The vanity Sue Ellen (Christina Applegate) sits at every morning to get ready to work is full of beauty products. Besides a huge bottle of Rochas Femme perfume, there are two haircare products by Tresemmé with black packaging: the pump bottle on the right is Tres Spray, while the tube on the left is probably gel.
On the left there’s also a jar of Pond’s peach cold cream.
The yellow spray can on the right is Impulse deodorant, of which I haven’t been able to find any pictures.
Beautiful Joan Collins looked gorgeous in this picture from the 1950s. Some intriguing charm is imparted by the several bottles sitting on her vanity, too.
From the left, there are two Rochas bottles, one of which has the glass stopper. I’d like to say this was Femme, but I’m not 100% sure: other three perfumes – Mousseline, Mouche and La Rose – were housed in the same curvy bottle. All these fragrances were created by Edmond Roudnitska.
The same can be said for the bottle with the plastic stopper: this one could be Femme eau de cologne, or one of the aforementioned scents.
The small square bottle with black stopper is the mini version of a Lanvin perfume. It’s unclear if it was Arpege or another scent (the same container was used to house different fragrances).
Next, there’s a bottle of Christian Dior Diorama, a chypre fruity creation by Edmond Roudnitska launched in 1948. Am I the only one who has always seen Dior’s signature bow-topped front label as the peak of Parisian chic?
The fluted “skyscraper” bottle is quite unmistakable: it’s Je Reviens by Worth, a fragrance created by Maurice Blanchet and launched in 1932.
The round lace-printed box on the right is another product by Rochas, a perfumed talcum powder which, I guess, was from the Femme line.
A couple of words on the two of the four bottles I haven’t identified, starting with the bottle with rectangular stopper. It looks like Lancôme Bocages, but I can’t see the peculiar semi-circular shape in the stopper. Then the glass bottle on the right looks like a Chanel one, but have Chanel front labels ever been that rectangular? Any ideas on these doubts of mine are welcome!
Thanks to Scentimentalist and Le Petit Civet for the Lanvin id.
A big bottle of Rochas Femme and an Erno Laszlo jar (possibly containing face powder) sit on the heiress’ table at the Pocono Playhouse in Mountainhome, Pennsylvania, where she performed in the play The Swan by Ferenc Moldar. This happened in 1954.
There are two perfume bottles in Valentina’s bathroom.
The one in the background is the eau de toilette version of Femme by Marcel Rochas, housed in a beautiful white spray bottle with black lace details.
The other is a huge flacon montre by Guerlain, containing Shalimar eau de cologne.
If I think of all the make-up cases, dressing tables and vanities I’ve written about on this blog, I don’t think I’ve ever been excited like this time. The present entry is something special, because it features the make-up case of Judy Garland (circa 1968). Just from the picture above, you may see why I’m so happy: there’s a superlative selection of perfumes and toiletries! All of them are part of a lot sold at an auction: besides the make-up case, it included a sewing basket and a travel mirror, several make-up items and hair accessories, some documents, pictures and one Salvatore Ferragamo black suede pump.
Let’s see what perfumes she carried in her case.
First, not really a perfume, but a bath fragrance. It’s Ma Griffe by Carven, originally created by Jean Carles and launched in 1946.
The stunning white bottle with black label and gold lettering is a Guerlain talc; the fragrance is Vol de Nuit, one of the most famous creations by Jacques Guerlain, launched in 1933.
It’s not surprising that the perfume bottles she travelled with were spray (and not splash). The fluted one with black and gold stopper is Arpege by Lanvin, a creation of Andre Fraysse launched in 1922.
The lace-like bottle is none other than Femme by Rochas, created by Edmond Roudnitska and launched in 1944.
I wish I could identify the make-up items too, but they unfortunately have no labels and a pretty standard packaging.
The Pink Palace perfectly symbolised the unique aesthetics of Jayne Mansfield: bought by the actress in 1957, it was completely renovated and customised so as to become a “pink landmark” on Sunset Boulevard. Mansfield had it painted pink and decorated with cupids, furs, hearts, marble and golden details.
In the picture above, Jayne was talking on the phone while taking a bubble bath. Her image is mirrored on the opposite wall; thanks to this technical trick we get to see the bathroom, which featured pink carpet pretty much everywhere, golden faucets and hearts. There’s a white bottle among the toiletries: it’s the eau de cologne version of Rochas Femme, one of her favourite fragrances. Created by Edmond Roudnitska, it was launched in 1944.
There’s a box of Marcel Rochas Femme on Audrey Hepburn’s dressing table. This comes as a surprise: I can’t really see her wearing such a femme fatale perfume! It’s one of the masterpieces by Edmond Roudnitska, who created it in 1943: it’s a woody/warm spicy scent, with fruity accents of plum, peach and apricot. Its beautiful bottle was inspired by female curves, maybe those of Mae West, whom the French designer made a famous black lace corset for. It’s not a coincidence that black chantilly lace print decorates the oval box of the perfume. The box on Hepburn’s dressing table looks white, not lacy, though, so I guess what version of the perfume she had.
In this picture, taken by Mark Shaw, the actress was preparing for Ondine at the Forty-Sixth Street Theatre in New York. This picture was originally published in Mademoiselle (June 1954 issue).
World Wide Aura 
