Category Archives: stars’ vanities/make-up cases/cabinets in real life

stars' vanities/make-up cases/cabinets in real life

Margaret Thatcher’s Vanity

2 Comments

Photographer Herbie Knott took this portrait of Margaret Thatcher: she was at 10 Downing Street during the 1983 General Election campaign.

The gold bottle on the dresser is a pretty exciting object because it’s by Guerlain! This refillable spray canister with basketweave design was first introduced in 1982 for eaux de toilettes. Unfortunately it’s impossible to tell what fragrance it contained, but I think it was Mitsouko, the Guerlain classic which Thatcher was said to be a fan of.

Thanks to alindri for the id.

stars' vanities/make-up cases/cabinets in real life, vintage beauty products

Romy Schneider’s Dressing Room (1961)

1 Comment

In March 1961 Luchino Visconti directed a French version of the revenge play ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore by the English playwright John Ford. Staged at the Théâtre de Paris, Dommage qu’elle soit une p… starred Romy Schneider as the protagonist Annabella and her fiancé Alain Delon as Giovanni.

In these beautiful backstage pictures by Maurice Jarnoux we can take a look at what beauty products the Austrian actress used. In the shot above she was applying Pan Stik compact foundation by Max Factor.

On her dressing table there were many make-up and skincare products, among which a bottle of baby lotion by the French brand Mustela.

When it comes to the perfumes, the first I’ve noticed is a huge houndstooth bottle by Christian Dior, used for several eaux de toilette and eaux de cologne by the French maison, so it’s impossible to tell what fragrance this specific bottle contained. Furthermore, it’s quite surprising to see a Dior fragrance on her dressing table: the perfumes she usually wore were Chanel No. 5, Guerlain L’Heure Bleue [1] and – as explained by Elena Prokofeva – Tubereuse by Jean-Francois Laporte.

The second bottle is a French classic – Roger & Gallet Jean Marie Farina eau de cologne, first launched in 1806.

The third perfume sighting is not a bottle but a white box with black details. It’s a coffret set by Chanel, usually containing a selection of four parfum extraits.

[1] Several Guerlain bottles appeared in the famous portraits of Romy Schneider taken by photographer Helga Kneidl in 1973 in Paris.

Picture source.

stars' vanities/make-up cases/cabinets in real life

What’s in Victon’s Bag?

2 Comments

Korean fashion magazine The Star has recently posted What’s In My Bag? interviews with the members of the K-Pop band Victon. All of them showed their favourite beauty products and fragrances.

Let’s start with Se-jun.

In his backpack there’s Le Labo Santal 33, a woody/powdery fragrance created by Frank Voelkl and launched in 2011.

Chan has two bottles in his Louis Vuitton shoulder bag.

The first is Yves Saint Laurent L’Homme eau de toilette, a warm spicy scent created by Anne Flipo, Pierre Wargnye, Dominique Ropion and Juliette Karagueuzoglou, and launched in 2006.

The second is Maison Francis Kurkdjian Aqua Universalis eau de toilette, created by Francis Kurkdjian and launched in 2009.

The band’s leader, Seung-sik, has opted for Byredo Super Cedar, a woody fragrance created by Jerome Epinette and launched in 2016.

Byung-chan shows one beauty product – Jo Malone Vitamin E lip conditioner.

Han-se stands out by showing a fragrance that looks like Byredo (same bottle) but it’s not! He explains he made it himself at a perfume bar in Seoul. When asked what it smells like, he said: “freshly-cut grass”.

Su-bin first shows a skincare product – Byredo Bal d’Afrique hand cream.

Like Chan, he has two bottles in his Louis Vuitton bag.

One is Le Labo Another 13, an amber woody fragrance created by Nathalie Lorson and launched in 2010.

The other is Frederic Malle Musc Ravageur, created by Maurice Roucel and launched in 2000.

Out of all the fragrances shown by Victon members, this is the one I would love to try: Su-bin points out the cedar and cinnamon notes, which I think are very intriguing.

stars' vanities/make-up cases/cabinets in real life, vintage beauty products

The Supremes (1965)

5 Comments

This beautiful portrait of the Supremes (Florence Ballard, Mary Wilson and Diana Ross) was taken in 1965 by photographer Bruce Davidson, who went into the trio’s dressing room and took pictures of them getting ready for a performance.

Florence was holding a Maybelline eye pencil.

Moving to the centre of the table, we can see a bottle of Estee Lauder Youth Dew cologne.

Right in front of the cologne there’s a bottle of Revlon Touch & Glow liquid make-up.

Seeing the iconic squared bottle of Chanel eau de cologne on this table filled me with joy. I wonder who wore it – Mary Wilson (the bottle is standing in front of her) or the others, too?

The small bottle next to the Chanel one is Yardley hand cream.

The large jar in front of Diana Ross is Pond’s cold cream, the classic make-up remover that I’ve spotted in films and on real-life dressing table an endless number of times.

Thanks to Kailey for submitting this post and identifying most of the beauty products. Thanks to Ro in the comments for the Youth Dew id.

stars' vanities/make-up cases/cabinets in real life

Elsa Peretti’s House in Vogue US (1976)

6 Comments

In 1976 Vogue US featured Elsa Peretti’s New York apartment (the one she had taken over from Halston) on its pages. The photoshoot by Horst P. Horst portrayed the Italian artist in a minimalist space and focused on details too.

In her own words, the apartment had “bare bleached white floors, mirrored walls, lemon trees, banquettes covered in white Haitian cotton, white director’s chairs, and a work table,” which also functioned for dining and making up.

