CLEOPATRA'S BOUDOIR

Fabrica Nally was established in 1928 while the city of Lisbon, Portugal was still surronded by farm land. Nobre Laboratory was located near the city, in a place called Campo Grande. Nobre labotatory was famous for its production of Benamor Beauty products.

In 1933 the company change to other owner and this marked a new era for cosmetics and fragrances in Portugal. This was the start of products like toothpaste, soap, sun tan lotion, lipsticks,face powder, hair and shaving products.

Benamor Beauty Cream

Benamor Cream, the "adorable beauty product that gives the skin an enchanting freshness", was registered in 1928 by a pharmacist who became the first owner of Nobre Laboratories. These soon gave way to the Nally Factory, still located in Campo Grande, in Lisbon. The factory produced many cosmetics and perfumes that became tremendously popular, were featured in the well-loved film comedies of the 1940s (such as “The Tyrannical Father”) and were much appreciated by customers such as Salazar and Queen Amélia. The factory later produced the excellent Alantoíne cream, a citronella scented hand moisturiser, that truly deserves to be rediscovered.

Used by everyone from Salazar, Portugal’s last dictator, to Queen D. Amelia, Portugal’s last Queen and still today by women all around the world!

Dating from 1928, it is still today an effective anti-wrinkle cream: gives a slightly exfoliating effect, that will erase dark spots, freckles and is really great with depigmentation zones. It does not contain perfume, which will not provoke even more spots. As a result, it's scent is very characteristic.

If you need to contact Nally, you can use these contatct details:

SOCIEDADE DE PERFUMARIAS NALLY, LDA

Campo Grande, 189 1700-090 Lisboa

PORTUGAL

• Tel: +351 217 54 19 30
• Fax: +351 217 58 41 36

Unbound by Halston is a Floral Fruity fragrance for women. Unbound was launched in 2001. The nose behind this fragrance is Patricia Bilodeau.

So what does it smell like? The perfume  features carnation, tuberose, amber, lily-of-the-valley, cedar and bergamot. Thanks to Bab, I am able to review this perfume sample. What do I detect most?  Lily of teh valley and tuberose. Lots of Tuberose. This is a great smelling floral fragrance that would be great for a wedding or sweet 16 party. A very feminine scent that would make any gal feel pretty. It has an aquatic accord that makes this refreshing to spring or summer wear. Perfect for the office too.

Premier designer and personal couturier to Nancy Reagan, James G. Galanos’s signature perfume, aptly named Galanos was launched in 1979. It is classified as a Floral-Oriental fragrance for women. Galanos won a FiFi award in 1980 and I can see why.

The original vintage perfume is composed with top notes of lemon, orange, mandarin and chamomile, coriander, clove, bay leaf and cypress, heart notes of orange flower, jasmine, gardenia, ylang-ylang, muguet, rose, geranium and carnation on base notes of musk, amber, vanilla, Tonka bean, vetiver, cedar wood, oak moss, sandalwood and patchouli.

Just received a vintage sample from Bab, who sent me some lovely perfume samples to review this week. I am so grateful that this one was in the lot. Galanos is pure seduction. Its oriental character speaks soft, subtle tones of spices, namely clove, chamomile, bay leaf and coriander. To me it smells the way a bazaar in Morocco would smell, with baskets of mandarin oranges, lemons and navel oranges gleaming in the sun.

Gorgeous scent, with low tones of florals such as orange blossom (my favorite) gardenia, carnation, jasmine, lily of the valley, rose, ylang ylang and geranium, finally rounds out with basenotes of amber, Tonka bean, cypress, cedar, vanilla, patchouli, vetiver, oak moss, sandalwood and erogenous musk. I also detect a honeyed accord not found in the newer reissue. With all the scents melding together it would be a great scent for a harem’s incense burner, or hammam soap.

This is definitely a jewel in the rough. I thought that it would smell divine and I was not disappointed. If you find this vintage treasure for sale on eBay, snatch it up, you’d swear it was from a niche house.

The original Galanos was launched in a very dark navy blue box with white trim and lettering, it was still being sold til around 1985, then it was discontinued for quite some time. At the launch, you were able to purchase all of the Galanos ancillaries: parfum, eau de parfum, eau de toilette, moisture lotion, dusting powder, shower and bath gelee, and an extra rich moisture cream. A true American original, Galanos was being sold at better department stores like Neiman Marcus alongside French perfumes of the same calibre.

It was re-issued in 1995, probably without the oak moss for IFRA reasons. The newer Galanos perfume comes in a turquoise colored box. I prefer the older, vintage scent over the newly reformulated one.

Similar scents: Opium by Yves Saint Laurent, Youth Dew by Estee Lauder, Tabu by Dana and Cinnabar by Estee Lauder.

In 1951, the Lucien Lelong perfume company released a special presentation in a new bottle. It was called "Edition Limitee" and only 200 bottles were produced. I don't know what sort of juice  was used in this bottle.

The ad mentions that only a few women in the world had owned the perfume and that it was custom created for them. I think the ad reads that the perfume was being offered at $110. A princely sum at the time!

The flacon is very beautiful from what I can make out in the picture. It appears to be a cylindrical bottle with a whirlwind or tornado shape with gathered dust at the base and at the top? Is this a US issue of Passionement? I can't figure it out?

 Its housed in a clear box and rests on a plinth. Do you have this bottle? If so, let's get that pic on here!

Miss Natalie Thurston was an international beauty advisor and created her own cosmetics company in the late 1920s and continued into the early 1930s. She also had her own perfume company and had an office in Paris and New York.

Her perfume seems to be simply called, Natalie Thurston based on the gold foil label, depicting a 18th century woman of Aristocratic grade, a popular theme at the time.

 I believe that Natalie Thurston perfume's were going to be part of a “line” of fragrances and maybe that didn’t work out. Thurston was most likely going to create different perfumes which would have necessitated that another label be wrapped around the neck of the bottle denoting which perfume was inside. Since I don’t see one or traces of one, I am just going to suggest that Natalie Thurston was the perfume name too.

 The bottles she uses seem to be American slag glass ones that are made up of green malachite glass, possibly made by Akro Agate?

In a 1928 article, "Pretty Girls Have Odds For Office Career", Natalie makes a point of telling the young women that they have the advantage.

 New York - Carry your diploma in one hand and your powder puff in the other if you want to succeed I business, was the advice given to a group of college girls here by that international authority on feminine pulchritude, Miss Natalie Thurston, of New York and Paris.

“Good looks , careful grooming and a general air of prosperity,” Miss Thurston told an employee training class, “are as much a part of the working girl’s equipment as technical knowledge of the job she is about to undertake. Any employment agent will tell you that big business men demand beauty I their offices. “send me somebody easy to look at’ , Mr. Average Employer whispers through the telephone to his personnel representative. ‘Remember I am getting along in years so is everybody in my home, and I want to be surrounded by youth and beauty in the office.’ Nowadays it is the rare employer who does not request his prospective secretary to remove her hat and be seated behind the typewriter, so he may see whether she fits into his office setting before hiring her. Pretty girls,” continued Miss Thurston, “enjoy all the advantages in business. They get the good jobs, the worth while promotions, and the offers of marriage. More sweet girl grads starting out on careers have lost out because of lack of beauty than lack of brains. At first thought this may sound unfair. But is it? The present age of perfected cosmetics has placed beauty within the reach and purse of every woman. Certainly those who are smart enough to make themselves attractive during working hours are putting more into their work than those who believe that pounding a typewriter or balancing a set of books is all they are hired to do. What makes the modern business woman attractive is not inherited beauty. Good skin, sparkling eyes, well-kept hair, carefully manicured hands and a trim, youthful figure-the result of care and sane, wholesome living-are what distinguish the office swan from the ugly duckling of business.”

