This behind-the-scene photo was taken on the set of La Visita, a 1963 film by Antonio Pietrangeli starring Milo and François Périer.
Among the several products sitting on Sandra’s dressing table I can see a bottle of Acqua distillata alle rose by Roberts, a classic rose water that’s available everywhere in Italy.
There are also several sticks of Max Factor Pan Stik cream foundation, a worldwide staple for actresses.
Thanks to Rocco for submitting this post.
This picture of Marlene Dietrich was taken on the set of Der blaue Engel, directed by Joseph Von Sternberg. The role of the provocative cabaret singer Lola-Lola would establish Dietrich as an international star: soon after the release of this film, she moved to Los Angeles, where she starred in six films directed by von Sternberg at Paramount [1].
Once in Hollywood, the reinvention of Dietrich’s look happened thanks to Max Factor, who created a very specific and dramatic look for her. When she filmed Der blaue Engel, the transformation was still to happen but Dietrich already used Max Factor products, as we can see from the round tin box sitting on her dressing table: it was Max Factor’s Supreme Face Powder.
[1] These films – Morocco (1930), Dishonored (1931), Shanghai Express (1932), Blonde Venus (1932), The Scarlet Empress (1934) and The Devil Is a Woman (1935) – created the image of the glamourous femme fatale that had so much importance in Dietrich’s career.
Thanks to Kailey for submitting this post.
This portrait of Prince in his dressing room was taken by Afshin Shahidi, his personal photographer. It is included in a book – Prince: A Private View – released in 2017, along with unpublished photos and stories about the long collaboration between the photographer and the artist.
Among the many products on the dressing table, we can see a bottle of Olay refreshing toner. It differs from the picture above, so I do believe it’s an earlier (or later) version of it.
Moving to the centre of the table, I can see a bottle of L’Oreal True Match liquid foundation.
The most interesting item sits on the back of the table, right in front of the mirror, and it’s Thierry Mugler Cologne, a citrus/white floral fragrance created by Alberto Morillas and launched in 2001. In case you were wondering what fragrance Prince wore, now you know.
Thanks to Mirjam for submitting this post.
Lady Gaga is currently busy with rehearsals for the upcoming jazz & piano concerts at the Park MGM in Las Vegas. She recently posted this picture on her Instagram account, thanks to which she showed what’s on her dressing table.
On the left there’s a bottle of Dr. Bronner’s hemp lavender pure-castile soap.
There’s also a pump bottle of Eucerin moisturising lotion.
The tall white bottle behind her tea cup is Kenzo Amour eau de parfum, an amber vanilla fragrance created by Daphné Bugey and Olivier Cresp and launched in 2006.
Thanks to lunanocta for submitting this post, and to Ale and Jane Daly for the Eucerin id.
Many years ago a reader of this blog left a comment on this post mentioning an article from the 1990s where Courtney Love spoke about her love for fragrances. Since then, many people have told me about it, always in elusive terms, as if the article existed but they were not quite sure about that.
Thanks to the endless mine of vintage material that is Instagram [1] and thanks to Edward who sent it to me, now we can finally read the aforementioned article! It was published on Mademoiselle Magazine in May 1993. As Lydia explained in her comment, it’s truly a monologue about the complex and very personal connection between memories and perfumes.
This is the first time I write a post about an article, instead of analysing a picture, but the subject is so intriguing that I hope you will appreciate the change. Let’s see the fragrances Courtney mentioned.
1_ “Hippie oils” from Body Scent in Seattle [2]: she wore them on stage because they mixed “well with sweat”.
2_ Chanel No. 5: she said all boys loved it because it reminded them of their mothers.
3_ Fracas by Robert Piguet. Courtney’s love for this tuberose triumph, created by Germaine Cellier and launched in 1948, is well-known and well-documented. In the article she defined it her “number-one perfume”, a fragrance she always managed to wear even when she was poor and on food stamps.
4_ Christian Dior Diorissimo and Tuvaché Jungle Gardenia are mentioned along with Fracas. Courtney said Diorissimo was “great to wear in L. A.” because “it’s jarring and pink and very feminine, but also wintry”. On the other hand, she established a parallel between Jungle Gardenia and Fracas: “it’s loud and insane but really rare – no one wears it.”
In conclusion she said Fracas is “genius no matter where you go”, a perfume Joan Crawford or 1920s singer Libby Holman could have worn.
