her celebrity status for their advantage.

Lina opened a perfume and cosmetics store in New York in 1909.


Revue française de musique, 1908:

"Music and perfumery. M. Lina Cavalieri will open in New York a perfume store. She will not leave the theater to engage in the business of sweet odors. lnterviewed about her plans by a New York journalist,  M. Lina Cavalieri declared she is crazy about perfumes and that she started studying chemistry and that for a long time she fabricates the perfumes, the powders, and the creams herself.  

She is going simply to give the public the benefit of her inventions and it is her brother who will manage the home of trade which she is going to establish. To the glory of the scene, she will add that of the laboratory, and it is certain that she will be as successful as a chemist and as artist."

The Green Book Magazine, Volume 2, 1909:

"A Perfumery Merchant. Not long ago Mlle. Lina Cavalieri opened the doors of her perfumery shop in New York City. This beautiful actress, opera singer, and dancer, had the idea in mind for some time and finally it took very pretty, tangible form in the little atelier, as the gifted Italian prefers to call it.  

"I have been deluged with unsatisfactory powders and perfumes all my life," declared the actress, when interviewed in the capacity of a business woman.  "Finally, I adopted a few for my regular use; but these I make with my own hands, and they are the preparations that I am offering to the public."  

It is amusing to hear Mlle. Cavalieri chattering about burners, retorts, test tubes, mixing pots, heaters, and all the rest of the laboratory paraphernalia, but she is just as much at home in the presence of these prosaic little necessaries of commerce as on the stage of a theatre where the audience is applauding her wonderful voice.  It is all very dainty, this little shop, and everything concerning it was designed by the artist herself. Mlle. Cavalieri, of course, is making no attempt to inscribe her name on the wall of fame in cold cream and grease paint; the object is to exchange perfumes and cosmetics for cold, hard cash, and the enterprising owner and proprietor is all the more to be admired for her business venture, for the reason that necessity has not forced this extra demand upon her time and energy." 

In 1911 she began to write a beauty column for the French women's magazine Femina. Still a renowned beauty nearing 40 years of age, in 1914, she authored a series of articles in Hearst newspapers that were gathered together in a book, My Secrets of Beauty.

In 1920, she opened a beauty salon in Paris, Institut de Beauté and introduced a perfume named Eau de Jouvence, the water of youth. Another branch was opened in Italy to sell her beauty products and perfumes. Her shops sold various cosmetics such as lipstick, face powders, rouges, foundation, mascara and eyeshadows. Hair preparations such as brilliantine were also offered. But it was her Monna Vanna line of skincare products that she was most known for, including her various Cremes de Jour.

'Isabey Paris', author Jean-Marie Martin-Hattemberg mentions that she licensed Parfums Isabey and not only sold Isabey perfumes but developed in 1926 a range of beauty products.  It was in the same year that she introduced her own perfume, in homage to the Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci. - she called 'Monna Lina. The perfume was contained in a bottle designed by Julien Viard.


Cosmetics from 1934-1935.

• Monna Lina Creme de Jour No.1
• Monna Lina Creme de Jour No.2
• Monna Lina Creme de Jour pour le sport  No.3
• Monna Lina Oil for dry skin
• Monna Lina Gelee Camphree  No.5
• Monna Lina Gelle  No.4
• Monna Lina Poudre de Riz Face Powder
• Monna Lina Toothpaste 
• Special Oil for Eyes
• Ylang Ylang Extract Beauty Oil 
• Liquid Brilliantine
• Powder Compact
• Cream Makeup
• Sève Cilaire Mascara
• Kohl Natural
• Eyeshadows
• Lip Pencils
• Veloute des Maines Hand Cream
• Blanche-Neige pour Décolleté liquid powder for cleavage
• Rose Liquid for the nails
• Bath Salts
• Pine Buttons Toilet Vinegar