Natalie Thurston’s advice for mature women’s cosmetics in another 1928 newspaper reveals that she “maintains that “Fascinating Forty” has advantages over “Sweet Sixteen”, if the older woman takes the care of her personal grooming that she should.”

She goes on to explain that “Blushing youth has no advantages over blushed -out maturity. If you doubt it, hire yourself a front row table at any smart night club and see who rates the masculine attention. Sweet 16 may win the dancing marathon, but when it comes to picking the women men love to look at, Fascinating 40 gets the breaks.IIn my opinion, there are more outstanding beauties between 30 and 40 than among young girls under 21, Ethel Barrymore, Gloria Swanson, Mary Pickford, the Talmadge and the Gish sisters, all famous for feminine perfection, are well over 25.”

She goes on to say that, “After all, a face is but the mirror of a mind. Theaverage woman does not begin life until she is 30. After that, experience, plus the perfected cosmetics of this era, givers her a 60-40 advantage over youth. But the older woman must remember to make the most of her advantages. She really needs to be more careful of her grooming than the younger girl in her first blush of youth.”

1928 the San Jose News reported that “Beauty Fools Average Man, says Expert.”

New York, “Can the average man recognize a synthetic beauty from oe who comes naturally by her loveliness?

Yes, he can-NOT.

Women, according to Miss Natalie Thurston, internationally famous beauty authority of New York and Paris, can tell nine times out of 10 whether the woman they pass on the street is an artificial charmer or a born beauty. But man-,"Ninety-eight percent of the time.”, said Miss Thurston, in an address before a group of cosmeticians here, “he is fooled.”

“Modern makeup is so skillfully and artfully applied that only a practiced eye can detect it from nature’s own. Just as they say it takes a thief to catch a thief, so in my opinion, it requires a woman who uses the lipstick and rabbit’s foot on herself to recognize its tracks across the face of another. If you disagree, glance around your favorite tearoom the next time you dine away from home and see for yourself if you can discriminate between the girl who cosmetizes beauty into her face and the one whom nature has endowed. The real and the artificial possess the same camelia complexions. Their cupid’s bows are identical. A microscope would be necessary to distinguish between their curled or curling lashes." 

“Up to the time that rouge, lipsticks, eyebrow pencils, face powder and all the rest made their debut in high society, faces were the chief battlegrounds of feminine competition. In those days women were taken at their face value. If a man encountered a lady with rosy cheeks or a peaches-and-cream complexion at a church social, he knew she was the unadulterated thing. There was not a chance in the world of his drifting away to her wrinkled and sallow faced rival. But perfected cosmetics have changed all of this. Nowadays a man may look and look and look again without being absolutely sure what he is looking at, for feminine faces have become conventional masks upon which their owners are painting their own conceptions of womanly beauty.”

The Milwaukee Journal, 1928, Rosy Cheeks? They’re Usually Painted.

“New York- If she’s over 25, men, the chances are about 30 to 1 in favor of the roses in her cheeks are being art work.

There are less than 1,000,000 women over the quarter century mark in the United States whose natural color precludes the necessity of using rouge and lipstick“, according to Miss Natalie Thurston who expressed her views in an address here.

“With the other 29,000,000 women included in this age period, makeup is as necessary to their personal adornment as hats. Color gives the feminine face as much character as the contour of the features. With the exception of around the eyes, there is astonishingly little expression of individuality to be found in the modern woman’s face as seen au naturel. A line or two drawn with a lipstick at the corners of the mouth can change a pessimistic person into an optimistic one. A hint of carmine on the cheeks may spell the difference between the blush of the 19 year old and the woman of 50. The average American man is not exacting., but he prefers color to a monotonous dead white. Think over the old maids in your acquaintance and you will find that they consist almost without exception of women who did not keep up with the trend of the times and the art of cosmetizing. Color attracts the eye, whether it be that on a canvas, a flower or the face feminine.”

In a 1929 newspaper blurb about the ingredients of lipsticks and she was asked “What do women wear on their lips?“ She is quoted as saying that women are putting “perfume, cocoa butter, beeswax, lanolin, spermaceti, paraffin and vegetable coloring.”

This week I found an old brochure by Burnett's, inside it featured a product called Cocoaine which they labeled as a Toilet Article. I was curious to know what the heck that stuff was, as the name threw me off a bit.

Doing some research I found that Burnett's Cocoaine primary ingredient was actually made of coconut (cocoanut) oil instead of cocaine. It was touted as a hair restorer, cured scald head, irritated scalps and dandruff killer. This product was available from 1856 and proved so popular that it was sold for over 40 years.

During the 1880s, Cocaine was in vogue as a cure all and the popularity of the products and was considered "modern medicine". Hoping to capitalize on this idea, Joseph Burnett called their product Cocoaine. Many collector's buy the bottles thinking that they actually contained real cocaine but that is a misnomer.

Here is a review I have done for a perfume that has been out only for a few years (2008 ), I found it of great significance and perfect to feature on Cleopatra's Boudoir.

Love, The Key to Life.

I cannot describe all of the emotions I am feeling while wearing your perfume. This is the most exquisite perfume I have ever owned and am very proud to have had the chance, with generous thanks to you. Words cannot explain, I feel divine, Like a female Pharaoh, Hatshepsut or Cleopatra would have approved of this woody, sensuous, honeyed, ambery perfume. I imagine priests anointing their golden gods with this perfume which would waft into the temple every morning and last all day. The inspiration, the ankh, the key to eternal life is very fitting as this can be a signature fragrance for any woman or a daring man in any stage of life.

Inhaling this fine fragrance I can conjure up images of the sun god Aten, praised by Pharaoh Akhenaten and his beloved wife Nefertiti, their arms raised up offering bouquets of roses and jasmines and holding censers of burning incense of exotic woods; patchouli, cedar, sandalwood , honey and sensual amber.

Another anointing oil made up of sheer and sultry musks, delicate orange flowers and ylang ylang combined with violet leaves and bergamot, make up the Queen's perfume which due to the sun god's gleaming rays, make the perfume exude from her skin.

International trading has made the ancient Egyptians and our modern Perfumer Linda Gerlach masters of perfume.

Love, The Key to Life, is composed of:

Egyptian violet leaves that give the fragrance a very intense, green, leafy herbaceous, peppery odor which displays iris and violet notes. The Italian bergamot has a clear, fresh, lively odor, somewhat fruity and sweet which displays great originality. The black currant buds and pink peppercorns from France both give a sharp, spicy note which awakens your senses.

Also from France, in the area of Grasse, is the Rosa centafolia, the Queen of all roses, that gives this perfume its oomph. Combined with the honey, fruity herbaceous notes of jasmine sambac from India, the narcotic ylang ylang from Madagascar and citrusy sweet Tunisian orange blossoms embrace a touch of femininity that can never be equaled.

