Tag Archives: guerlain mitsouko

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

Ava Gardner’s Dresser (1949)

5 Jan 2023 Born Unicorn Leave a comment

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.

perfume quotes in movies, perfumes in movies

Shôri-sha (1957)

5 Jun 2021 Born Unicorn Leave a comment

Eikichi (Tatsuya Mihashi) is on a date with his girlfriend Natsuko (Yōko Minamida) to celebrate her birthday. He takes a box out of his pocket and puts it on the table.

Lo and behold! It’s a Guerlain parquet box! First launched in the 1910s, this box contained Mitsouko, Fol Arôme and L’Heure Bleue in their bouchon coeur bottles.

She’s opened it and…

… it’s Mitsouko! Unfortunately the actual bottle is never shown.

perfumes in tv shows

Mr Selfridge S04E01

13 Nov 2019 Born Unicorn Leave a comment

Guerlain, Caron and Jean Patou perfumes are displayed at Selfridge’s beauty department.

From the far left: there are Guerlain Mitsouko (in the flacon bouchon coeur) and Vol de Nuit (in the flacon rayonnant) on a tray.

On the glass counter there are Jean Patou Colony (in the quirky pineapple bottle) and L’Heure Attendue.

While I appreciate the choice of displaying these beautiful bottles, there’s a problem: Colony, created by Henri Almeras, was launched in 1938, ten years after the time in which the 4th season is set (1928). The situation is even worse for L’Heure Attendue, another Almeras creation launched in 1946, 18 years later.

Last, there’s a bottle of Caron Tabac Blond in a glass cabinet on the far left. It’s a correct choice, because this innovative creation by Ernest Daltroff was launched in 1919.

perfumes in tv shows, skincare in tv shows, soaps in tv shows

Mr Selfridge S02E02

3 Apr 2017 Born Unicorn Leave a comment

Kitty Hawkins (Amy Beth Hayes) is mad at Frank Edwards (Samuel West): he tries to make up with her and visits the make-up counter at Selfridges. He asks for advice: he wants to give something special to someone special (her ;)). She plays along: she suggests “a new perfume” by Guerlain, which happens to be Mitsouko in the traditional flacon bouchon coeur. This is a historically accurate choice, because the perfume was created in 1919, around the time in which the tv show is set.

Other products she suggests are Yardley facial cream (in the dark green glass pot originally used for English Lavender brilliantine) and a Penhaligon’s soap.

Last but not least, she mentions Lady Primrose hand lotion: the beautiful fluted glass jar shown is actually used for the Royal Extract body cream.

perfumes in movies

Jackie (2016)

9 Feb 2017 Born Unicorn Leave a comment

There are four Guerlain perfumes in Jackie Kennedy’s bathroom at the White House.

From left to right: the flacon bouchon coeur of Mitsouko, the flacon rayonnant of Vol de Nuit, a flacon abeille and the flacon chauve souris for Shalimar.

Next to them, a bottle of Bal à Versailles by Jean Desprez can be seen.

I’m sorry to say that the choice of the bottles is lazy and inaccurate. Take Mitsouko, for example: the spray version of this bottle came out in 1995, not in the 1960s. The same can be said for the flacon abeille, a spray version of which was launched in 1992. Why didn’t the prop master use original bottles? Such a disappointment for an Oscar-nominated film!

Thanks to my Instagram friend Mustapha for the id.

perfumes in movies

Nuovo Cinema Paradiso (1988)

25 Jul 2016 Born Unicorn Leave a comment

There’s a poster advertising Guerlain Mitsouko in the scene of Alfredo’s funeral.

