All posts by Born Unicorn

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

Seberg (2019)

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Jean Seberg (Kristen Stewart) keeps an intriguing orange box on the mirrored vanity in her Parisian home.

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The writing on the box (Parfums de France) and the illustrations on it say it all: it’s a collection of miniature perfume and bath oil samples from the 1950s.

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This set doesn’t include famous French perfumes, but fragrances created by Charrier Parfums to resemble or sound like popular perfumes.

If you want to read more about the Charrier miniature sets, this post from The Vintage Perfume Vault is highly recommended.

haircare in movies, perfumes in movies

Chilly Scenes of Winter (1979)

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There are several toiletries in Clara’s bathroom.

The pink plastic bottle on the left is Clairol condition shampoo.

Next to it, a snail-shaped bottle by Avon. It’s unclear what bath oil it contained, because this bottle was used to house several ones – Charisma, Brocade and Régence, among the others.

Thanks to my friend Jennifer and to Liliana for the Avon id.

stars' vanities/make-up cases/cabinets in real life

Marilyn Monroe at the Beverly Carlton Hotel (1951)

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This famous Frank Worth photoshoot set at the Beverly Carlton Hotel [1] in 1951, featuring Marilyn wearing a lovely swimsuit and gorgeous sandals with lucite platforms, is one of my favourites. She looked more beautiful than ever and happy.

In this picture Marilyn was applying lotion to her legs. The lotion in question was Nivea skin oil which, according to the advert above, was the “liquid counterpart of Nivea Creme, with similar protective, soothing qualities.”

[1] The Beverly Carlton has been renovated as the Avalon Hotel. The location is the same – West Olympic Boulevard in Beverly Hills.

perfumes in movies

Madame Sousatzka (1988)

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Some years ago I read on a perfume forum an interesting fact about the scene above, featuring Shirley MacLaine sitting at her vanity: a bottle of Guerlain Mitsouko appeared in it. I had never watched this film before, so I couldn’t tell if the rumour was true. Now I can tell that it’s not!

No Mitsouko in sight but a floral box with rounded edges, containing Madame Rochas by Rochas! Too bad the box doesn’t reveal its content.

I love this choice. The name of the perfume echoes the title of the film; plus the white floral fragrance (created by Guy Robert and launched in 1960) suits the flamboyant yet melancholic protagonist.