Category Archives: perfumes in tv shows

Mr Selfridge S03E07/S03E10

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mrselfridge_s03e07_bornunicorn (3)Harry Selfridge (Jeremy Piven) takes Nancy Webb (Kelly Adams) to Selfridges for an evening shopping spree. They stop at a table where several 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 smoked cigarettes, seen at the time as “the perfect symbol of freedom”.

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caron_tabacblond_bornunicornEven the box that Harry gives Nancy is historically accurate: made of gold cardboard, it’s embellished with a matching silk tassel.

mrselfridge_s03e10_bornunicornBox 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.

Endeavour S03E03 (Prey)

endeavour_s03e03_bornunicornThere are several beauty products and fragrance bottles on the dressing table of Georgina Mortmaigne (Stefanie Martini).

yardley_oldenglishlavender_bornunicornThe first bottle on the left is Yardley Old English Lavender, an aromatic fougère fragrance launched in 1913.lanvin_vintagearpege_bornunicornThe ribbed octagonal crystal bottle with an octagonal black bakelite stopper is a spectacular edition of Eau de Lanvin Arpège 85°. The fragrance by Andre Fraysse and Paul Vacher was created in 1927, and the name chosen by Marguerite Lanvin.

coty_laimantdustingpowder_bornunicornThe ivory and pink round box contains Coty L’Aimant dusting powder. The fragrance with the same name was launched in 1927.

Mr Selfridge S02E07

mrselfridge_s02e07_bornunicorn (1)Kitty Hawkins (Amy Beth Hayes) is holding two Penhaligon’s perfumes while chatting with her assistant Jessie (Sai Bennett).

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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.

penhaligons_lavandula_bornunicornBottles 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.

Mr Selfridge S02E08

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Several Caron bottles can be seen in the beauty department. Two types of bottles are displayed: one is made all of glass, with tall rectangular stopper; the other is made of dotted glass with gold fluted stopper. Unfortunately, it’s impossible to tell what scents they contain. On the contrary, we know the black bottle in the box is Nuit de Noël, a floral fragrance created by Ernest Daltroff and launched in 1922.

Mr Selfridge S02E01

mrselfridge_lheurebleue_bornunicorn (1)Kitty Hawkins (Amy Beth Hayes) and the girls at the cosmetics counter are ready to welcome Delphine Day (Polly Walker), a businesswoman and nightclub owner who’s the talk of the town: sexy and independent, she’s presenting her novel at Selfridges. Lots of Guerlain flacons bouchon coeur can be seen, including a giant factice bottle.

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mrselfridge_lheurebleue_bornunicorn (3)When Delphine stops by the counter, Kitty asks her if she wants to try a “new scent,” which happens to be Guerlain L’Heure Bleue.

guerlain_vintagelheurebleue_bornunicornThis is historically accurate: the Jacques Guerlain creation was launched in 1912, two years before 1914, year in which this episode is set.

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mrselfridge_lheurebleue_bornunicorn (5)Delphine can’t help but loving it!

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mrselfridge_lheurebleue_bornunicorn (7)Kitty, who’s a skilled sales assistant, explains the composition of the perfume, a “floral bouquet” with notes of “bergamot, aniseed and a velvety base of vanilla and tonka bean.”

How to Get Away with Murder S02E10 (What Happened to You, Annalise?)

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dananavycologne_bornunicornjohnvarvatosartisan_bornunicornAsher Millstone (Matt McGorry) and his fellow faculty students are at Mike Delfino’s. He’s taking a look at the perfume bottles on the dresser in his bedroom; among them, there’s Navy for Men by Dana, a woody aromatic fragrance launched in 1995. The wicker-sleeve bottle on the right is John Varvatos Artisan, a citrusy-herbal perfume created by John Varvatos and Rodrigo Flores-Roux and launched in 2009. The prop master has replaced the silver stopper with a black one, probably taken from Artisan Black.

Now the black and silver flask-shaped bottle: after discussing about it on Twitter, I’m pretty sure it’s a customised version of Montblanc Legend – the stopper has been replaced and a white monogram has been added.

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No doubts on the perfume Asher smells from the bottle: it’s Mankind by Kenneth Cole, created by Claude Dir and launched in 2013.

Mad Men S01E02 (Ladies Room)

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cotymuguetdesbois_bornunicornThere’s a bottle of Coty Muguet des Bois on Betty Draper’s dresser. This is one of the most popular Coty perfumes: created by Henri Robert and launched in 1941, it has top notes of aldehydes, orange, green leaves and bergamot; middle notes of cyclamen, lilac, jasmine, lily-of-the-valley and rose; base notes of sandalwood and musk.

Thanks to Elena Vosnaki for the id.

Endeavour S02E03 (Sway)

endeavour_s02e03_bornunicorn (1)atkinsonscalifornianpoppy_bornunicornMrs. Haldane, one of the victims of a mysterious strangler, had a very busy dressing table. Among her perfumes, there’s a bottle of Californian Poppy, a fragrance by Josephine Kell Ltd. The picture above refers to the 1940s version of the perfume, while the bottle seen in the tv show has a different shape and a different lettering on the front label.

worthjereviens_cologne_bornunicornThe round bottle in front of Californian Poppy is the eau de cologne version of Worth Je Reviens, a floral aldehyde fragrance created by Maurice Blanchet and launched in 1932.

Crabtree___Evelyn_Gardeners_Hand_Therapy_bornunicornThe brown tube looks like Crabtree & Evelyn Gardeners hand therapy cream.

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madamerochasrefillableatomiser_bornunicornThere’s also a refillable atomiser of Rochas Madame Rochas.

Thanks to Jennifer for the hand cream id and to Nastja for the Worth id.

Mr Selfridge S01E03

mrselfridge_s01e03_bornunicorn (4)When Mr Selfridge decides to open a beauty counter in his store, we are treated with lots of eye candy! Fragrances and toiletries start to appear on the counters just before the entrance door.

4711cologne_bornunicornIn the screencap above, some bottles of Mäurer & Wirtz 4711 Original cologne can be seen, along with some round soaps by Roger & Gallet.

rogeretgallet_lavandaroyale_bornunicornI’m not sure about the scents of the white and pink soaps, but they could be discontinued. As a matter of fact, their boxes and packaging could be coming from the 1980s, definitely not from the most recent collections. Contemporary Roger & Gallet soaps are wrapped in tissue paper, as usual, but they only have a round sticker – not a wrapping label.

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Some flacons bouchon coeur by Guerlain can be seen on another counter. Most of them have no label, so it’s impossible to know what fragrances they contained. One thing is certain: their glass stoppers tell us they’re from before 1962, year in which plastic stoppers replaced the glass ones. As for the Mitsouko modern bottle, the pump atomizer is a nice way to give it a vintage feel.

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yardley_englishlavender_vintagead_bornunicornAgnes Towler (Aisling Loftus) meets Henri Leclair (Grégory Fitoussi) in the beauty department. They have a short conversation about fragrances, from which we learn that Agnes is a classic British girl, who loves traditional creations like Yardley Lavender. The aromatic fougère, launched in 1919, is another historically inaccurate choice, but in this context it works.