A bright, harmonious soft, notes of Virginian cedar and powdery, sweet Indian sandalwood, and the earthy, intense scent of Indonesian patchouli, bring a gorgeous blend of woods and balsamic odor to the dry down.

Following the woody and earthy notes, we are treated to an erogenous accord of sheer and sultry musks and the ancient white amber which rounds out the perfume and brings it all together into a sweeping masterpiece.

A huge thank you goes out to Linda Gerlach for sending me the perfume so tat I might savor it's intensity. The fragrance is housed inside of a demilune crystal bottle which is rayed like the sun, when the lucite loop stopper is in place, you can make out the beautiful Ankh of the ancient Egyptians. The bottle is presented in a black lacquered box with gilded serigraphy.

On a more personal note, I have worn an ankh necklace for almost 20 years and find the symbol to be powerful and the key to longevity.

"AMOR SKIN, the Secret of Women Who Never Look Old, you need no longer fear the ravages of time; the gradually appearing, tell-tale lines on face, neck and decollete."

Amorskin was a German brand of cosmetics which specialized in face creams. They seem to have been in business around 1928-1946. Amorskin was compounded, packaged and sealed in Berlin, Germany and imported to this country by the Opoterapia Company.  The American office of the Amorskin Corporation was located at Steinway Hall, 111-113 w. 57th St., New York.  They also had an office in Paris and Milan,Italy..

Amor Skin was perfected in a Berlin laboratory by a famous German specialist in . organotherapy. Made with extracts of the subcutaneous tissue of young animals, most notably, the "substance was obtained of the skin of a species of lizard or the identical substance obtained from a species of tortoise that live to a fabulous old age." Amor Skin feeds youth hormones to starving facial cells.Compounded originally at enormous cost.

The cream promised younger-looking, smooth, pimple, wrinkle free, rosy skin.

Booklets also appeared in German from Germany about "Amor Skin, Organo-Kosmetikum." These featured a large number of testimonials from German physicians who praised the concoction.

It was sold exclusively in special replica Pompeiian pottery pots shaped like the Aladdin lamp pictured in the foreground. "The Spirit of the Lamp". One "lamp" of Amor Skin cost $25, which is the equivalent of $315.21 in 2010 money.

In 1946:

"Amor Skin.—That this product or any other preparation of substantially the same composition, whether sold under the same or a different name, will feed or nourish the skin or that its use will improve the structure or tissue of the skin or have any effect on the contour of the elbow, were misrepresentations which the Amorskin Corporation of New York agreed to drop from their advertising in a stipulation that they signed in January 1943 with the Federal Trade Commission."

The perfumes of Amorskin:

• 1931 Fleurs Prisonnieres
• 1931 Le Rouge et Le Bleu
• 1931 La Peele Aude

When Adolph Saalfeld, a German-born Jew, boarded the Titanic he had big hopes of striking it rich in New York in the perfume business. Adolphe Saalfeld, a perfume maker from Manchester, England. At the age of 47, Saalfeld boarded Titanic as a first-class passenger. He carried this leather satchel filled with his perfume samples onboard the Ship. At the time Titanic sailed, the American perfume business was booming: Saalfeld may have intended to his fragrances to fashion boutiques and department stores in New York, or in other major cities.

But in his hurry to get off the doomed, sinking ship, Saalfeld left samples of his scents behind, where they stayed for nearly 89 years.

Recovered in the 2000 Expedition, this remarkable case contained 62 perfume vials (sample size) with their labels and outer protective metal cases. Some of the vials had broken and no longer contained any perfume.

Some of the perfume labels are legible and identify scents to be mixed into perfume: Carnation, Musk, Lily of the Valley, and Cashmere Bouquet, to name a few.

Dik Barton is a salvage expert working with RMS Titanic Inc. — the company that holds the rights to the ship's wreckage. He and a diving crew were on a mission last summer to recover personal effects for an exhibition when they came across a small leather pouch.

"We didn't know what we discovered until we hit the surface," says Barton. "But we knew this was special immediately when we took the pouch from the collection basket [of artifacts] and brought it to the laboratory on the ship. A partial metal case for a perfume vial is still visible on top row, second leather loop

"A scent filled the entire lab with Edwardian perfume."

Barton describes the fragrance as flowery, reminiscent of lavender and roses.

Upon closer inspection, researchers from Eastern Michigan University found three separate satchels marked with Saalfeld's name, containing more than 20 vials of oils, some of which were broken — which was why they smelled.

Research and Development

The oils have been transferred to Quest International — a UK-based company whose primary business is the development of perfume, food and cosmetics.

Experts there have, so far, broken down the perfume into its component chemicals to recreate the scent. Now, they are creating a DNA profile of the oil so it could be easily and efficiently recreated.

Once all the details are gathered and the analysis is complete, RMS Titanic and Quest can decide what to do with the discovery, and which perfume houses could be potential manufacturers for the recovered fragrance.

The companies have not yet decided on a name or a marketing campaign for the new Titanic product. But Barton says, "I hope to reproduce and replicate the Edwardian scents of 1912, while developing and producing a proprietary brand by next April," the 90th anniversary of the sinking.

On the night of April 14, 1912, the liner collided with an iceberg in the North Atlantic, then sank.

As to Saalfeld, he survived the disaster.

Mr Adolphe Saalfeld was born in Germany in 1865. A self-made businessman, he was chairman of the chemists and distillers Sparks, White, and Co. Ltd. In 1912 he was married to Gertrude and living in Manchester, they were and would remain childless.

Saalfeld boarded the Titanic at Southampton as a first class passenger (ticket no.19988, £30 10) and occupied cabin C-106.

He wrote to his wife from the Titanic:

"I just had an hour's roaming about on this wonderful boat. I like my cabin very much — it's like a bed-sitting room and rather large. They are still busy to finish the last things on board."

According to a later statement Saalfeld claimed that he had been in the smoking room at the time of the collision, he saw the iceberg and after the collision went down to his cabin. Among the items Saalfeld left behind were a collection of concentrated perfume oils which he hoped to market in America. In a recent dive to the wrecksite the oils were recovered intact, there are plans to recreate the fragrances.

"I saw a few men and women go into a boat and I followed and when lowered, pushed off and rowed some distance, fearing...Titanic sinking,,,As we drifted away gradually, saw Titanic sink lower and lower and finally her lights went out, and others in my boat said they saw her disappear. Our boat was nearly two miles away but pitiful cries could be plainly heard. No one in our boat knew how many lifeboats were on Titanic but...there was ample time for saving every soul on board had there been sufficient boats."

Mr Saalfeld was rescued in lifeboat 3.

"The Captain and Officers of the Carpathia did all that was possible to make us comfortable and to those that were sick or injured, they gave their tenderest care. The icebergs were huge and the weather extremely rough on the voyage to New York."

Adolphe Saalfeld passed away at Kew Gardens in Surrey on 5 June 1926. He was still chairman of his firm which would continue in business until 1954. When his estate was settled on 16 July 1926 his assets were reportedly worth £46,902.

Roger Thirion et Cie. Perfumes  was located in Paris, they launched fragrances in 1925. Stendhal was a French cosmetic brand which was founded in 1946 by Roger Thirion.

