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Pedantic archivist of beauty products in films and tv shows
perfumes in tv shows

The Crown S02E05 (Marionettes)

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In 1956 Queen Elizabeth II (Claire Foy) gets a haircut in her bedroom. She has two small round tables near her, and on one of them there are two interesting bottles. Both are Penhaligon’s perfumes.

The bottle with dark blue ribbon is the now sadly discontinued Cornubia, a luscious white floral fragrance first launched in 1910 with the name Cornubia Bouquet and re-launched in 1995.

The dark red ribbon marks a legendary fragrance by Penhaligon’s – Hammam Bouquet. This amber woody scent, created by William Penhaligon, was first launched in 1872. Although heavily reformulated, this is still available on the market.

It’s interesting to notice that Hammam Bouquet appears in an episode from Season 1 in the bathroom of the Duke of Windsor – a detail which connects the two members of the Royal Family, at least in the fictional version of their lives.

I found no evidence that Elizabeth II has ever worn these two fragrances. Most rumours point towards something very different – Floris White Rose (which she probably wore on her wedding day) and Guerlain L’Heure Bleue.

perfumes in movies

The Virgin Suicides (1999)

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There are two Avon bottles on the carpeted floor of the Lisbon sisters’ bedroom. Both of them are animal-shaped and in both cases it’s impossible to tell what fragrance they contain: as I have written many times, Avon used the same bottles for different fragrances.

One has the shape of a unicorn, whose spiraling horn serves as stopper.

The second bottle has the shape of a swan; in this case the stopper is a gold metal ball. This specific bottle contains Sweet Honesty cologne.

Thanks Peter (a reader of this blog) for the unicorn id.

cosmetics in movies, perfumes in movies

La Boum (1980)

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Poupette (Denise Grey) is the great-grandmother of the protagonist, a sort of deux-ex-machina character who helps Vic to achieve her goal – finding true love.

There are some interesting products on her dressing table. The first is a bottle of Givenchy III, a chypre floral creation by Jean François Latty and Raymond Chaillan launched in 1970.

The small pale pink pot in front of the perfume is a Bourjois blush.

There’s another perfume on the vanity: it’s Azzaro, a chypre woody fragrance created by Jean Martel and launched in 1975.

Thanks to Alessandra for submitting this post.