Cabot Cove’s hairdresser Loretta (Ruth Roman) uses a small Mason Pearson brush to style Jessica’s hair.
Murder, She Wrote S05E17 (The Sins of Castle Cove)
Auntie Mame (1958)
Nora (Connie Gilchrist) gets a Guerlain flacon montre of Shalimar cologne as a Christmas present from Mame. Nora is very excited: the fragrance (described as “French-smelling”) will make her feel “like Theda Bara“, one of the most popular and sexiest femme fatales of silent cinema.
Insomnia (2002)
There’s Old Spice cologne on Walter Finch’s bathroom shelf.
Lolita (1962)
The nail polish that Humbert (James Mason) applies on Lolita’s toe nails is by Cutex.
Mucho Mucho Amor: The Legend of Walter Mercado (2020)
This documentary presents the aenigmatic and fascinating life of the astrologer Walter Mercado, who was interviewed in his home in Puerto Rico. There’s a domestic shot that piqued my interest, because many beauty products can be seen.
The black and white box is Frulatte Hyalunol anti-aging cream.
There’s also a No.7 box from the Restore and Renew line (old packaging).
The tall plastic bottle is Shea Moisture coconut and hibiscus brightening body lotion.
The polka dot box with gold details contains Carolina Herrera perfume, a white floral creation by Carlos Benaim, Clement Gavarry and Rosendo Mateu, launched in 1988.
The white and grey box is SkinSolve Tighter Clearer Younger anti-aging charcoal overnight cream.
And then there’s a box of Calvin Klein Obsession, the warm spicy fragrance created by Jean Guichard and launched in 1985. I personally thought Walter would have worn something more classic (Shalimar, maybe?), but Obsession is mysterious yet comforting, a description that could well be applied to Walter himself.
Thanks to Scentimentalist for the body lotion and Carolina Herrera ids.
Florence Welch Backstage at Gucci Bloom campaign (2020)
The British singer/songwriter Florence Welch recently shot a fascinating commercial for the Gucci Bloom advertising campaign. In a backstage picture we can see a bottle of Officina Profumo-Farmaceutica Santa Maria Novella toning water on a table near the artist.
The protagonists of the campaign by Floria Sigismondi are Anjelica Huston, Florence Welch, Jodie Turner-Smith and Susie Cave.
Tacones lejanos (1991)
There are a cream jar and a box from Christian Dior Hydra-Dior skincare line in Becky’s dressing room.
The squared bottle in the background is Tiffany by Tiffany, housed in a beautiful Tiffany blue display box. This perfume, launched in 1987, was created by Francois Demachy.
Thanks to lepetitcivet for the Tiffany id.
Breaking Bad S01E03 (…And the Bag’s in the River)
When Hank (Dean Norris) and Steven (Steven Michael Quezada) find a car abandoned by drug dealers, there’s a very peculiar smell in it. Hank compares it to Drakkar Noir, the Guy Laroche classic fougère perfume created by Pierre Wargnye and launched in 1982.
Ammore e Malavita (2017)
There’s an OPI nail polish on Fatima’s bedside table.
Murder, She Wrote S02E12 (Murder by Appointment Only)
While in New York, Mrs. Fletcher (Angela Lansbury) is caught in a complex murder mystery featuring an unknown lipstick, a former student of hers (Elizabeth, the victim), her shady past and her fiancé, co-owner of Lila Lee, a door-to-door cosmetic company. Always willing to help with the investigation, Jessica and the local lieutenant Varick (Herb Edelman) discuss a jewel-studded lipstick case found on the crime scene, the lipstick in it and the one used to vandalise a portrait of the victim in her apartment.
The lipstick Varick is holding is pale pink, definitely not the bright orange-based red on the portrait.
Norman Amberson (Robert Culp), Elizabeth’s fiancé, confirms Jessica’s observation: the lipstick in the jewel case is Midnight Pink [1].
Later in the episode, Jessica’s nephew Grady (Michael Horton) finds a lipstick in the Lila Lee sales kit.
He thinks he’s found the one, but Jessica disagrees. The shade is not the same. “It’s a little bit too pink”, she says, and we, lipstick lovers, are furiously nodding because we know what she means.
This shade is Tangerine Glow. Still not right. But while checking the complete list of Lila Lee lipstick shades, Jessica finds a code number is missing.
She pretends to be a Lila Lee saleswoman whose customers want the lipstick with the missing code and pays a visit to Mr. Hillsdale (Fred Ponzlov), the chemist who created it.
Hillsdale’s reply sounds like a death toll: that colour has been discontinued. Lila Lee Amberson didn’t like how it looked on the rim of a white cup.
That perfect shade, “not too orangey, not too pink”, was called Tangerine Twist [2].
Here lies the solution of the mystery. The discontinued lipstick was used at a photoshoot, confiscated by Lila Lee Amberson (remember that she hated it) and passed to her brother, Elizabeth’s fiancé. At this point the murderer’s identity is clear, right?
[1] Maybelline did a bright pink lipstick with the same name. Maybe this episode served as source of inspiration.
[2] Jafra did a frost orange lipstick with the same name.
World Wide Aura 