The perfumes of Roger Thirion et Cie:

• 1925 Origan
• 1925 Ambrodor
• 1925  Chypre Royal
• 1925 Mon Reve
• 1925 Splendor
• 1925 Tres Bien
• 1925 Tango
• 1925 Heliotrope
• 1925 Nardo

The Zutz Cosmetics Company was started by Henry and Julia Zutz in St. Paul, Minnesota, in 1923. They made by hand, a variety of women's perfumes and cosmetics in small batches for specialty shops of their time. Henry was trained as a pharmacist and worked in that field for years before starting his own cosmetics company. They ceased production completely by 1946.

Rarely one can find their perfume bottle, which is a green slag glass rectangle with a golden foil label with an Egyptian style lady on the front.

Also to be found are the Zutz potpourri sachets.

Zutz Cosmetics were sold thru a small store named the Thelma and Viola Beauty Shop, ran by Thelma Davis and Viola Harper.

Nahema launched in 1979 was named after the  bold and untamed "Daughter of Fire" in Scheherazade's A Thousand and One Nights. Created by Jean-Paul Guerlain.

So what does it smell like? Aldehydes, geranium, woods, vanilla, peach, cinnamon,rose,sandalwood.

Launched in 1936 by Guerlain, Vega is a beautiful floral perfume. Vega is the scent of starlight.

Vega speaks to Jacques Guerlain's fascination with the immensity of the universe and daydreams of a star much brighter than the sun. In 1936, Paris was the capital of cosmopolitan elegance. For the first time, Parisian women discovered a new world offered through advertisement, cinema and the possibility of travel through aviation. Today, Vega's sophisticated fragrance offers the same promise to women, letting them know that their dreams, just like the universe, are limitless. Vega became the fragrance of choice for women seeking to throw off past constraints and embrace the Charleston and the hot pulse of jazz. Often ahead of her time, her passion and intimacy with life are so inspiring, she effortlessly lights up a room.

So what does it smell like? I was lucky enough to get a 1936 vintage extrait sample from The Perfumed Court. I smell aldehydes (Aldehyde C12, I think), gardenia, jasmine with its powerful, honey-like, sweet floral with fruity-herbaceous notes, , amber with its dry balsamic, woody and somewhat tobacco like note, tuberose, bergamot, cassia, ylang ylang, sandalwood, orris, tonka , rose, and vanilla. Very soft and powdery, full of lush white flowers. It is quite exquisite!

The perfume was again launched in 2005 as part of an exclusive collection. The series called “Il Etait Une Fois” , reinterpreted by Jean Paul Guerlain. Fragrantica gives these notes:

• Top notes: aldehydes, bergamot and orange blossom.
• Heart: jasmine, rose, ylang-ylang, blackcurrant blossom, carnation, iris and rosewood.
• Base: vanilla, sandalwood and amber.

The New Vega Scent as told by Neiman Marcus:

Floral, aldehydic, and powdery, Eau de Toilette

• Head Bergamot, Lavender, Estragon
• Heart Green Notes, Jasmine
• Base Iris, Sandalwood

Guerlain’s site mentions these as the notes for Vega (new issue, the EDT)

• Top : aldehydes, cassia tree, bergamot
• Heart : jasmine, Ylang ylang
• Base : sandalwood, iris, amber and vanilla notes

Olay is an American skin care line. It is one of the top skin care retail brands in the world, except for Japan, and is one of Procter & Gamble's multi-billion dollar brands. For the 2009 fiscal year ended June 30, Olay accounted for an estimated $2.8 billion of P&G's $79 billion in revenue.

Early days

Olay originated in South Africa as Oil of Olay. Graham Wulff (1916-2008),an ex-Unilever chemist from Durban, started it in 1949. The name "Oil of Olay" was chosen by Wulff as a spin on the word "lanolin", a key ingredient.

It was unique in the early days because it was a pink fluid rather than a cream, packaged in a heavy glass bottle. Wulff and his marketing partner, Jack Lowe, a former copywriter, had tested the product on their wives and friends and were confident in its uniqueness and quality.

Olay's marketing was also unique, since it was never described as a moisturizer, nor even as beauty fluid. Nowhere on the packaging did it say what the product actually did. Print adverts used copy such as “Share the secret of a younger looking you” and talked about the ‘beauty secret’ of oil of Olay. Other adverts were written as personal messages to the reader from a fictitious advice columnist named Margaret Merril. They ran in Readers’ Digest and newspapers and often looked like editorials.

Wulff and Lowe, who ran the company under the banner of Adams National Industries (ANI), did not sell the product to the trade, but waited for pharmacies to ask for it based on consumer requests.

As the company began to market the product internationally, it was decided to modify the name of the product in each country so it would sound pleasing and realistic to consumers. This led to the introduction of Oil of Ulay (UK and Ireland), Oil of Ulan (Australia) and Oil of Olaz (France, Italy, the Netherlands andGermany). In 1970, ANI opened a test market in USA (Chicago), and was expanding into northern Germany.

1970–1985

Richardson Merrell Inc (later Richardson-Vicks Inc) acquired ANI in November 1970. RVI capitalized the "Oil" and added the sub-name "Beauty Fluid" to help protect the trade mark. They further added a sales force and created TV advertising. The company extended the product range to include items such as Night of Ulay and Beauty Cleanser, and expanded into more countries (Spain, France, Germany)

The result of Richardson Merrell’s efforts was a dramatic increase in sales. However, as with many brands, the business was not managed uniformly so there were differences in performance between the countries.Olay produces best results.

1985–2005

RVI was acquired by Procter & Gamble in 1985. P&G greatly expanded Olay both in lineup and internationally. Olay became one of P&G’s billion dollar brands in 2003.

Since then, the range has been expanded to include a full range of hypoallergenic variants, cleansers and creams with the aim of meeting the full range of skincare needs, whatever the user's age or skin type. The brand also includes soap, and body wash. Olay Cosmetics was launched in 1996 but discontinued in 2001.

Name change

In 1999, it was decided to unify the brand under a global name. Thus, Oil of Ulan and Ulay became Olay on a worldwide basis, except in German-speaking regions and Italy, where it remained Oil of Olaz. In the Netherlands and Belgium, it was renamed just Olaz.

Today

The Olay brand has expanded into a range of other products grouped in “boutiques” including Complete, Total Effects, Professional, Regenerist, Quench (North America), White Radiance (Asia) and Olay Vitamins (USA). Olay is the market leader in many countries including USA, UK, and China. Olay has extended its heritage as a moisturizer to stay looking young, to formally creating the “anti-aging” category in mass stores with the launch of Total Effects in 1999. Active Hydrating Formula, generally the least expensive variety, bears the closest resemblance to the pink "Oil of Olay" marketed in the US before the P&G acquisition. The launch was almost double the typical price of a mass market moisturizer at the time. Today, there are numerous products in market more expensive than Olay.

Olay Regenerist was the best performing anti-aging cream in a 2006 test done by a consumer association. In August 2007, Olay was launched in India.

Olay’s current slogan is "Challenge what's possible", which was changed from "Love the skin you're in".

Since 2010, "Oil of OLAZ" is called only "OLAZ" in German-speaking countries. Slogan : "Olaz läßt Sie strahlen." (lit: "Olaz lets you shine.")

The Olay/Olaz brand is known for animal testing, according to a list published by PETA.

