There’s a bottle of Old Spice classic after-shave lotion on Joe Caputo’s dresser.
Category Archives: perfumes in tv shows
Mr Selfridge S01E03
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.
Endeavour S01E02 (Fugue)
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.
Mr Selfridge S02E10
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.
Mr Selfridge S03E07/S03E10
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”.
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.
Endeavour S03E03 (Prey)
There are several beauty products and fragrance 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 fragrance by Andre Fraysse and Paul Vacher was created in 1927, and the name chosen by Marguerite Lanvin.
The ivory and pink round box contains Coty L’Aimant dusting powder. The fragrance with the same name was launched in 1927.
Mr Selfridge S02E07
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.
Mr Selfridge S02E08
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
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.
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.
This is historically accurate: the Jacques Guerlain creation was launched in 1912, two years before 1914, year in which this episode is set.
Delphine can’t help but loving it!
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?)
Asher 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.
No doubts on the perfume Asher smells from the bottle: it’s Mankind by Kenneth Cole, created by Claude Dir and launched in 2013.
