All posts by Born Unicorn

Pedantic archivist of beauty products in films and tv shows

Blonde (2022)

A film about Marilyn Monroe would be incomplete without a reference (either verbal or visual) to the perfume she declared she wore to bed. The famous quote about Chanel No. 5 was first published on April 7th, 1952, when the actress appeared on the cover of Life Magazine, and that marked the birth of a legendary connection. No surprises then in seeing a bottle of the French perfume sitting on Marilyn’s dresser.

On the same dresser there’s also a tin can of Pond’s Dream Flower perfumed talc.

Thanks to Alessandra and Jessica for submitting this post.

Do Revenge (2022)

Drea (Camila Mendes) working on her sewing machine is a good occasion to let us take a look at her dressing table, which is full of interesting products.

First of all, there’s a tube of Glossier Body Hero daily perfecting cream.

There are some perfume bottles on the left, one of which is quite surprising.

The tall fluted bottle with gold stopper is a Bernard Chant creation from 1965 – the chypre woody Imprevu by Coty. It’s such an unusual sighting that I would really love to know how it was picked by the prop masters. Did they want to give a vintage feel to the dressing table?

There’s also a Glossier beauty bag.

In the white ceramic bowl there are several Glossier make-up products, among which the Skywash sheer matte lid tint in Terra (burnt sienna).

On the far right side of the table there are two skincare products by Joanna Vargas – the Vitamin C face wash and the daily serum.

Kärlek & Anarki S01E01 (Hur allt började)

There are so many interesting skincare products on Sofie’s bathroom shelf, most of them by Scandinavian brands.

The white tube on the far left is from the Dermalogica Powerbright line. Unclear if it’s the moisturizer or the overnight cream.

The tall white and grey pump bottle is another Dermalogica product – the special cleansing gel.

The tall baby blue bottle is a product by the Swedish brand Estelle & Thild – the 3-in-1 cleansing foam.

The small glass bottle contains Olaplex No. 7 bonding oil.

The tall bottles with silver caps are other two products by Estelle & Thild. The first from the left is the firming anti-age cream, the second contains the night recovery anti-age cream.

Thanks to a different angle we can see other two Dermalogica products – the Solar Defense Booster SPF50 in the small bottle with grey cap, and the Daily Resurfacer exfoliating pouches in the metal jar.

There’s also Byredo Carrousel scented candle in the black jar.

The very last product I have identified is the refining exfoliating toner by the Swedish brand Björk & Berries.

Thanks to my reader Sylvinka for submitting this post.

Gli indifferenti (1964)

Lisa (Shelley Winters) and her friend Maria Grazia (Paulette Goddard) are spending some time together while relaxing: they discuss about the upcoming social events they want to go to.

On a small table behind Lisa there’s a splash bottle of Guerlain Eau de Cologne Impériale, created by Pierre François Pascal Guerlain for Empress Eugenie in 1853.

On a table between the two friends there’s a bottle of Acqua distillata alle rose by Roberts, a classic rose water that’s available everywhere in Italy.

The Sandman S01E09 (Collectors)

There are two interesting perfumes on Lyta’s dressing table. And they are very much so because this scene has an unusual setting: this table is in the house that Lyta’s deceased husband Hector has built for them in the Dreaming.

They are probably perfumes that the woman already wears on the ordinary plan of reality or maybe they have been selected to be worn in a different dimension.

The first fragrance (boxed) is Chanel Coco eau de toilette. It’s an amber spicy creation by Jacques Polge, first launched in 1984.

The second, in the gold bottle, is the extrait de parfum of Yves Saint Laurent Cinéma, an amber floral fragrance created by Jacques Cavallier and launched in 2004.

Thanks to LePetitCivet and reveur_etc for the YSL id.

Andy Warhol’s Bathroom Cabinet (1988)

In 1988, one year after Andy Warhol’s death, his business manager, Fred Hughes, commissioned photographer David Gamble to take pictures of the artist’s New York home. The picture of Warhol’s bathroom cabinet is probably the most famous result of that photoshoot: it was sold for $25,000 at an auction and in 2012 it was displayed at the exhibition Regarding Warhol: Sixty Artists, Fifty Years at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. A print of it is in the collection of The Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh.

No need for me to explain why I have decided to analyse in detail the contents of this cabinet. I have scrutinised fictional and real-life bathroom cabinets and dressing tables for more than 10 years, so I couldn’t miss the opportunity to write about this iconic cabinet.

Before starting, let me say that medicines and several beauty products haven’t been included: I never write about medicines and the aforementioned products, now discontinued, haven’t been identified yet. The description of other products, although identified, is not completed by pictures because I haven’t found any online.

Let’s start with the top shelf.

The aqua green jar is Clinique 7-Day scrub cream: this product is still on the market, but the packaging has been changed (now it’s available in tube form).

The glass bottle with white stopper on the far right is Janet Sartin sun lotion. This brand and their beauty salon in New York still exist.

On the second shelf, starting from the far left, we can see a glass bottle of Guerlain Extrait de Pot-Pourri aux Plantes Marines, a home fragrance.

Seeing a Chanel no. 5 ancillary product (an after-bath spray) is not surprising: Andy Warhol included the iconic bottle of the French perfume in his Ads series.

Next, another Guerlain product – Vétiver talc. Unfortunately I haven’t found a picture of the product in the packaging shown in Warhol’s cabinet, but the pagoda-like bottle is so charming, isn’t it?

The bright yellow bottle contains Fabergé Kiku after-bath cologne, an amber floral fragrance launched in 1967.

The black bottle with white stopper contains Pantene For Men Hair Groom conditioner.

Next, a bottle of Alo Sun Fashion Tan suntan lotion. Again, the product shown above (displayed at the National Museum of American History) doesn’t have the exact packaging as the one in Warhol’s cabinet.

The silver tube contains Framesi Gelly’s color enhancing styling gel. This Italian haircare brand, still on the market, was founded in 1945.

Last, the glass bottle on the far right is another Janet Sartin product.

On the third shelf there’s a small-sized bottle of Vidal Sassoon shampoo.

In the back of the shelf there’s another Janet Sartin product, housed in a white jar.

Another Alo Sun product – the After Tan lotion – sits on the same shelf.

On the fourth shelf there’s a Sally Hansen product: I haven’t found any picture of it online, but the bottle reads that it’s a desensitized skin conditioning lotion.

Next to it there’s a jar of Interface herbal rub scrub. This is another product which I haven’t found any evidence of online. The brand doesn’t exist anymore.

One of the most interesting products is Halston 1-12 shaving foam. The fragrance was launched in 1976 and is still available on the market. Warhol using a Halston beauty product makes so much sense that I would have been surprised if I hadn’t found any in this cabinet.

The jar with blue cap contains Noxzema Antiseptic Skin cleanser pads.

Just under the Noxzema pad jar there’s Clinique Sub-Skin firming cream.

Among the lip products I can see a Lip Smacker Bonne Bell lip balm (cherry or strawberry-scented) and a tube of Vaseline Lip Therapy balm.

On the fifth (bottom) shelf there’s a bottle of Cetaphil lotion.

Next, a bottle of Vitabath Spring Green body wash.

On a jar of Vaseline pure petroleum jelly there’s a bottle of Lubriderm Lubath body wash.

Next, there’s a bottle of Neet cocoa butter lotion hair remover.