When Ned (William Hurt) visits Matty at home for the first time, he can’t help but open her husband’s bathroom cabinet. The bottle he removes from it is interesting.
Halston Z-14 sounds like an unusual choice for a shady businessman like Edmund Walker. This leathery fragrance was created by Vincent Marcello and Max Gavarry, and launched in 1974.
The camera moves and reveals another bottle: it’s Old Spice Original cologne, created by Albert Hauck and launched in 1938.
There’s a bottle of YSL Pour Homme eau de toilette on a marble counter in Matty’s bathroom.
This woody aromatic fragrance by Raymond Chaillan was launched in 1971.
The illustration Patricia is working on is very interesting. It advertises a fictional fragrance, Senso. A fragrance with the same name already exists, though.
Created by Jacques Polge and launched in 1987, Senso by Emanuel Ungaro is an amber floral fragrance. It was originally housed in a fluted bottle decorated by a cord with tassels. Nastassja Kinski was the testimonial.
The bottle the woman in Patricia’s illustration is holding exists in real life, too. It’s a flacon montre by Guerlain. Considering the front disk is black, the fragrance it is supposed to contain is Liu eau de cologne, a floral green creation by Jacques Guerlain launched in 1929.
Even if I understand the creative effort behind the illustration, I wonder why they mixed elements belonging to real fragrances, instead of creating a completely new (and properly fictional) one.
One of the most horrific moments of the film gives us an insight into the physical and emotional punishments that Joan Crawford inflicted on her adoptive daughter Christina, the author of the 1978 memoir the film is based on.
The infamous “no wire hangers, ever!” fit of rage is followed by Crawford forcing young Christina to scrub the tiled floor of her bathroom with Old Dutch abrasive powder.
This scene gives us the chance to spot what is probably the only nice touch in a very sad context. There’s a box of Elizabeth Arden Blue Grass perfume on the tiled washbasin counter in Christina’s bathroom. This floral green fragrance, created by Georges Fuchs, was launched in 1936. The blue horse decorated by a pink flower garland is a lovely symbol of beauty and freedom, a direct reference to Maine Chance Farm, Arden’s thoroughbred horse racing stable and horse farm in Lexington, Kentucky.
Thanks to Daniel Roldán for submitting this post.
There are three Guerlain products on the round table besides Lucy (Emily Browning).
The jar with gold details on the left is Météorites face powder in pearl form.
Next to it, there’s a bottle of Guerlain Shalimar Eau Légère Parfumée, a 2004 evolution of the historical fragrance created by Jacques Guerlain and first launched in 1925.
On the right side of the table there’s a blue jar with a golden cap: it’s the Orchidée Impériale longevity light cream.
Margaret (Emily Blunt) is getting ready for work by sitting at her dressing table, on which we can see several products.
The lip product she’s applying is Pat Mc Grath Labs Lip Fetish Divinyl lip shine. She will wear it throughout the film.
On the left side of the table there’s a bottle of Bobbi Brown Weightless Skin foundation.
On the right side of the table there are some Glossier products —Lash Slick mascara and Cloud Paint seamless cheek colour.
When the camera moves, other two products can be seen. The jar with black cap is Bobbi Brown hydrating face cream, and the bottle with black stopper (just behind the light ring stand) is a Byredo fragrance.
When Margaret reaches her workplace (she serves as a weather reporter and meteorologist for the Kansas City news station KCXE), we can see another bottle of Bobbi Brown liquid foundation on a dressing table, along with a Bobbi Brown compact powder blush.
A few moments back, when she unexpectedly starts talking Korean, we can see the make-up artists hand her a tube of the Pat McGrath lip shine seen at the beginning of the film.
Thanks to Femto Fitz for submitting this post.
Bottles of Lancôme cleanser and toner can be seen in Roberta’s bathroom. I’m not sure if the Bi-Facil makeup remover (blue liquid) and Tonique Confort rehydrating toner (pink liquid) were available in the 1980s, but these two bottles with grey caps and white lettering, which launched in the late 1960s, are definitely from Lancôme skincare line.
A few moments before, when Susan (Madonna) and Gary (Mark Blum) walk in the bathroom, we can see several bottles on a small tray on the right.
Among them, the romantic floral pattern which characterises the packaging of Cacharel Anaïs Anaïs, a delicate white floral fragrance created by Roger Pellegrino, Robert Gonnon, Paul Leger and Raymond Chaillan, and launched in 1978. I can see Susan wearing it — an element of romanticism in her unfulfilled suburban life.
This post was first published on July 20th, 2014, but I have decided to update it thanks to the help of Daniel Roldán, who spotted the bottle of Anaïs Anaïs. I have watched this film lots of times, yet this specific bottle has always evaded me.
Lady GaGa is the main performer at the Runway event to be held at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera in Milan. There’s tension in the air: GaGa is performing only because Nigel Kipling (the magazine’s art director) threatened that she would never grace the cover of Runway again if she declined.
On the vanity there’s a bottle of Valentino Born in Roma eau de parfum, a woody vanilla fragrance created by Antoine Maisondieu, Guillaume Flavigny and Michel Girard, and launched in 2019.
On the left side of the vanity there’s also a bottle of Haus Labs Triclone™ Skin Tech foundation.
There are Chanel N°5 eau de cologne (boxed) and a spray can of L’Oreal Elnett hairspray in the dressing room of Celine Dion in the late 1980s.
