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.
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.
[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.
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.
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.
Checking the dressing tables and vanities of celebrities is always thrilling, especially when they include lots of cosmetics or fragrance 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.
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.
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 fragrance 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.
The bottle with peach pink ribbon is Penhaligon’s Ellenisia, a discontinued floral eau de parfum launched in 2005.
The massive green bottle in the mid shelf in the central section is Sommerso, a beautiful Murano glass creation by Michele Onesto.
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.
Royall Lyme Bay Rhum eau de toilette and Roger & Gallet Jean Marie Farina Extra Vieille eau de cologne can be seen on a busy dresser in Marianne Faithfull’s house, This picture from 1995 was taken by Mark Arbeit.
Madonna recently posted this picture on her Instagram account. Sitting on a bench and posing with a Balenciaga Hourglass bag (covered in scotch tape!), she gave us the opportunity to take a look around her luxurious marble bathroom.
The body wash on the opposite side of the bath is Aveeno Skin Relief.
I am thankful to Madonna for giving us a glimpse of her fragrance shelves. Lots of interesting perfumes there.
Sitting on the top bottom there are three bottles by L’Artisan Parfumeur. Reading the front stickers is impossible, so there’s no way to tell what fragrances they contain.
Behind them there’s Stella McCartney Stella, a deep rose eau de parfum created by Jacques Cavallier and launched in 2003.
It’s often said that celebrities rarely wear the fragrances they launch. Madonna, like Elizabeth Taylor, is not one of them. A bottle of her Truth or Dare Naked sits on the second shelf. This amber spicy perfume was created by Stephen Nilsen and launched in 2012.
I could have never imagined Madonna to be an Artemisia kind of girl, but it’s nice to see a bottle of the Penhaligon’s milky powdery eau de toilette in her collection.
On the other hand, her love for Tom Ford perfumes is well-known, so seeing four of them on the bottom shelf is not surprising. The first from the left is Soleil Blanc, a coconut/white floral creation by Natalie Gracia-Cetto launched in 2016.
Next is Bitter Peach, an amber vanilla perfume launched in 2020.
There’s also a bottle of Diptyque Oyedo, a citrus eau de toilette created by Akiko Kamei and launched in 2000.
Another unsurprising find is Frederic Malle Carnal Flower, a white floral triumph [1] created by Dominique Ropion and launched in 2005.
The third Tom Ford perfume is Rose Prick, launched in 2020.
The last one is Lost Cherry, a bitter almond/sour cherry blend by Louise Turner launched in 2018.
[1] One of Madonna’s favourite notes is tuberose. For many years her name has been closely connected to Robert Piguet Fracas, the tuberose masterpiece by Germaine Cellier launched in 1948. Fracas appears in her documentary I’m Going to Tell You a Secret and in God Control music video, both directed by Jonas Åkerlund.
In 1988, one year after Andy Warhol’s death, his business manager, Fred Hughes, commissioned photographer David Gamble to take pictures of the artist’s New York home. The picture of Warhol’s bathroom cabinet is probably the most famous result of that photoshoot: it was sold for $25,000 at an auction and in 2012 it was displayed at the exhibition Regarding Warhol: Sixty Artists, Fifty Years at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. A print of it is in the collection of The Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh.
No need for me to explain why I have decided to analyse in detail the contents of this cabinet. I have scrutinised fictional and real-life bathroom cabinets and dressing tables for more than 10 years, so I couldn’t miss the opportunity to write about this iconic cabinet.
Before starting, let me say that medicines and several beauty products haven’t been included: I never write about medicines and the aforementioned products, now discontinued, haven’t been identified yet. The description of other products, although identified, is not completed by pictures because I haven’t found any online.
Let’s start with the top shelf.
The aqua green jar is Clinique 7-Day scrub cream: this product is still on the market, but the packaging has been changed (now it’s available in tube form).
The glass bottle with white stopper on the far right is Janet Sartin sun lotion. This brand and their beauty salon in New York still exist.
On the second shelf, starting from the far left, we can see a glass bottle of Guerlain Extrait de Pot-Pourri aux Plantes Marines, a home fragrance.
Seeing a Chanel no. 5 ancillary product (an after-bath spray) is not surprising: Andy Warhol included the iconic bottle of the French perfume in his Ads series.
Next, another Guerlain product – Vétiver talc. Unfortunately I haven’t found a picture of the product in the packaging shown in Warhol’s cabinet, but the pagoda-like bottle is so charming, isn’t it?
The silver tube contains Framesi Gelly’s color enhancing styling gel. This Italian haircare brand, still on the market, was founded in 1945.
Last, the glass bottle on the far right is another Janet Sartin product.
On the third shelf there’s a small-sized bottle of Vidal Sassoon shampoo.
In the back of the shelf there’s another Janet Sartin product, housed in a white jar.
Another Alo Sun product – the After Tan lotion – sits on the same shelf.
On the fourth shelf there’s a Sally Hansen product: I haven’t found any picture of it online, but the bottle reads that it’s a desensitized skin conditioning lotion.
Next to it there’s a jar of Interface herbal rub scrub. This is another product which I haven’t found any evidence of online. The brand doesn’t exist anymore.
One of the most interesting products is Halston 1-12 shaving foam. The fragrance was launched in 1976 and is still available on the market. Warhol using a Halston beauty product makes so much sense that I would have been surprised if I hadn’t found any in this cabinet.
The jar with blue cap contains Noxzema Antiseptic Skin cleanser pads.
Just under the Noxzema pad jar there’s Clinique Sub-Skin firming cream.
Among the lip products I can see a Lip Smacker Bonne Bell lip balm (cherry or strawberry-scented) and a tube of Vaseline Lip Therapy balm.
On the fifth (bottom) shelf there’s a bottle of Cetaphil lotion.
Next, a bottle of Vitabath Spring Green body wash.
On a jar of Vaseline pure petroleum jelly there’s a bottle of Lubriderm Lubath body wash.
Next, there’s a bottle of Neet cocoa butter lotion hair remover.
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