Vintage Oil of Olay Beauty Lotion 6 oz

This is a vintage bottle of Oil of Olay Beauty Lotion in its original box with the original paper insert. The bottle is glass and is full with 6 ounces of lotion as originally sold. There is some light staining and wear to the box but the contents look very good and smell just like you remember.

Contains: Purified Water, Mineral Oil, Potassium Stearate, Sodium Stearate, Cholesterol, Cetyl Palmitate, Butylparaben, Sodium Carbomer 934, Potassium Carbomer 934, Propylparaben, Methylparaben, Sodium Laurate, Potassium Laurate, Castor Oil, Sodium Myristate, Potassium Myristate, Myristyl Alcohol, Cetyl Alcohol, Sodium Palmitate, Potassium Palmitate, Stearyl Alcohol, Fragrance, FD&C Red # 4.

I was very happy to receive a small sample of this rare cult favorite perfume. At first sniff, it was sharp, almost medicinal and with an aromatic citrus scent, maybe bergamot, also detected what I think is either vetiver or clary sage, white musks, ambergris.  Then a hauntingly sweet, warm, and compelling familiar  scent. Smells a lot like Johnson’s Baby Shampoo to me in the dry down. Houbigant Musk Oil (under the division of Alyssa Ashley) is a wonderful floral musk that is the ultimate skin scent. Just a little dab will do.

I have since read 4 different perfume reviews that Houbigant Ambergris became Monsieur Musk, which was originally by Houbigant, but last produced by Dana. Though it is not being produced any longer, it is still very easy to find.

Alyssa Ashley was bought out by Houbigant once upon a time, in case you were not aware of it. Alyssa Ashley and/or Houbigant Musk, Ambergris, and Civet were the same products as I understand it. 

Both the Civet and Ambergris spray mists say "Houbigant" on the front of the bottles, but if you turn the bottles around they say "Alyssa Ashley Inc. Div. Houbigant Inc. New York, N.Y. 10019 written length wise on the back. These were the black aerosol bottles with silver caps with the eye logo for the Civet and the wave logo for the Ambergris (which also looks like it could be the fins of a whale breaking the ocean's surface).

The perfume ws launched in 1975 and was discontinued sometime in the early 1980s.

“If She's Female As Well As Feminine...Giver Her Noa-Noa

It's Helena Rubinstein's new Gauguin-inspired perfume.

Ever dream of holding a pretty temptress in your arms - languid, seductive, warm as a Gauguin painting? The give the Siren in your life Noa Noa... “

Helena Rubenstein's perfume, Noa-Noa (Tahitian superlative for fragrant) was launched in 1953, along with a Gaugin inspired cosmetics line.

NOA.-NOA.

a new adventure in perfume by Helena Rubinstein.

NOA-NOA, lush blossoming new fragrance the very heartbeat

o{ the tropics Fiery daring provocative is female as well as feminine! Helena Rubinstein found her inspiration in Gauguin’s intense paintings of Tahitian women with their flower framed faces, love shaped lips, dreaming eyes

Noa-Noa, pronounced “no uh no uh” is Tahitian for very fragrant -a fragrance

that says NO while it means YES

Noa Noa is truly a perfume for every woman’s personal paradise Wear Noa Noa! Be Noa Noa!

Wear it with the uninhibited lipstick Gauguin Pink, ;

Refills .Noa-Noa Skin Perfume, Noa-Noa "Concentrate.

Noa Noa continued to be sold into the 1970s then it was discontinued. Later in 1990, Otto Kern came out with his version of Noa Noa, which is not the same as the previous fragrance. In 1999, a Noa perfume by Cacharel was released, again not like the original scent.

"A not so ordinary weed threatens to engulf America with its unusual scent.But before you reach over and dial the Environmental Protection Agency, may be you ought to know the ancient legend of the Malagua tree, and the manner of its modern-times use to create a new trend to unisexual fragrances.

The blossom of Malagua treee, which is in fact a giant weed from the sunny Caribbean, is used in a new scent for men and women, predicted by noted experts as the fragrance of the future.

According to legend, in the early 17th century at a time when all things mystical and mysterious permeated the culture of the Caribbean, the early Conquistadors were invading the islands In their search for Caribe gold.

The islanders had developed the art of deriving a highly prized oil from the malagua blossoms. The oil was said to possess strange and the mysterious qualities which could act on the senses like an aphrodisiac.

The friendly islanders willingly surrendered their secret to the Conquistadors who shared in the ritual of stroking the oil onto their bodies to immerse themselves in the mysterious hold of the weed. They soon came to value the oil nearly as much as they valued gold.

So goes the legend, which remained lost in antiquity until its rediscovery by Bert Van Kooten, who is young , Dutch and very inquisitive and who stumbled across the ancient story. So fascinated was he, that he ventured to the Caribbean in pursuit of his hobby of tracking down those things that exude usual scents to help him in his art as a skilled professional perfumer. His curiosity about the blossom that had spurred the legend is being amply rewarded.

Van Kooten is the creator of “Havana Weed Oil” which was sweeping the country as Musk Oil did in the previous decade. His sensitive professional “nose” soon told him that alone and unassisted the fragrance of the weed was too simple and disappeared too quickly. He would have to combine it, and this would eventually take him two and a half to find exactly the formulation he sought to enhance the Havana Weed Oil fragrance.

Using the sensuous scent of the Malagua blossom as his violin, he carefully orchestrated a symphony of fragrant ingredients which would linger on as a background to its clear haunting melody and all would never vanish at the same time.

He fragrance was introduced in 1975 in Europe before its introduction in the USA.

Havana Weed Oil is quickly taking its place in the forefront as an answer to the new trend seen the developing in unisexual fragrance.

Although no user has been seen anointing his or her body a la 17th century, rumor has it that some may be testing to see if the Conquistadores were right. Test it for yourself at America’s foremost cosmetic departments as well as in fifteen foreign countries and who knows, it may immerse your in the spell."

Aka-Iveh is a very rare perfume from the house of Renoir. It came out probably in the 1920s and was still being sold into the 1940s. Its name derives from the magic song of the sacred dancers of India.

It is housed in a square crystal bottle topped with a rectangular glass stopper.

So what does it smell like? Jasmine, tuberose, lily of the valley, white lilac, ylang ylang.

Cosmetics in the 1920s were characterized by their use to create a specific look: lips painted in the shape of a Cupid's bow, kohl-rimmed eyes, and bright cheeks brushed with bright red blush.

The heavily made-up look of the 1920s was a reaction to the demure, feminine Gibson girl of the pre-war period In the 1920s, an international beauty culture was forged, and society increasingly focused on novelty and change. Fashion trends influenced theater, films, literature, and art.

Women also found a new need to wear more make-up. A skewed postwar sex ratio created a new emphasis on sexual beauty. Additionally, as women began to enter the professional world, publications such as the French Beauty Industry encouraged women to wear makeup so as to look their best while competing with men for employment.

Lipstick became widely popular after Maurice Levy's 1915 invention of the metal lipstick container. It was available in salve, liquid, and stick forms, and long-lasting, indelible stains were the most popular."Natural" lipgloss was also invented, which used bromo acid to create a red effect as it reacted with the wearer's skin. Finally, flavored lipstick was also popular, with the most popular variety being cherry.

