Friday, February 3, 2017

Fairy Tale of Tsar Saltan by Novaya Zarya c1949

Fairy Tale of Tsar Saltan by Novaya Zarya: launched around 1949. It was released in honour of the 150th anniversary of the birth of Alexander Pushkin alongside two other perfumes: Queen of Spades, and The Tale of the Fisherman and the Fish.

Новая Заря: СКАЗКА О ЦАРЕ САЛТАНЕ

Monday, December 26, 2016

MW de Messire c1972

MW de Messire: launched in 1972 in association with Jean d'Albret/Orlane. In USA in 1973.  It was created for the young career orientated, active women who were tired of the more flowery perfumes.

The MW stands for "Modern Woman", however, a blurb in a newspaper article mentioned that "MW" stands for "whatever you want it to be" and that the fragrance was unisex. "The first modern and vigorous fragrance created for women in a line for men."



Wednesday, November 30, 2016

Parfums Degas

Parfums Degas of Paris, France was established by Guy Degas in 1947. By 1965, they had a branch located at 1325 Fifth Avenue, New York City.



Tuesday, November 22, 2016

Bridal Bouquet by Dana c1961

Bridal Bouquet by Dana: launched in 1961. Some of my sources state that it was first launched in 1935, but I cannot find any period advertisements to confirm this.


Sunday, November 20, 2016

Safari by Ralph Lauren c1989

Safari by Ralph Lauren, first launched in 1989 in association with Cosmair, Inc.(division of L'Oreal), was inspired by the exotic African safari.



Saturday, November 19, 2016

Messire by Jean d'Albret c1961

Messire by Jean d'Albret: launched in 1961. “Messire” is an obsolete French word meaning “sire,” “master," or “squire.”




Thursday, October 27, 2016

Si by Schiaparelli c1957

Si by Schiaparelli: launched in 1957. "Si" got its name from the "Valse des Si." dedicated to her by composer Henri Sauguet. "Si" can mean both the musical note B and "it" — it also consists of the first and last letters of Schiaparelli). The perfume is also said to be from Juliette Greco's song "Si". Notice the musical notes on the advertisement below.

Monday, October 24, 2016

Tuscany Per Donna by Estee Lauder c1992

Tuscany Per Donna by Aramis, a division of Estee Lauder: launched in 1992. The fragrance was created by Lauder's in-house perfumer, Karyn Khoury.




Thursday, October 20, 2016

Dans la Nuit by Worth c1924

Dans la Nuit by Worth: (In the Night) launched in 1922 in France, it was available in a wider distribution in 1924. This was Worth's signature fragrance; created by Maurice Blanchet; it was initially a gift to distinguished clientele of the fashion house. The perfume’s production was halted during WW2, it didn’t reach counters on US shores again until 1953.


Sunday, October 16, 2016

Collecting Pink Glass Commercial Perfume Bottles

Commercial bottles made up of pink glass are quite uncommon and command high prices when found. The rarest of these bottles are the stunning opaque pink crystal examples manufactured by Baccarat in the 1920s and 1930s. Baccarat enjoyed pairing the bubble gum pink glass with silver gilt trim, which for the era, was probably very avant garde and modern. To further enhance the bottles and to give them an air of luxury, enameled stopper covers were often added to the bottles.


Tuesday, October 11, 2016

Midnight Poison by Christian Dior c2007

Midnight Poison by Christian Dior: created by Jacques Cavallier and Olivier Cresp of Firmenich in collaboration with Francois Demachy of LVMH in 2007.





Friday, September 30, 2016

Magie Noire by Lancome c1978

Magie Noire by Lancôme: launched in 1978. Created by Gérard Goupy. It was the first new fragrance from Lancome for a decade and has earned a place amongst its beloved classics.




Thursday, September 22, 2016

L'Origan by Coty c1905

L'Origan by Coty: launched in 1905. Some of you may remember L'Origan as the scent of Coty's famous Airspun Face Powder.


Sunday, September 18, 2016

Dioressence by Christian Dior c1979

Dioressence by Christian Dior: created by Guy Robert and launched in 1969.




Dioressence was first available as a bath oil concentrate, to help condition and perfume the skin. In the same year, it was also available as body lotion, cologne spray concentre and eau parfumee spray (an eau de parfum), followed by friction lotion, foaming milk bath and hand soap. These items were sold from 1969 til 1975.

From 1979 onward, the fragrance was available in parfum, eau de toilette, body lotion, dusting powder, hand soap, talc, body cream, bath gel, solid perfume,

In 1982, the Dioressence Esprit de Parfum was introduced.

Thursday, September 8, 2016

Kali by Dana c1950

Kali by Dana: launched in 1950, some sources say 1933, but Dana trademarked the name in 1952 and claimed use since 1944.

The name Kali refers to a Hindu goddess with a long and complex history in Hinduism. Sometimes presented as dark and violent, killing demons, Kali is also portrayed as a benevolent mother-goddess.





Thursday, September 1, 2016

Marathon Compacts & Vanities c1927 Advertisement

Beautiful engine turned and enameled compacts and vanities by Marathon in an advertisement from a 1927 Huntley & Co. catalog. These compacts were stated to be made up of "white gold composition silver", in other words, a white metal alloy made to look like white gold or sterling silver. 

#179 was set with "French marcasites" and an amber stone.




















Friday, August 26, 2016

Antilope by Weil c1928

Antilope by Weil: launched in 1928. The perfume was trademarked in 1931 and was relaunched after WWII ended in 1945. Created by Claude Fraysse.

c1947 ad

Friday, August 19, 2016

Breidenbach et Cie., Ltd

Breidenbach et Cie., Ltd was established by Aaron Page at Park Street, Grosvenor Square, London in 1793. Aaron Page was listed as a hairdresser, perfumer and distiller of eau de cologne.

Later the business was passed onto his son William, then onto his son-in-law Francis Henry Breidenbach on his marriage to his daughter Emily.

Francis Henry Breidenbach had been born in Cologne, did his training in Paris, subsequently was bestowed a Royal Warrant in 1841. He later moved to New Bond Street in 1852 and to then onto Burlington Arcade in 1900.

Sikkim by Lancome c1971

Sikkim by Lancome: launched in 1971, and created by Robert Gonnon.




Wednesday, August 10, 2016

Snuff by Schiaparelli c1939

Snuff by Schiaparelli: launched in 1939. The name was taken from the color brown dubbed "Snuff" by Elsa Schiaparelli.


Monday, July 25, 2016

Platine by Dana c1938

Platine by Dana: launched in 1938 in France and in USA by 1939.

The name means "platinum" and the bottles had silvery platinum foil flakes floating inside to resemble platinum. The fragrance was also released in Spanish-speaking countries as Platino.

Monday, July 18, 2016

Grigri by Weil c1943

Grigri by Weil: launched in 1943. The name pronounced "Gree Gree", is African in origin and means "magic charm" or "talisman." I believe that this perfume, with its exotic name and advertisements, was some sort of patriotic allusion to the French colonies in West Africa. Jean Patou, another French perfume manufacturer visited this theme with his perfume, Colony.

Friday, July 15, 2016

Xanadu by Faberge c1969

Xanadu by Faberge: launched in 1969. Xanadu was a new division of Faberge.


The Magazine of Wall Street and Business Analyst, 1968:
"Early in 1969, Faberge will introduce Xanadu, a new concept in skin creams, toiletries and cosmetics for both sexes."

Sunday, July 10, 2016

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.

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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...