All posts by Born Unicorn

Pedantic archivist of beauty products in films and tv shows

Homecoming S01E05 (Helping)

Heidi Bergman (Julia Roberts) is always focused on her job at the Homecoming Transitional Support Center, so it’s rare to see her in a different environment. It happens in this episode, when she visits the beauty aisles at a department store. Her attention is on a Lancôme display [1] and on one product in particular. The saleswoman (Perry Mattfeld) who assists Heidi says she “can’t live without” it. From Heidi’s question, we learn it’s a lip plumper.

The saleswoman dutifully lists its characteristics.

She holds a tube of it in her hands, so we know it’s L’Absolu Gloss Rôsy Plump lip plumper. Heidi will end up buying it, but soon she’ll wipe it away.

[1] This is not a coincidence: Julia Roberts has been a testimonial for the French brand since 2009.

Baby S01E05 (L’ultimo scatto)

Monica (Claudia Pandolfi) is a character with a few contradictions: a former athlete now married to the Lebanese ambassador to Italy, she could live without working but she does. Unable to leave her athlete career behind,  she works as physical education teacher at an exclusive Roman high school. She’s an adult who has lots of regrets, so in the tv show she slowly falls into the trap of believing she can make up for lost time.

Despite her simple style, she likes living luxuriously, as shown by some objects in her bathroom.  On the white shelves near the washbasin we can see two perfume bottles.

The one topped by a piece of white canvas is a Creed fragrance. Unfortunately there’s no way to see what perfume it contains, but the glass splash flacon by the British perfume house is unmistakable. 

There’s also a travel bottle by Guerlain, now used to contain men’s fragrances. The front label is not that clear, but I want to believe it’s dark green, which means the perfume is Vetiver, originally created by Jean-Paul Guerlain, launched in 1961 and re-launched in 2000.

It’s unclear whether this is Monica’s bathroom or if she shares it with her husband. In any case, I could see her wearing Vetiver, a perfume which appeals to her active and unconventional side.