5_ According to Courtney, Kat Bjelland, the frontwoman of Babes in Toyland, wore hippie oil almost exclusively. On the other hand, Jennifer Finch, the bassist of L7, sometimes wore Cacharel Anaïs Anaïs, “the ultimate femme smell”, after Courtney had given it to her for Christmas. This Cacharel white floral fragrance was created by Roger Pellegrino, Robert Gonnon, Paul Leger and Raymond Chaillan, and launched in 1978.
6_ As opposed to the worst smells (those in rock vans), Courtney lists her favourite smells: “Fracas, lilacs, fresh baby head, the way my husband smells like waffles and daphne, a North-West flower that comes out in early spring and is overwhelming“, adding “fresh gardenias” to the list.
7_ The article ends with another long list of great smells: Courtney mentions some places (gas stations, thrift stores, the Seattle Public Library and Portland’s rose garden), human smells (“female milk vapor”), drinks (“cappuccino on a slushy day”) and many beauty products/toiletries.
The “Spanish baby cologne” she mentions is too vague to identify.
The “baby bee talc” that follows was possibly Burt’s Bees dusting powder. I am not 100% sure this specific item was already on the market in 1993, but at the time the brand had already been established, so it could be a good guess.
Weleda iris soap is mentioned, too.
Dana Love’s Baby Soft bath gel is a product that comes with a nostalgic aura [3]. The original musky rose perfume was created by Ron Winnegrad and launched in 1974.
In the 1980s and 1990s make-up items had very distinctive smells. Courtney mentions Chanel make-up, Dana Tabu lipstick (it reminded her of Ireland, where she briefly lived in the 1980s) and Cover Girl make-up.
Johnson’s Baby shampoo and powder have very distinctive smells, too. I think you noticed that Courtney often mentioned baby products, which is understandable: she had given birth to her daughter Frances Bean in August 1992, so when the article was published Frances was only nine months old. Living with a newborn baby affects your sense of smell and introduces new smells into your life, not only from toiletries but also from the baby’s and your own bodies.
The last product is Carmex lip balm, with its peculiar menthol smell.
[1] Savana posted the article on Instagram in July 2022.
[2] According to my research, this shop doesn’t exist anymore.
[3] Another fan of Love’s Baby Soft is Sarah Jessica Parker. The Dana fragrance inspired SJP’s first eau de toilette, Lovely, created by Clement Gavarry and Laurent Le Guernec and launched in 2005.
Marlene Dietrich worked just once with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer: it happened in 1944 for Kismet by William Dieterle, an Arabian-Nights extravaganza set when “when old Baghdad was new and shiny”. The picture above was taken at the time.
There are many beauty products on her dressing table, but one has caught my attention: the bottle half-hidden behind the photo frame.
It’s a glorious flacon bouchon coeur by Guerlain. Designed by Raymond Guerlain in collaboration with Baccarat, it was originally created to house extraits of three fragrances by Jacques Guerlain – L’Heure Bleue (1912), Fol Arôme (1912) and Mitsouko (1919).
The front label cannot be read, so we wonder what fragrance was in the flacon. Dietrich was said to be a fan of perfumes like Bandit by Robert Piguet and Angelique Encens by Creed; the Guerlain fragrance usually mentioned among her favourites is Shalimar, traditionally housed in the flacon chauve souris. One may assume she wore Mitsouko, but I don’t agree: I personally see her wearing an evocative, comforting yet dark perfume like L’Heure Bleue.
On the far right side of the table there’s a bottle of Sea Breeze skin antiseptic.
Thanks to Kailey for submitting this post and for the Sea Breeze id.
Gloria Vanderbilt’s two-bedroom apartment in Manhattan has recently been featured on The World of Interiors: photos by Annie Schlechter and words by Vanderbilt’s son, Anderson Cooper, walk the reader through furniture and accessories of a place where the American artist, designer and writer lived for 23 years.
On the small table on the left there’s a Cyprès candle by Rigaud.
The first thing one notices on her vanity is the massive bottle of Worth Dans la Nuit: made of frosted blue-stained glass and decorated by raised stars, it was made by Lalique in 1924. This is an early issue of the bottle, as we can see from the stopper, described as “a disc with an eclipsed moon of crystal-polished glass in bas-relief against a cobalt-stained sky filled with raised, crystal-polished stars”. This stopper stopped being produced in the 1930s because of an allegation of trademark infringment, so the later versions feature the eclipsed moon only.
Dans la Nuit is a floral fragrance created by Maurice Blanchet.
Next to Dans la Nuit there’s a bottle of Outremer Pêche eau de toilette.
