The bottle sitting on Elvis Presley’s dresser in his bedroom in Bad Nauheim is Fabergé Brut, an aromatic fougère fragrance created by Karl Mann and launched in 1964.
This choice is not historically accurate because Elvis’ military service in Germany took place from October 1958 to March 1960, well before the release of Brut. Sofia Coppola’s fans know these “mistakes” are frequent in her films, though, and usually add a fascinating touch. Anyone remembers the purple Converse All Star hi-tops in Marie Antoinette (2006)?
The first two products Priscilla takes from her beauty case are a jar of Noxzema skin cream and a bottle of Cutex nail polish in an orange/coral shade.
Next, there’s a bottle of Chanel No. 5, the legendary floral aldehyde eau de parfum created by Ernest Beaux and launched in 1921.
She also takes a compact containing pressed face powder and a marbled jar containing a cold cream (this is what is written on its lid). I can’t identify the compact but I am sure the cold-cream jar is just a prop.
The last items are two lipsticks – one in a dark green case, the other in a gold case.
Chanel No. 5 is introduced when Priscilla (Cailee Spaeny) first visits Elvis at Graceland, but it is mentioned and appears in two more scenes.
In 1964, deep into his spiritural phase, Elvis (Jacob Elordi) is shown lecturing some fans in Los Angeles. The singer is intrigued by the fragrance a blonde girl is wearing: it’s No. 5, which he should have identified right away because Priscilla wears it, too.
It’s not clear whether Priscilla starts wearing No. 5 because her over-controlling partner wants her to, but we know that later in the film (in the 1970s) the fragrance makes another appearance, this time in a refillable canister. This means that it’s somehow become her signature scent.
The nail polish Priscilla (Cailee Spaeny) applies on her toenails is by Cutex. It makes its first appearance in the scene where the girl empties the content of her beauty case once she arrives at Graceland.
What does it take to become a beauty icon? Judging from the opening scene of the film, lots of work. Priscilla meticulously applies black eyeliner in a perfect cat-eye shape and that is just the beginning of a strict routine that her over-controlling partner imposes on her.
The eyeliner in question is Guerlain Mad Eyes intense eyeliner in Glossy Black. It’s not a historically accurate choice but in Sofia Coppola’s cinematic world this has never been a problem.
When the trailer of the film was first released, lots of online discussions focused on the brand of the false eyelashes she wears. Now we can confirm the brand Shirley Joyce doesn’t exist, so this object is simply a prop.
Her lipstick is not a prop, though: the one she wears is by Chanel.
The black glossy case appearing in the film is not historically accurate because in the 1960s Chanel lipstick had slightly different details in gold metal.
The finishing touch on her trademark beehive updo is Rayette Aquanet hairspray. Lots of it!
There are two Avon bottles on the carpeted floor of the Lisbon sisters’ bedroom. Both of them are animal-shaped and in both cases it’s impossible to tell what fragrance they contain: as I have written many times, Avon used the same bottles for different fragrances.
One has the shape of a unicorn, whose spiraling horn serves as stopper.
The second bottle has the shape of a swan; in this case the stopper is a gold metal ball. This specific bottle contains Sweet Honesty cologne.
Thanks Peter (a reader of this blog) for the unicorn id.
This film has haunted the imagination of cinephiles since its release, thanks to its eerie atmosphere, suspended in the symbolical middle earth of adolescence and tainted by death.
Some of the scenes set in the bedroom of the Lisbon sisters have often piqued the interest of beauty lovers too, fascinated by the many beauty products and perfume bottles featured in them. During all these years I tried to identify some of the bottles from the screencap above, but always failed. Until today.
The bottle on the far left definitely looks like Dana Heaven Sent, created by Loc Dong and launched in 2001. But there’s a problem here, since the film was released two years earlier.
But there’s an explanation! This perfume was originally launched by Helena Rubinstein in 1941, so I believe Sofia Coppola’s prop masters chose a vintage perfume for the shot above. After all, you can see the original and the re-launched fragrances basically have the same bottle.
But there’s more: the spray bottle next to Heaven Sent is Jōvan Musk cologne, first launched in 1972.
Thanks to the invaluable help of Peter (a reader of this blog) for the ids.
There are two Dr. Hauschka products in Charlotte and John’s hotel bedroom.
The first can be seen on a table while John is packing his camera and lenses for work. It’s a tube, so it could contain many different creams. I like thinking it’s the rose day cream, which I’ve used for many years and still love.
The second appears on Charlotte’s bedside table: it’s a smaller tube, and I’m pretty sure it contains the daily hydrating eye cream.On the same spot there’s another product which looks familiar: it looks like the shea butter tin box by L’Occitane. This may be a long shot, though.
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