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Welcome to my unique perfume blog! Here, you'll find detailed, encyclopedic entries about perfumes and companies, complete with facts and photos for easy research. This site is not affiliated with any perfume companies; it's a reference source for collectors and enthusiasts who cherish classic fragrances. My goal is to highlight beloved, discontinued classics and show current brand owners the demand for their revival. Your input is invaluable! Please share why you liked a fragrance, describe its scent, the time period you wore it, any memorable occasions, or what it reminded you of. Did a relative wear it, or did you like the bottle design? Your stories might catch the attention of brand representatives. I regularly update posts with new information and corrections. Your contributions help keep my entries accurate and comprehensive. Please comment and share any additional information you have. Together, we can keep the legacy of classic perfumes alive!
Showing posts with label boudoir. Show all posts
Showing posts with label boudoir. Show all posts

Thursday, August 3, 2017

Vintage Boudoirs of the Stars - Part 7

 Here are more fabulous images of dressing tables of the past! I have tried to identify all the perfumes in each photo, but sometimes the images are just too small for me to make them out.







Mary Brian holding Le Chick Chick by Vigny, and sitting at her vanity featuring various atomizers on her vanity as well as commercial bottles. On the bottom shelf, I spy Golliwogg by Vigny, Serre Fleurie by Corday, Arlequinade by Rosine, and the box for Porte Bonheur by D'Orsay. The third shelf down holds either L'Heure Bleue or Mitsouko by Guerlain, Des Jardins de Muse by Fioret, Narcisse Noir by Caron, and unknown bottles along with a Volupte atomizer. The second shelf down displays Le Dandy by D'Orsay, and Porte Bonheur by D'Orsay hiding behind it, and one Volupte atomizer, a DeVilbiss atomizer and an Italian Murano glass perfume bottle. The top shelf has the matching Murano perfume bottle along with a nice French atomizer.  




Austro-Hungarian actress Vilma Banky (1902-1991) at her dressing table. A tall DeVilbiss atomizer is in the center, along with plenty of cut glass perfume bottles and a powder jars.





Huge French atomizer with probably Marcel Franck hardware. c1920s.






Ginger Rogers in Professional Sweetheart, notice the pretty Czech bottles on her vanity. 


Grace Bradley, 1935, with perfumes on her vanity including Pois de Senteur de Chez Moi by Caron, and either Mitsouko or L'Heure Bleue by Guerlain (with a stopper for Narcisse Noir by Caron inside!) also notice the gorgeous large Czech crystal perfume bottles, atomizerand a hufe French swansdown powderpuff on handle.

Wednesday, March 16, 2016

Antique Ebony and Sterling Vanity Sets

In the late Victorian era up until around 1920, ebony wood vanity sets were very popular amongst men and women alike. Usually these utilitarian items were fitted with sterling silver mountings that could be monogrammed. 




You could find trays (dresser trays, pin trays, comb trays), hand mirrors, powder shakers, perfume bottles, perfume atomizers, hatpin holders, combs, ring holder/tree, all sorts of brushes (hair brushes, clothes brushes, military brushes, toothbrushes, bonnet brushes, curved hat brushes), jars or boxes (hair receivers, powder jars, salve jars, rouge jar, hair pin boxes), glove stretcher, curling irons, buttonhooks, shoe horns, manicure implements (nail buffers, nail files, cuticle knives, tweezers, nail brushes, corn knives) sewing implements (thimbles, bobbins, needle cases, awls, thread winders, sock darners, pin cushion, etc), clock, candlesticks, travel sets in cases and more, all fitted with ebony backings, bases, lids or handles.


Fabrics, Fancy Goods and Notions - Volume 46. 1912:
"WOODS USED IN THE MAKING OF MIRRORS - The variety of woods which are used in the manufacture of toilet mirrors is practically limitless. The most expensive, ebony is to all other woods what gold is to the metals - first in wide spread popularity. Comparatively few people. however. are conversant upon the subject of ebony. They do not know. for instance. that there are several grades of it used commercially/ The best is known as Gaboon Ebony. This is very black, marked by fine gray streaks, and is extremely brittle. It grows in equatorial Africa;, is cut into logs four feet long; carried on the heads of black slaves for upwords of a hundred miles to the coast, where it is dumped into the sea, sinking, and afterwards fished out and loaded on vessels for exportation/ It has the appearance of dilapidated rail road ties when bought, and is, therefore subject to considerable waste. Macassar, found in South and Central America, is the next highest grade of ebony. The best specimens come from the Brazilian jungles. It is characterized by beautiful streaks of yellow and brown, and is used chiefly for our Natural Ebony products. It is also known as Turtle Ebony. Other good grades of ebony grow in Jamaica, Madagascar, the Isle of Pines, and the Philippine Islands."

Most of the ebony was imported from Africa and into France and the sterling pieces were applied in the USA. The little sterling silver appliques are clearly marked "Sterling." Items can be found marked with "Ebony", "Made in England, "Made in France", "Real Ebony", and "Genuine Ebony." Oftentimes, only the larger pieces in a set are marked, other times, smaller pieces were made up of black tinted celluloid, Bakelite, or as with earlier pieces, "Bois Durci". In 1907, "wooden and "bois durci" articles: Brushes - mounted in silver, in boxes...." were noted in The Canada Gazette.


