In the 1920s, different products were also developed that showed the decade's preoccupation with shaping the mouth. Metal lip tracers, made in various sizes to satisfy the wishes of the wearer, were developed to ensure flawless lipstick application. Helena Rubinstein created a product called "Cupid's Bow," that billed itself as a "self-shaping lipstick that forms a perfect cupid's bow as you apply it."The development of the mirrored lipstick container in the 1920s also points to the importance of shaping the lips through the application of lipstick.

During the 1920s, the messy elixir blushes of past years were replaced by creams, powders, liquids, and rouge papers.Powder blushes became more popular after the invention of spill-proof containers and the compact.

Indelible blushes, like indelible lipsticks, were popular.

In the early 1920s many women fulfilled their desire for darker fuller lashes by resorting to the use of common household products. Petroleum jelly (Vaseline) was mixed with soot or coal. The resulting solution was a dark gel that was then applied to the lashes with a fine brush.

During the middle of the decade, mascara was available in cake, tube, wax, and liquid form and applied with a brush. Surprisingly enough, there were even waterproof formulations available.

The various forms of brush-on mascara served to darken the lashes but did not provide the sculpting abilities of modern day mascara wands. For this, ladies used an eyelash curlers such as the then popular Kurlash.

Throughout the ancient world the Egyptians were famous for their scents and perfumes. The country was considered the most suitable for the manufacture of such commodities. As the distillation of alcohol was not known until the fourth century BC the scents were extracted by steeping plants, flowers or splinters of fragrant wood in oil to obtain essential oil, which would then be added to other oils or fat. The materials were placed in a piece of cloth which was wrung until the last drop of fragrance had been retrieved. Alternatively they were boiled with oil and water and the oil skimmed off.

As for the oils, there was a wide choice, the most commonly used being moringa, balanos, castor oil, linseed, sesame, safflower, and, to some extent, almond and olive. According to Theophrastus, who made a thorough study of fragrant substances in an essay entitled concerning odours, balanos was the least viscous and by far the most suitable oil, followed by fresh raw olive oil and almond oil.

One of the most famous Egyptian 'perfumes' was made in the city of Mendes in the Delta, whence it was exported to Rome. It consisted of balanos oil, myrrh and resin. Dioscorides adds cassia. The order in which ingredients were added to the oil was important, as the last one imparted the most pungent scent. Theophrastus mentions as an example that if one pound of myrrh is added to half a pint of oil, and at a later stage one third of an ounce of cinnamon was put in, the cinnamon will dominate. The secret of the Egyptian unguent-makers was obviously to know at which precise moment to add the various ingredients, and at which temperature. The Mendesian 'perfume was known as 'The Egyptian' par excellence. Unlike many others, it was left its natural colour. It had the added advantage of keeping very well: one perfumer in Greece had had a batch in his shop for eight years, and it was even better than the freshly made 'perfume'. Once applied to the skin it lasted well, too. As Theophrastus said: 'A lasting perfume is what women require'. If 'The Egyptian' was found to be too heavily scented, its strong odour could be lightened by being mixed with sweet wine.

Metopion was the name of another Egyptian ointment, Metopion being, according to Dioscorides, the Egyptian name of the plant from which galbanum was derived. It consisted of oil from bitter almonds and unripe olives scented with cardamom, sweet rush, sweet flag, honey, wine, myrrh, seed of balsamum, galbanum and turpentine resin. The wine apparently entered the preparations either to soak the herbs, or to give a certain 'point' to the ointment. According to Dioscorides the best Metopion was the one that smelt more of cardamom and myrrh than of galbanum. In medicine the ointment was considered generally mollifying, heat- and sweat-producing, and it was used to 'open the vessels', draw and purge ulcers and to treat cut sinews and muscles.

The most highly prized perfumes of the ancient world came from Egypt. Of these, arguably the most popular were Susinum (a perfume based on lily, myrrh, cinnamon), Cyprinum (based upon henna, cardamom, cinnamon, myrrh and southernwood) and Mendesian (myrrh and cassia with assorted gums and resins). Mendesian was named after the ancient city of Mendes, and although the perfume was produced in other locations at a later date, the best variety was still thought to be that from Mendes.

They also loved Stakte, a perfume with a fairly stronge aroma of myrrh, Rhondinium (based on the highly popular scent of rose) and a scent simply known as "the Egyptian" which seems to have been based on cinnamon and myrrh with sweet wine. Perfumes were generally stored in beautiful alabaster bottles, but there is also some evidence that blue glass bottles may also have been used.

• "Priestesses richly adorned,
• Anointed with myrrh, perfumed with lotus,
• Their heads garlanded with wreaths,
• All together drunk with wine,
• Fragrant with the plants of Punt,
• They danced in beauty, doing my heart's wish,
• Their rewards were on their limbs."

--Tomb of Wennefer. M. Lichtheim, Ancient Egyptian Literature, Vol. 3. p.56

In one creation myth the lotus was the first thing to emerge from the waters of Nun, bringing with it its perfume. Gods were since associated with fragrant smells, chief among them Nefertem who was closely bound to the blue lotus, a symbol of life and immortality [11]. A New Kingdom hymn praising the short-tempered son of Sekhmet describes him as the soul of plants and tutelary deity of perfumers:

"I invoke Nefertem, in the following of Ptah [9]. Thou art the guardian and protector of the perfume and oil makers, protector and god of the sacred lotus. Osiris is the body of the plants, Nefertum is the soul of the plants, the plants purified. The divine perfume belongs to Nefertum living forever." --Hymn to Nefertem, 18th dynasty

Steve Van Toller, G. H. Todd: Fragrance: Psychology and Biology of Perfume, 1992 Springer, p.290

It was perfume, among other things, which put the king in a position to join the gods:

"O King, I have come and I bring to you the Eye of Horus which is in its container(?), and its perfume is on you, O King. Its perfume is on you, the perfume of the Eye of Horus is on you, O King, and you will have a soul by means of it..."--Pyramid Texts, utterance 687

Raymond Oliver Faulkner, 1910, The Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts, 2004 Kessinger Publishing, p.296

Interestingly, Egyptian kings appear not to have been anointed when accessing to the throne, while high officials were when they were appointed, as were the Canaanite vassals during the late Bronze Age [12].

Ordinary mortals, above all when they congregated in large numbers, were often less fragrant. Egyptian cities, like all cities ever since, were smelly places. The smoke of cooking fires, sometimes stoked with dried animal dung, hung over the houses. Rubbish tips were filled with decaying produce and the occasional rotting animal carcass; sometimes they were set alight and left to smoulder. Animal dung and human excrement, which in the countryside could simply be buried, was not as easily disposed of cleanly in built-up areas. Body odour, obnoxious to many modern Westerners, was a fact of life in the hot climate, despite the much vaunted (and probably also much exaggerated) cleanliness of the populace [7].

These kinds of bad smells may have pained the ancient Egyptians, who were used to them, less than they do us. Still, they liked nice flowery and aromatic scents and became masters at producing them.

In ancient times, the perfumes the most esteemed of all were those of the island of Delos, and at a later period those of Mendes. This degree of esteem is founded, not only on the mode of mixing them and the relative proportions, but according to the degree of favour or disfavour in which the various places which produce the ingredients are held, and the comparative excellence or degeneracy of the ingredients themselves.

.........

