When Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) visits Nancy’s room, a pink bottle can be seen on her chest of drawers. A pink bottle with a human face painted on it.
It’s Avon Miss Lollypop cologne mist, which here appears sans white hat. This fragrance for girls was launched in 1967: according to the reviews I’ve read, it was a gourmand perfume, smelling like candy.
When Lady Loxley (Katherine Kelly) visits Selfridges with her husband, Kitty Hawkins (Amy Beth Hayes) tells her the Yardley face cream she wanted has arrived. The teal glass jars displayed on the counter are by Yardley, but they originally contained English Lavender brilliantine.
On the same counter, some bottles of Lily of the Valley (an original Selfridges perfume) can be seen.
A Guerlain flacon abeilles and a Caron perfume can be seen on the dressing table of Lady Mae Loxley (Katherine Kelly).
The iconic bee bottle was first introduced in 1828 for the Eau de Cologne Impériale, but was later used for colognes and eaux de toilettes, too.
There’s a bottle of Guerlain Mitsouko on Ellen Love’s dressing table – a contemporary bottle which was given the vintage touch of an atomizer pump. Choosing this perfume may not be historically accurate – it was created in 1919, ten years after the time in which this episode takes place – but it totally suits Ellen’s vampy and flamboyant style.
When Mr Selfridge asks his mistress to be the testimonial for the first Selfridges perfume, her mind immediately goes to one of her personal heroines – Emma Calvé, the most famous French opera singer of the Belle Époque. Ellen certainly loves the opera singer for being talented and successful, but is also fascinated by her lifestyle, which includes using Guerlain perfumes. Who knows? Maybe Ellen wears a Guerlain perfume herself to emulate her idol.
Roy Adamson (Lex Shrapnel) keeps a perfume bottle in his desk drawer. It’s a fictional perfume, Amour Propre, which he puts on when he goes out on a date with Evelyn Balfour, a married woman. The name means “self-love,” a concept introduced by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, according to which esteem depends upon the opinion of others.
In the last episode of the season, Floris perfumes can be seen on the counter of the beauty department and on Rose Selfridge’s dressing table.
Harry Selfridge (Jeremy Piven) takes Nancy Webb (Kelly Adams) to Selfridges for an evening shopping spree. They stop at a table where several perfume bottles are displayed. The perfume in question, “straight from Paris,” is Caron Tabac Blond. The choice is historically accurate: Ernest Daltroff created this provocative perfume in 1919. According to Fragrantica, Tabac Blond is “a homage to women’s liberation,” combining “leathery top notes usually found in men’s fragrances with an eternally feminine floral bouquet.” It was a fragrance for women who smoke cigarettes, “the perfect symbol of freedom”.
Even the box that Harry gives Nancy is historically accurate: made of gold cardboard, it’s embellished with a matching silk tassel.
Box and perfume bottle make another appearance when Harry visits Nancy’s flat, now empty. She’s left them on her vanity table, symbols of a love story which is over. The bottle is similar to the original but the original front label didn’t include the name of the perfume and the brand.
There are several beauty products and perfume bottles on the dressing table of Georgina Mortmaigne (Stefanie Martini).
The first bottle on the left is Yardley Old English Lavender, an aromatic fougère fragrance launched in 1913.
The ribbed octagonal crystal bottle with an octagonal black bakelite stopper is a spectacular edition of Eau de Lanvin Arpège 85°. The perfume by Andre Fraysse and Paul Vacher was created in 1927, the name chosen by Marguerite Lanvin.
The ivory and pink round box contains Coty L’Aimant dusting powder. The perfume with the same name was launched in 1927.
Kitty Hawkins (Amy Beth Hayes) is holding two Penhaligon’s perfumes while chatting with her assistant Jessie (Sai Bennett).
Thanks to a larger shot, we know that those are bottles of Malabah, sitting on the glass counter next to Lily of the Valley and a factice bottle of English Fern.
Bottles of Lavandula and Orange Blossom can be seen, too.
Picking Penhaligon’s perfumes for this show is historically accurate, since Penhaligon’s was established in 1870. Some of the fragrances seen on Selfridge’s counters were launched way after the 1910s, though – Orange Blossom in 1976, Malabah in 2003 and Lavandula in 2004. On the other hand, Lily of the Valley was created in 1907, English Fern in 1910, so they could be actually sold in the Oxford Street department store.
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