All posts by Born Unicorn

Pedantic archivist of beauty products in films and tv shows

Joan Collins’ Dressing Table (1950s)

Beautiful Joan Collins looked gorgeous in this picture from the 1950s. Some intriguing charm is imparted by the several bottles sitting on her vanity, too.

rochasfemme_vintage_bornunicornFrom the left, there are two Rochas bottles, one of which has the glass stopper. I’d like to say this was Femme, but I’m not 100% sure: other three perfumes – Mousseline, Mouche and La Rose – were housed in the same curvy bottle. All these fragrances were created by Edmond Roudnitska.

rochasfemmecologne_bornunicorn.jpgThe same can be said for the bottle with the plastic stopper: this one could be Femme eau de cologne, or one of the aforementioned scents.

The small square bottle with black stopper is the mini version of a Lanvin perfume. It’s unclear if it was Arpege or another scent (the same container was used to house different fragrances).

dior_dioramavintagebottle_bornunicornNext, there’s a bottle of Christian Dior Dioramaa chypre fruity creation by Edmond Roudnitska launched in 1948. Am I the only one who has always seen Dior’s signature bow-topped front label as the peak of Parisian chic?

worthjereviens_bornunicornThe fluted “skyscraper” bottle is quite unmistakable: it’s Je Reviens by Worth, a fragrance created by Maurice Blanchet and launched in 1932.

The round lace-printed box on the right is another product by Rochas, a perfumed talcum powder which, I guess, was from the Femme line.

A couple of words on the two of the four bottles I haven’t identified, starting with the bottle with rectangular stopper. It looks like Lancôme Bocages, but I can’t see the peculiar semi-circular shape in the stopper. Then the glass bottle on the right looks like a Chanel one, but have Chanel front labels ever been that rectangular? Any ideas on these doubts of mine are welcome!

Thanks to Scentimentalist and Le Petit Civet for the Lanvin id.

Pose S02E05 (What Would Candy Do?)

pose_s02e05_bornunicorn (1)Let’s take a moment to appreciate this screenshot: Elektra Wintour (Dominique Jackson) is gracing us with a rare smile and gives us the chance to get a closer look at her vanity.

givenchyysatis_bornunicorn

The small bottle on it is one of the greatest perfumes of the 1980s, Givenchy Ysatis, an “opulent fragrance that smells like luxury” [1]. Created by Dominique Ropion and launched in 1984, it’s simply perfect for a fierce and unapologetic character like Elektra.

[1] As reported on Fragrantica. I can’t think of a better description.

Big Little Lies S02E06 (The Bad Mother)

Celeste (Nicole Kidman) is getting ready to go to court to fight her custody battle. She’s the only character in the show who’s consistently shown while putting make-up on. I think this is not coincidental: since S01 she’s shown as a trophy wife, a beautiful woman whose only task – according to her abusive husband – is staying beautiful and decorative. By showing her often applying make-up it’s like make-up is the gate through which she can reach her own self, but at the same time it’s a tool she uses to hide her real self, the battered and abused woman who stayed in a violent relationship for her children’s sake.

Among the products in her bathroom there are

Wet n Wild eye make-up remover

Chanel Perfection Lumière Velvet foundation

Charlotte Tilbury Magic foundationCharlotte Tilbury Cheek to Chic blusher

The lipstick she uses is by NARS.

Mannequin (1987)

mannequin_bornunicorn (3)Hollywood Montrose (Meshach Taylor) works as a window dresser at the department store Prince & Company. He’s one of the few persons who are friendly with Jonathan (Andrew McCarthy). After being hired as shop boy, Jonathan will soon start working – exclusively at night – as window dresser. His displays will become hugely successful, much to Hollywood’s delight.

In the scene above, Hollywood is working on a perfume display which includes several factice bottles of famous perfumes from the 1980s.

First, Emanuel Ungaro Diva, created by Jacques Polge in 1983

perryelliswomensperfume_bornunicornPerry Ellis eau de parfum, launched in 1985

chanel_cocoperfume_bornunicornChanel Coco, another Jacques Polge creation, launched in 1984giorgiobeverlyhillsformen_bornunicorn.jpgAnd last, Giorgio Beverly Hills Giorgio for Men, launched in 1984.

Thanks to perfumes_marimichimoni on Instagram for the Perry Ellis id.

Pose S02E04 (Never Knew Love Like This Before)

One of the most intense and emotional moments in a VERY intense and emotional episode was the conversation between Candy (Angelica Ross) and her mother (Patrice Johnson Chevannes). In particular, a memory from the past is brought up: as a young boy, Candy wore her mother’s perfume, a symbol of the “silent pact” she thought was between them. Despite her assumptions and hopes, though, Candy got rejected by her family for being a transgender woman and this felt like an unbearable betrayal.

This scene reminds me of another emotional moment from Paris is Burning (1990) by Jennie Livingstone: Pepper LaBeija, mother of the House of LaBeija, explains how her parents found out she dressed as a girl. Her mother found a fur coat in her closet and realised it was hers from the perfume on it, Tuvaché Jungle Gardenia. The gendered notion of perfume – now almost completely gone, thank God – could really give away a lot about oneself, sometimes with horrible consequences.

The perfume worn by Vivica and Candy is another strong symbol: Revlon Charlie was launched in 1973 and marked the beginning of a new era in perfumery. It was a fresh chypre fragrance, arguably one of the first feminist fragrances: as Barbara Herman explains in her book Scent & Subversion, “it was marketed to American women during an era when feminist consciousness was at its pop-culture height.” No wonder that Candy saw that specific perfume, worn by the most important woman in her life, as a “gate to femininity”.

The advertising campaign of Charlie was about independence, gorgeousness and sexiness: as the slogan said, it was a “gorgeous, sexy-young fragrance”, embodied by statuesque model/actress Shelley Hack wearing trousers.