"As to perfume of cyprus, that from the island of Cyprus was at first preferred, and then that of Egypt; when all on a sudden the unguents of Mendes and metopium rose into esteem. In later times Phoenicia eclipsed Egypt in the manufacture of these last two, but left to that country the repute of producing the best unguent of cyprus."--Pliny the Elder, Natural History, Vol. XIII. Chapter 2

Ingredients

Excerpt, source: JMFA 1, 1989

The ingredients were both homegrown and imported. Punt, seemingly a region in the vicinity of the Horn of Africa, was the source of aromatic woods, incense and myrrh. In the Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor the lord of the Island of ka summed up the situation:

"You are not rich in myrrh and all kinds of incense. But I am the lord of Punt, and myrrh is my very own. That Hknw-oil you spoke of sending, it abounds on this island."

M. Lichtheim, Ancient Egyptian Literature, Vol. 1. p.214

Myrrh is a resin produced from shrubs of the orders balsamodendron and commiphora native to southern Arabia and eastern Africa. Attempts were made to grow frankincense trees, Boswellia sacra, locally, but don't seem to have been a great success. The frankincense itself is a fragrant gum resin harvested from the tree.

"I planted for thee plentiful tribute of myrrh, in order to go around thy temple with the fragrance of Punt for thy august nostrils at early morning. I planted incense and myrrh-sycamores in thy great and august court in Inek-Sebek, being those which my hands brought from the country of God's Land, in order to satisfy thy two serpent-goddesses every morning."--Papyrus Harris. J.H. Breasted, Ancient Records of Egypt, Part Four, § 333

Incense was apparently also made from locally grown plants: Ramses III supplied his august father Atem, lord of the Two Lands of Heliopolis with 34,000 measures of papyrus [rind (?)] worked into incense [2].

There were various kinds of incense (some may be simply different names for the same material) such as ihmut, sonter, and green incense (possibly galbanum),mentioned in documents from the reign of Thutmose III, and white incense (seemingly frankincense), and inflammable incense which were listed as donations by Ramses III.

Flowers used for perfumes were indigenous (white lily and lotus) or of foreign origin (jasmine from India, narcissus). [13]

Most of the ingredients were of plant origin, but the use of animal fats is also known. jb, a salve or perfume mentioned on the Stela of Sekerkhabau at Saqqara, was written with the sign for kid (little he-goat), jb, which has led to speculations that the inscription was referring to musk. Similar problems exist with many ingredients mentioned or depicted in Egyptian sources: they have never been identified in more than the most tentative way. One has therefore to rely on Greek and Roman authors but their information is sometimes either unclear or unreliable. Dioscorides mentions

• root of iris
• bitter almond oil and ointment (metopion)
• cardamoms
• balsamon which may have been Mecca balsam
• oil of lilies
• balanos oil
• myrrh
• and cassia
• 
  
• Pliny writes about
• unguent made from cyprinum, which he claims to be an Egyptian tree
• the unguent made of elate or spathe, the fruit of the adipsos palm
• ladanum, an import from Arabia
• the Syrian storax or styrax, a balsam made from Liquidambar orientalis in Asia Minor
• turpentine resin
• the malobathrum oil [8]
• and galbanum, a gum-resin made from Peucedanum galbaniflorum native to Persia.

The treatment of the raw materials depended on their use. Perfumes were applied as oil-based salves or liquids. Incense was given the form of small pellets which could be burned.

Manufacture

Reliefs on the walls of the tomb of Petosiris [3] who lived during the early Ptolemaic period, depict some of the aspects of perfume making. In the top register of the line drawing on the right a worker pours red berries from a jar under the supervision of an overseer dressed in blue. Another man piles the berries onto the mound while a third is holding one fruit in his hand, possibly trying to extract the kernel.

The bottom register bears the inscription Perfumers making resins. On the left, two men are, as the accompanying inscription explains, crushing the fruit of Punt. The men on the right appear to be stirring some brew or mashing ingredients.

The top register of this relief displays (from left to right) an old man with wrinkled forehead smelling the contents of a vessel held by a worker, another worker pouring perfume into a jar with handles under the watchful eye of a foreman and a third one bringing two containers to the supervisor.

On the left side of the bottom register of this drawing, a worker is stoking the fire in an oven on which a pan is placed. A second worker is stirring the contents of the vessel—according to the accompanying inscription he is mashing the fruit of Punt. On the right the perfumers making resins of agreeable odour are filling jars with the help of little bowls.

Two perfumers are expressing essences, the woman on the left is carrying lily flowers

4th century BCE

Source: Brun op.cit. p.279

People used a bag which was twisted with the help of two staffs as a press. (The same system was employed in wine production for squeezing the last drops of grape juice out of the pulp.) Scent essences were extracted in two ways: mechanical and chemical, generally a combination of both. Flowers, roots, berries, chunks of resin etc. were first mashed or ground up and then either pressed to squeeze the scents out or steeped in grape or palm wine in order to dissolve the fragrant alcohols. Sometimes the ingredients were heated.

As a base for scented oils they used ben oil made from seeds of the moringa, horseradish, colocynth, a tropical climbing plant, sesame and after its introduction from the east, olive oil [1]. The Libyan oil, often identified with the kiki, the malodorous castor oil, was probably less favoured in perfume production, though it was very useful for lighting lamps.

Margaret A. Murray in Saqqara Mastabas describes recipes of a few ancient perfumes:

At Edfu there is a text which gives elaborate directions for making the heknu perfume, giving the exact weight of every ingredient. The principal ingredient is the pert nezemui, "Fruit of the sweet tree," which may be myrobalanus or malobathro of Pliny, as from the fruit of both these plants an oil is expressed. The ingredients of the perfume are:

• pert nezemui
• Anti-resin (i.e. frankincense) of two qualities
• Ab-resin
• Ket-plant
• Tesheps plant
• Wood charcoal
• Sheben-plant
• Best wine of the oasis
• Water
• Nenib-resin

All the dry materials were to be pounded and sifted before being mixed with the wine. The pert nezemui was to be pressed and boiled over a quick fire, then it was added to the other ingredients, and the whole compound was boiled again, and poured off into a khebeb-vessel. The whole process took about eleven days.

Another recipe is given for the Nezet perfume. This is possibly a late name for one of the sacred oils of these lists (Murray refers here to the list of the Seven Oils she mentioned earlier in her book). A sacrificial ox, ceremonially pure, is to be slaughtered and the fat cut off with a clean knife. The fat is to be melted and poured into a stone vessel. When all impurities are removed, it is to be perfumed with herbs and mixed with the wine of the Oasis; this mixing is to be done in a golden vessel with a gold and silver implement. The fat is then to be cooked with aromatic herbs, and coloured red with the flowers of the Nesti and Nemi plants; when finished it is to be poured into a stone vessel.

Margaret A. Murray, Saqqara Mastabas, Part I, p.31

Applications

"Every day they make a triple offering of incense to the Sun, an offering of resin at sunrise, of myrrh at midday, and of the so-called cyphi [5] at sunset."--Plutarch, Isis and Osiris, § 52 [6]

The gods favoured sweet smells just as much as did humans. Moreover, the burning of incense covered the smell which arose from the animal offerings. The temples received allocations of raw materials such as oils, myrrh, incense and blooms and prepared their final products in their own workshops: fragrant salves for medicinal purposes, oils for mummification, ointments for the unction of statues and incense to be burned as offering. The unguent of divine mineral for instance, a mixture of incense, bitumen and minerals, was used to anoint divine statues.

