All posts by Born Unicorn

Pedantic archivist of beauty products in films and tv shows

20th Century Women (2016)

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Abbie’s project is taking pictures of her personal belongings: among them, there’s Elizabeth Arden Beautiful Color moisturising lipstick in a red shade. The golden and silver metal case is reminiscent of the brand’s iconic red door, symbol of the Fifth Avenue salon founded in 1910. 

Unfortunately, the choice of this prop is historically inaccurate: the film is set in the late 1970s, while this lipstick was launched in 2014. 

Stardust Memories (1980)

stardustmemories_bornunicorn (1)stardustmemories_bornunicorn (2)stardustmemories_bornunicorn (3)stardustmemories_bornunicorn (4)Dorrie (Charlotte Rampling) appreciates Sandy’s aftershave. Like a madeleine, that scent brings back memories from her childhood. Sandy (Woody Allen) gets the reference to À la recherche du temps perdu by Marcel Proust and jokingly comments he’s wearing Proustian Rush by Chanel. The reason why the French maison has never produced a perfume with such an evocative name is beyond me.

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b661fcaed644e3ad4bf1c96667b7c068A real Chanel perfume appears later in the film, when Sandy visits his sister (Anne De Salvo). Chanel no. 5 refillable atomisers (one small, one big) can be seen on a plastic tray on her dresser.