Source.

perfume quotes in tv shows, perfumes in tv shows

Mr Selfridge S01E03

8 Jun 2016 Born Unicorn Leave a comment

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.

perfumes in movies

La caduta degli dei (1969)

13 Apr 2016 Born Unicorn Leave a comment

There’s a Guerlain perfume bottle on the dressing table of Olga (Florinda Bolkan), Martin Von Essenbeck’s mistress. It’s the flacon bouchon coeur with the classic heart-shaped stopper. Designed by Raymond Guerlain and Baccarat, it was launched in 1912 and originally contained extraits of Mitsouko, Fol Arome and L’Heure Bleue.

The film is set in Germany during the Third Reich (1933-1945), so a bottle of the three perfumes above would be historically accurate: Mitsouko was launched in 1919, Fol Arome and L’Heure Bleue in 1912. I can see Olga wearing Mitsouko, though, because it perfectly fits her vampy attitude and her dreams (fulfilled at last) to replace Martin’s mother in his life. The Guerlain perfume on her dressing table symbolizes the rich and powerful life she longs to live, refinement and luxury; it’s not a coincidence that Sophie Von Essenbeck exclusively uses Guerlain perfumes.

perfume quotes in tv shows, perfumes in tv shows, soaps in tv shows

Mr Selfridge S01E03

1 Feb 2016 Born Unicorn 3 Comments

When Mr Selfridge decides to open a beauty counter in his store, we are treated with lots of eye candy! Perfumes and toiletries start to appear on the counters just before the entrance door.

In the screencap above, some bottles of Mäurer & Wirtz 4711 Original cologne can be seen, along with some round soaps by Roger & Gallet.

I’m not sure about the scents of the white and pink soaps, but they could be discontinued. As a matter of fact, their boxes and packaging could be coming from the 1980s, definitely not from the most recent collections. Contemporary Roger & Gallet soaps are wrapped in tissue paper, as usual, but they only have a round sticker – not a wrapping label.

Some flacons bouchon coeur by Guerlain can be seen on another counter. Most of them have no label, so it’s impossible to know what perfumes they contained. One thing is certain: their glass stoppers tell us they’re from before 1962, year in which plastic stoppers replaced the glass ones. As for the Mitsouko modern bottle, the pump atomizer is a nice way to give it a vintage feel.

Agnes Towler (Aisling Loftus) meets Henri Leclair (Grégory Fitoussi) in the beauty department. They have a short conversation about perfumes, from which we learn that Agnes is a classic British girl, who loves traditional perfumes like Yardley Lavender. The aromatic fougère, launched in 1919, is another not-historically-accurate choice, but it works.

perfumes in tv shows

Mr Selfridge S01E03

13 Oct 2015 Born Unicorn Leave a comment

The dressing table of Rose Selfridge (Frances O’Connor) is quite busy. She’s clearly a fan of Guerlain perfumes: two flacons montre [1] can be seen on the shelf in front of the window, but there’s more. She opens a Guerlain box, decorated with people and animals, and takes out a flacon bouchon coeur, the bottle with the heart-shaped stopper designed by Raymond Guerlain in collaboration with Baccarat. It would be easy to assume this is Après l’Ondée, created by Jacques Guerlain in 1906, but it’s not, because that perfume has never had that bottle. It would have been a historically accurate choice (this episode takes place in 1909), but prop masters opted for something different. The flacon bouchon coeur originally contained three perfumes, released between 1912 and 1919.

Fol Arôme was created by Jacques Guerlain in 1912. Grace Hummel found a reference of this perfume being sold in 1896, so the 1912 version would be a reworked or relaunched perfume.

L’Heure Bleue was created by Jacques Guerlain in 1912. I don’t think this is the perfume seen on Rose’s dressing table because of the blue lettering on the central sticker.

The last possibility is Mitsouko, one of the most famous perfumes by the French brand. Another creation by Jacques Guerlain, it was launched in 1919, ten years after the time in which the tv show is set.

My guess is that the perfume seen in this episode is Fol Arôme, because the pale orange decorations on the sticker seem to match.

[1] The flacon montre was first released in 1936. The presence of these bottles in this episode is totally inaccurate, but no one can deny their decorative function.

Source.