Category Archives: perfumes in movies

perfumes in movies, skincare in movies

Someone’s Watching Me (1978)

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When we first see TV director Leigh Michael’s bathroom, we can notice some very famous fragrances on the marble counter.

From the left to the right there are:

A balloon bottle by Lucien Lelong. Impossible to tell what fragrance it contained, because the same bottle was used to house several fragrances.

The unmistakable blue, black and silver bottle belongs to Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche, a floral aldehyde fragrance created by Michel Hy and launched in 1971.

Another 1970s staple is Revlon Jean Naté after-bath splash in the distinctive tall bottle with black round stopper.

Last but not least, a legend from that decade – the hugely popular Charlie by Revlon. This white floral aldehyde fragrance was launched in 1973.

Later in the film, we can see a different selection of fragrances on the counter. The Lelong balloon bottle and Charlie are gone, but Jean Naté and Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche (two bottles of it!) are still there.

The jar sitting on the same counter is a Max Factor skincare product – Moisture Essence night cream.

Thanks to Nehir for submitting this post, and to Daniel Roldán for the Max Factor id.

perfumes in movies, bodycare in movies

L’enfer (1994)

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There are several interesting items in Paul and Nelly’s bathroom.

On the glass shelf below the mirror there’s a flacon bouchon coeur by Guerlain. Reading the front sticker is impossible, but the bottle could house Mitsouko, L’Heure Bleue or Fol Arôme, the three fragrances this ground glass flacon was designed for in 1910.

On the same shelf there’s a can of Elnett hairspray.

On the bath tub shelf there’s a bottle of L’Oreal Obao bubble bath.

Thanks to Cherry for submitting this post.

perfumes in movies

L’enfer (1994)

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Several scenes set in Paul and Nelly’s bedroom reveal that the woman is a fragrance lover. On a dresser by the bathroom door we can see two Guerlain bottles.

One is the flacon chauve souris of Shalimar, a fragrance created by Jacques Guerlain and launched in 1925.

The other is a flacon bouchon coeur, possibly containing Mitsouko, L’Heure Bleue or Fol Arôme. The same bottle can be seen in the couple’s bathroom.

Other two fragrance bottles sit on Nelly’s vanity.

The bottle with white stopper on the left side of the vanity is Clarins Eau Dynamisante, an aromatic citrus fragrance created by Jacques Courtin-Clarins and launched in 1987.

Next to it there’s a bottle of Rochas Eau de Rochas, a citrus aromatic eau de toilette created by Nicolas Mamounas and launched in 1970.

Nelly’s passion for fragrances can be seen in the decor of the room, too: a poster of Le Galion Sortilège is displayed on the wall behind the vanity. This 1954 advert was created by the illustrator Claude Maurel.

cosmetics in movies, perfumes in movies, shaving products in movies

Green Card (1990)

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Georges is checking the content of Brontë’s bathroom cabinet.

The object at the centre is a small spray can of Gillette Foamy shaving cream.

The two white bottles are very intriguing. The citrus front label clearly reads “Bourjois Eau de Cologne”, so this id should be a no-brainer. Too bad that this eau de cologne doesn’t exist! If you look at the screencap closely, you will see that the prop masters took generic white bottles and glued Art Deco-style labels on them. What is surprising is that they used the name of a real brand. I wonder if Bourjois was in the know of this “poetic licence”…

The imagination of the prop masters was put to the test by a very important element of the plot – the infamous Monticello restorative cream for the face, Brontë’s moisturiser of choice.

The only evidence of this brand took me back to American history, where Monticello is Thomas Jefferson’s plantation near Charlottesville, Virginia. The Thomas Jefferson Foundation, that has maintained the plantation and kept it to the public, sells skincare products on their online shop, so *there could* be a connection with the face cream seen in the film, although I have found no evidence that the aforementioned cream was actually produced and sold by the Thomas Jefferson Foundation.

More mystery lies on the glass shelf above. There’s a (soap) box on the right that reads “Natural Seaweed” and the brand is Revive Lab. Again, I found no evidence of such a brand.