Bois Durci was an early plastic molding material based on cellulose. It was patented in Paris and  England in 1855, by Francois Charles Lepage. Lepage claimed in his patent that he had invented "A new composition of materials which may be employed as a substitute for wood, leather, bone, metal and other hard or plastic substances."

Bois Durci was made from finely ground wood 'flour' and mixed with a natural animal derived binder, either egg or blood albumen or gelatine, animal waste products leftover from the Parisian slaughterhouses. Wood from ebony or rosewood was ground to a very fine powder, with a flour-like consistency. Once mixed with a binder and some black dye, the mixture is dried, powdered again and placed in a steel mold where it was compressed in a powerful hydraulic press whilst being heated by steam. The final product has a highly polished finish imparted by the surface of the steel mold, and the natural wood powder, provided a black or brown result. 

Lepage's patent referred to small household items, such as combs, pipe stems, etc. The Societe du Bois Durci was established to produce desk items, especially decorative inkwell stands and plaques. The factory was at Grenelle in Paris and products were sold through A. Latry & Cie. of 7 Rue du Grand-Chantier, (Au Marais) in Paris. By the end of the 20th century, the firm had been taken over by MIOM (La Manufacture d’Isolants et Objets Moulés) which was founded in 1898. They continued to make Bois Durci until about 1920, by which time it had been superseded by newer plastics materials, such as bakelite.

It is not known when the production of "Bois Durci" objects, in Paris, was discontinued. However, it is known that another factory was established in 1883 in Sezanne by members of the Hunebelle family. This factory used the same material to produce very similar items. Although stylistically similar, it is almost certain that none of the molds from Paris were used in Sezanne. The Sezanne factory continued in production, manufacturing items in both the Belle Epoque and Art Nouveau style until the factory was destroyed by fire in 1926.

Also in Sezanne,  at the Department of Marne, in 1899, Mr. A. Arnoult said that he controlled the manufacture in France of "bois durci," or wood pulp hardened by chemical manipulation and that he knew of no other house engaged in the fabrication. Arnoult claimed that the manufacture of bois durci was "not important" on the "account of the great expense of the outfit," "the difficulty of having the wood, entirely uniform in hardness, grain and age at time of use, which is necessary to produce proper results," and the "difficulty of procuring suitable workmen." He mentioned that the "nearest approach to the bois durci is the caoutchouc durci," and names are given of two house in France engaged in this manufacture. The product is probably the same as the vulcanized rubber of the United States."



















You can see images below, shown in advertisements from the 1907 Fort Dearborn Watch & Clock Co. Catalog, Chicago, Il.

Wednesday, January 20, 2016

Vintage Boudoirs of the Stars - Part 4

Joan Evans, c1940s-1950s, various perfumes and powder boxes on her vanity.

 Joan Fontaine, c1930s-1940s, various perfumes and goodies on her vanity.

Joan Fontaine, c1940s, various perfumes on her vanity.


Joan Crawford, c1940s, gorgeous mirror front vanity table, some treasures on the table.


Judith Barrett, c1940, various crystal bottles and an atomizer on her vanity

June Collyer, c1920s, Apollo Studios pierced brass perfume atomizer on her vanity.

Sunday, August 2, 2015

Terre de Retz Powder Boxes c1920s

"Terre de Retz" was a line of face powder sold by the Galeries Lafayette department store in Paris, The face powder was housed inside papier mache or composition powder boxes molded in various forms from historical figures to sailing ships. Richly painted in dreamy pastels or bold primary colors, these fanciful boxes adorned boudoirs during the 1920s.

c1927 ad


Friday, March 20, 2015

Vintage Boudoirs of the Stars - Part 3

Dorothy Lee, 1930s, Czech bottles, a Moser crystal atomizer on the right, Chevalier de la Nuit by Ciro and Mimzy by De Raymond.


Dorothy Mackaill, c1920s, 1930s, Fostoria boxtle, some podwer jars and a large Guerlain bottle of L'Heure Bleue or Mitsouko.


Eleanor Parker, 1940s, various perfume bottles such as the fan tops, American made to resemble the fancy Czech ones.


Elissa Landi, c1930s, various perfumes on her vanity.


Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Vintage Boudoirs of the Stars - Part 2

Claudette Colbert c1930s, various perfume bottles are shown on her vanity including Reflexions by Ciro, plus many others that look to be in travel flacons.

Dixie Dunbar c1940s, a Czech crystal perfume bottle and a Czech cut crystal atomizer are seen on her fringed vanity table.

Dorothy Dell, 1930s, various Czech perfume bottles on her vanity too.

Anne Shirley c1930s, gorgeous long handled hand mirror.

 Agnes Ayres, c1920s, beautiful French hand mirror covered in silk and metallic passementerie trim.

Anita Page, c1920s-1930s,large Guerlain bottle for L'Heure Bleue or Mitsouko in the center of her vanity, and flanked by perfume atomizers, probably DeVilbiss.

Ann Dvorak, 1930s, two Lentheric perfumes on her vanity, Miracle and Asphodele.

Ann Dvorak, again, a different view, with the same Lentheric perfumes, here she is dabbing her skin with a bottle of Prince Matchabelli perfume.




photos from various sources found on the internet

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