The aforementioned work table can be seen in the picture above: on it there are some pieces of jewellery, beauty items and a massive bottle that would be impossible not to notice.

It’s a factice of the famous teardrop bottle Elsa designed to house the first women’s fragrance by Halston [1]. Created by Bernard Chant and launched in 1975, the perfume would soon become a best seller.

The other two perfume bottles are both by Jean Patou. They could house either Joy, the unique jasmine and rose fragrance by Henri Alméras launched in 1930, or 1000, a floral fragrance by Jean Kerleo launched in 1972. According to a reader of this blog, in a 1999 interview Elsa said she wore 1000.

Another item I’ve identified is the Lancôme white tube. I think this contained hand cream, but it could also have been a face moisturizer.

The same table and the same objects are seen from a different point of view in the picture above. Elsa was wearing a wonderful vintage kimono she had bought in San Francisco.

Here she was doing her make-up which, according to the interview, consisted in foundation, Roger & Gallet face powder, blush, brown eye pencil and mascara. The dog posing in the picture was one of her two King Charles spaniels.

Another picture featured the beautiful gold and cobalt blue bottle of Guerlain Coque d’Or. It was created by Jacques Guerlain in 1937 and dedicated to Sergej Pavlovič Djagilev, the Russian impresario who founded the Ballets Russes. For its name Guerlain took inspiration from Le Coq d’or [2], the last opera by Nikolaj Andreevič Rimskij-Korsakov.

[1] The process of designing and making this bottle was accurately shown in the Ryan Murphy tv show Halston.

[2] In French “coque” means “shell”, while “coq” means “rooster”. The two terms are clearly related.

stars' vanities/make-up cases/cabinets in real life

Hubert de Givenchy’s Perfume Corner (2018)

Leave a comment

In 2018 the legendary founder of the Givenchy maison gave a rare interview to the Financial Times‘ journalist Nick Foulkes. The article included pictures of the designer’s residence, Château du Jonchet, located in Northern France.

I’m thankful to the photographer Dylan Thomas for snapping the picture above, which shows the fragrances the designer used.

I’m not surprised to see one of the most beautiful rechargable bottles by Guerlain, Le Sucrier de Madame, designed by Robert Goossens and first introduced in 1980 to house the maison’s eaux de toilette.

A massive bottle of Monsieur de Givenchy takes centre stage. The citrus aromatic fragrance, created by Francis Fabron, was launched in 1959.

The white bottle with gold accents is another Guerlain product: it’s the deodorant of L’Heure Bleue.

The last bottle is another Givenchy best-selling fragrance – Ysatis. One of the most distinctive scents of the 1980s, it was created by Dominique Ropion and launched in 1984.

Thanks to Alindri for the IDs.

Picture source.

stars' vanities/make-up cases/cabinets in real life

Phoebe Bridgers’ Bathroom (2021)

Leave a comment

The 63rd edition of the Grammy Awards took place on March 14th, 2021 in the middle of the pandemy that has torn the world as we knew it apart. I usually don’t care for these events, but I rejoiced at seeing this picture on the Instagram feed of the American singer/songwriter/guitarist Phoebe Bridgers, who got nominations in the Best Rock Performance and Best New Artist categories.

Besides the fantastic skeleton dress she was wearing (more about it later), I was attracted by the beauty products on the washbasin.

There are two bottles of pure-castile soap by Dr. Bronner’s in Lavender and Hemp Rose.

Another Dr. Bronner’s product can be seen on the soap dish: it’s the organic sugar soap in Lavender.

Last, a small can of Barbasol Soothing Aloe shaving cream is next to the castile soap bottles.

This dreamy Goth dress, designed by Thom Browne and featured in the spring 2018 collection, was paired to Ashley Zhang pearl earrings. Bridgers has often shown her love for the classic Halloween skeleton costume (it’s basically her trademark stage outfit), but the luxury version of it truly is a thing of beauty.

stars' vanities/make-up cases/cabinets in real life

Selena (1997)

1 Comment

In 1997 Jennifer Lopez scored the acting role of a lifetime starring as the Tejano Queen Selena Quintanilla in the biopic Selena by Gregory Nava.

In this behind-the-scene shot, she was retouching her lipstick using the mirror of a classic Chanel glossy compact. I’ve always thought the compact contained a face powder or a blush, but Nun Ya in the comments made me notice it probably containing Selena’s signature lip colour.

Chanel Ligne et Couleur des Lèvres was a lip colour duo where one colour was used to line lips and one to colour them. Selena famously wore Brique, from the 02 colour combination which included the lip liner Indice, too.

Now discontinued, this product is still in the minds and hearts of Selena’s fans.

The Chanel lip duo is displayed among other Chanel make-up items and fashion accessories at the Selena Museum in Corpus Christi, Texas.

stars' vanities/make-up cases/cabinets in real life

Marilyn Monroe at the Beverly Carlton Hotel (1951)

Leave a comment

This famous Frank Worth photoshoot set at the Beverly Carlton Hotel [1] in 1951, featuring Marilyn wearing a lovely swimsuit and gorgeous sandals with lucite platforms, is one of my favourites. She looked more beautiful than ever and happy.

In this picture Marilyn was applying lotion to her legs. The lotion in question was Nivea skin oil which, according to the advert above, was the “liquid counterpart of Nivea Creme, with similar protective, soothing qualities.”

[1] The Beverly Carlton has been renovated as the Avalon Hotel. The location is the same – West Olympic Boulevard in Beverly Hills.