Mummies were anointed with perfume to bestow life upon them and render them acceptable to the gods. This had also the happy consequence of making the process of mummification, which could last for up to several months [10], more bearable.

"I buried my father the count, Zau, beyond the splendor, beyond the goodliness of any [equal (?)] of his in his South. I requested as an honor from my majesty of my lord, the king of Upper and Lower Egypt, Neferkere (Pepi II), who lives forever, that there be taken a coffin, clothing, and festival perfume for this Zau."--J.H. Breasted, Ancient Records of Egypt, Part One, § 382

Propitiating the gods was crucial in the treatment of disease. Good smells attracted them, while at the same time they repelled the demons causing the illness.

In the Ebers Papyrus there is a receipt for another perfume (kyphi [5]) made of dried myrrh, juniper berries, incense, gyu plant, twigs of mastic, fenugreek, nebyt of Northern Syria, yukun, and zemten plant, ground mixed, and cooked. It was used for perfuming houses and clothes, or when prepared with honey and made into pills it was used by women for perfuming the breath.--Margaret A. Murray, Saqqara Mastabas, Part I, p.31 [4]

Private persons, both women and, possibly to a lesser extent, men seem to have used perfumes on every-day occasions. In New Kingdom pictures revellers at parties are depicted sniffing lotus flowers [11]. Sometimes the flowers are shown hovering over their heads.

Excerpt. Courtesy Jon Bodsworth

The cones they are carrying on top of their heads are often thought to have been fragrant grease cones, though it would be more reasonable to assume them to be a pictorial convention.

[1] Jean-Pierre Brun: "The Production of Perfumes in Antiquity: The Cases of Delos and Paestum" in American Journal of Archaeology, 104.2, April 2000, p.278

[2] Papyrus Harris in J. H. Breasted, Ancient Records of Egypt, Part Four, § 294

[5] According to Dioscorides kyphi consisted of ten ingredients, Plutarch, seemingly following Egyptian sources quotes sixteen:

Kyphi is a compound composed of sixteen ingredients:

• honey
• wine
• raisins
• cyperus
• resin
• myrrh
• aspalathus
• seselis
• mastich
• bitumen
• rush
• sorrel
• both the junipers, of which they call one the larger and one the smaller
• cardamum
• calamus

These are compounded, not at random, but while the sacred writings are being read to the perfumers as they mix the ingredients. As for this number, even if it appears quite clear that it is the square of a square and is the only one of the numbers forming a square that has its perimeter equal to its area, and deserves to be admired for this reason, yet it must be said that its contribution to the topic under discussion is very slight. Most of the materials that are taken into this compound, inasmuch as they have aromatic properties, give forth a sweet emanation and a beneficent exhalation, by which the air is changed, and the body, being moved gently and softly by the current, acquires a temperament conducive to sleep; and the distress and strain of our daily carking cares, as if they were knots, these exhalations relax and loosen without the aid of wine.

......

Kapet (better known by its Greeks name Kyphi) was one of the most popular varieties and seems to have been in use since the Old Kingdom. As well as its pleasing scent, it was thought to heal snake bites and cure bad breath and asthma. One recipe for this incense was recorded in the Ebers Papyrus (c. 1500BCE)

Ihmut incense, sonter incense (both from Punt) and green incense (thought to be based on galbanum from Persia) are listed in records from the reign of Thutmose III, and priests during the reign of Ramesses III recorded both white incense (probably based on frankincense) and "inflammable incense" in a list of offerings.

There is also a type of incense known as jb (referred to on the Stele of Sekerkhabau from Saqqara). The name was written using the hieroglyph for kid (a young male goat) leading some to suggest that it was based on musk.

According to Plutarch the Ancient Egyptians burned frankincense in the morning, myrrh at midday and Kyphi (Kapet) in the evening. In addition certain gods were associated with specific types of incense (for example, Hathor was strongly associated with myrrh) and certain types of incense were used for specific ceremonies.

Some of the ingredients were home-grown, but many had to be imported. Hatshepsut recorded a trading expedition to Punt on the walls of her mortuary temple at Deir el-Bahri. The expedition was a great success, delivering aromatic woods and spices for the creation of incense and perfume. This expedition was also a great public relations coup because the Egyptians favoured exotic imported fragrances like myrrh, frankincense, cinnamon, cassia and Galbanum. The Egyptians tried to establish their own frankincense trees, but this doesn´t seem to have been very successful.

Wood was also in short supply in Egypt, and they were particularly fond of cedar wood from the Levant. Balsomon (probably Mecca balsam) can be found in southern Arabia and eastern Africa, and iris, lotus (water lily), lemongrass, and rose were also popular (although the lotus was only rarely used in ritual incense). They also seem to have used papyrus rind to created incense.

Incense ingredients were either ground and thrown on hot coals or mixed with dried fruit (such as raisins or dates) and formed into small pellets to be burned.

"They use kyphi as both a potion and a salve; for taken internally it seems to cleanse properly the internal organs, since it is an emollient. Apart from this, resin and myrrh result from the action of the sun when the trees exude them in response to the heat. Of the ingredients which compose kyphi, there are some which delight more in the night, that is, those which are wont to thrive in cold winds and shadows and dews and dampness. For the light of day is single and simple, and Pindar says that the sun is seen "through the deserted aether." But the air at night is a composite mixture made up of many lights and forces, even as though seeds from every star were showered down into one place. Very appropriately, therefore, they burn resin and myrrh in the daytime, for these are simple substances and have their origin from the sun; but the kyphi, since it is compounded of ingredients of all sorts of qualities."--Plutarch, Isis and Osiris, § 80 [6]

[7] Herodotus was much impressed with the cleanliness of the Egyptian priesthood at least:

"They drink out of brazen cups, which they scour every day: there is no exception to this practice. They wear linen garments, which they are specially careful to have always fresh washed. They practise circumcision for the sake of cleanliness, considering it better to be cleanly than comely. The priests shave their whole body every other day, that no lice or other impure thing may adhere to them when they are engaged in the service of the gods. Their dress is entirely of linen, and their shoes of the papyrus plant: it is not lawful for them to wear either dress or shoes of any other material. They bathe twice every day in cold water, and twice each night; besides which they observe, so to speak, thousands of ceremonies".--Herodotus: Euterpe, 37.1

[8] As trade relations with the east became more developed Chinese dried malabathron leaves were imported from India and an aromatic oil was expressed which was then re-exported to Rome. (Joan Pilsbury Alcock, Food in the Ancient World, 2006 Greenwood Press, p.62)

[9] Ptah, Sekhmet and Nefertem formed the Triad of Memphis.

[10] The process generally took seventy days (cf. Mummification).

[11] Some of the fragrant essences (incense and blue lotus for instance) also had intoxicating components, which may have been one of the reasons for gods (and people) liking them as much as they did.

[12] Roland de Vaux, Ancient Israel: Its Life and Institutions, 1997 Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, pp.103 ff.

Horst Dietrich Preuss Old Testament Theology, 1995 Westminster John Knox Press, p.318

[13] Georges Tsoucaris, Janusz Lipkowski, Molecular and Structural Archaeology: Cosmetic and Therapeutic Chemicals, Springer 2003, ISBN 1402014996, pp.30ff.