The third non-decorative bottle is Robert Piguet Fracas extrait. This tuberose triumph was created by Germaine Cellier and first launched in 1948.
Dans la Nuit is not the only Worth perfume on this table: there’s also a big empty bottle of Je Reviens eau de cologne.
The last product I can see is the round tin box of Smith’s Rosebud salve.
Thanks to alindri for submitting this post and to Cédric for the Rigaud candle id.
Checking the dressing tables and vanities of celebrities is always thrilling, especially when they include lots of cosmetics or perfume bottles. The latter is certainly the case of this 1945 portrait of the American actress and dancer Ann Miller.
Here is what I have identified. Starting from the left: there are two bottles of D’Orsay Intoxication, a chypre floral fragrance launched in 1938.
There’s also a flacon bouchon coeur by Guerlain, possibly containing Mitsouko, a chypre fruity fragrance by Jacques Guerlain launched in 1919.
Impossible not to spot the beautiful bottle of Schiaparelli Shocking under a glass dome. This amber floral creation by Jean Carles was launched in 1937.
Right in front of the mirror there are two flacons chauve souris by Guerlain containing Shalimar, a Jacques Guerlain creation launched in 1925.
On the same side of the table there’s Worth Je Reviens eau de cologne. The eau de toilette version of this floral aldehyde fragrance created by Maurice Blanchet was launched in 1932.
Last, we can see the fluted bottle of an eau de cologne by Jean Patou.
Thanks to Barbara for submitting this post.
This portrait of Ava Gardner was taken in the late 1940s in the bedroom of her Nichols Canyon cottage in Los Angeles. Besides the Degas print on the wall and some framed family photos, what has caught my attention are the perfume bottles on the dresser. I have identified three of them.
One of the first bottles from the left is Lanvin Arpège extrait, with the square bakelite stopper. This fragrance was created by Paul Vacher and Andre Fraysse and launched in 1927.
There’s also a flacon bouchon coeur by Guerlain. It has been used to house several fragrances but this one is likely to be Mitsouko, one of Gardner’s favourite scents. This chypre fruity fragrance was created by Jacques Guerlain and launched in 1919.
On the far right there’s Fleurs de Rocaille by Caron. Housed in a beautiful urn-shaped bottle designed by Félicie Vanpouille, this floral aldehyde fragrance was created by Ernest Daltroff and launched in 1934.
Thanks to Barbara Pfouts for submitting this post.
I’ve always loved bathrooms and I’ve seen many beautiful ones in my life, but very few of them can equal the poetic atmosphere in Kate Moss’ bathroom in her London house. The bespoke wallpaper with anemone pattern by de Gournay is its strongest point, but charming additions are the vintage crystal chandelier from James Worrall, a Drummonds claw-foot tub and framed black-and-white photographs.
On the marble washbasin there are several products – two bath oils, one perfume and a skincare item.
The bottles with colourful ribbons are Penhaligon’s bath oils. The one on the left is Victorian Posy, a chypre floral fragrance launched in 1979 and now sadly discontinued; the one on the right is Vanities, another discontinued fragrance.
The white jar is Cosme Decorté AQ Meliority repair cleansing cream.
The bottle with ball-shaped stopper is Balenciaga L’Essence eau de parfum, a green floral fragrance created by Olivier Polge and launched in 2011.
There are lots of bottles in the mirrored cabinets above the washbasin.
On the top shelf on the left there’s a factice bottle of Prada Infusion d’Iris eau de toilette, created by Daniela Andrier and launched in 2010.
On the middle shelf on the left there’s Fracas by Robert Piguet, created by Germaine Cellier and launched in 1948.
Lalique Songe is shown in a 2005 limited-edition bottle.
The bottle with peach pink ribbon is Penhaligon’s Ellenisia, another discontinued floral fragrance launched in 2005.
The massive green bottle in the mid shelf in the central section is Sommerso, a beautiful Murano glass creation.
On the bottom shelf in the central section there’s Christian Dior Dune, an amber woody fragrance created by Jean-Louis Sieuzac, Nejla Barbir and Dominique Ropion and launched in 1991.
On the same shelf there are a flacon bouchon coeur by Guerlain and two bottles of Chanel No. 5 eau de parfum.
On the middle shelf on the right there are some Etro bottles, possibly Heliotrope eau de cologne (old packaging), and two fragrances by Byredo.
Thanks to Anna for the Murano glass bottle id.
World Wide Aura 