What cannot be mistaken is the floral box at the centre of the shelf: it’s definitely a Clinique product, although it’s impossible to identify because the box is never shown in its entirety.

Thanks to Taylor Rowley for submitting this post.

perfumes in movies, skincare in movies

Maria (2024)

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I was looking forward to watching the latest Pablo Larraín film documenting the last days in the life of Maria Callas (Angelina Jolie) because I *knew* (hoped) some interesting beauty products were in it and I was not disappointed.

The first product I spotted in the scene where Maria is sitting at her vanity is a white jar by Guerlain containing skincare. The exact product is unclear (it could be the Crème Stabilisante, shown in the 1975 advert above, the Collagena or the Crème Magistrale), but the choice is historically accurate, because this packaging was marketed in the mid/late 1970s.

Next, there’s a Dior amphora bottle, originally designed by Fernand Guéry-Colas. This bottle housed different Dior fragrances (Miss Dior, Diorissimo and Diorama), so once again it’s unclear which fragrance sits on la Divina’s vanity.

I was surprised to see a massive flacon chauve souris containing the Guerlain classic Shalimar, a fragrance created in 1925 by Jacques Guerlain. According to online reports, Maria Callas used to wear Chanel No. 5 and Revillon Detchema, but there’s nothing that can beat the impressive presence of this bottle on a film set, so I totally approve of this choice.

Another surprising presence is a box of Madame Rochas, a white floral fragrance created by Guy Robert and launched in 1960. It may not be accurate, if we assume that Callas never wore it, but it surely looks good on her vanity.

Later in the film, Maria sits at another vanity. There’s another flacon chauve souris on it but there’s also a Guerlain zigzag box, first introduced in 1967. Reading the front label is impossible, so its content is unknown.

perfumes in movies

The Apprentice (2024)

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Taking a look at the Trumps’ bathroom circa mid 1980s (as imagined in the film) is a bizarre experience because fragrances from very different decades make their appearance. Some of them even come from the future!

The first item that caught my attention is the glossy black bottle sitting on the third shelf from the bottom. It contains Lanvin Arpège perfumed talc. This is historically accurate because the white floral fragrance by Paul Vacher and Andre Fraysse was launched in 1927.

The first dissonant note comes with the bottle sitting just below Arpège talc. It’s L.A.M.B. by Gwen Stefani, a floral fruity fragrance launched in 2007! As one of my Instagram followers noticed [1], the bottle looks “very 80s” and that’s the only reason why it must have been selected by the film’s prop masters.

When Ivana (Maria Bakalova) sprays some perfume, we’re back on track, although I think this specific fragrance is not what she used to wear back then. It’s a lovely atomiser of Nina Ricci L’air du temps, decorated with yellow flowers and flying doves. At least it makes sense from a temporal point of view – it was created by Francis Fabron and launched in 1948.

The camera moves and another fragrance from the future can be seen on a glass shelf behind Donald (Sebastian Stan). It’s Omnia by Bvlgari, a warm spicy fragrance by Alberto Morillas launched in 2003.

The last fragrance from the future is Burberry Brit, sitting on the top shelf behind Donald. This is another floral fruity creation by Natalie Gracia-Cetto launched in 2003. The bottle design is not even reminiscent of the 1980s, so I really wonder what happened in the art/production design department to opt for such a baffling choice.

[1] This ID happened with the help of many people on Instagram who answered a story I posted after watching the film. Thanks to Jessica, Jack, Cédric, Harry, reveur_etc, and Vick for helping out.

perfumes in movies

Coup de chance (2023)

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Fanny (Lou de Laâge) and her mother Camille (Valérie Lemercier) are shopping together and visit the Serge Lutens perfume shop.

Impossible to know exactly what perfume bottles are displayed in the screencap above. It’s impossible to tell if the bottles have the round or the longer tubular stopper, too.

On a small table on the right there are some flacons de table, splash bottles made of glass.

The location is the stunning Palais Royal, the Serge Lutens flagship store in Galerie de Valois in Paris. I am in love with the spiral staircase with the metal railing decorated with arrows.