Hello and welcome! Please understand that this website is not affiliated with Coty in any way, it is only a reference page for collectors and those who have enjoyed the classic fragrances of days gone by.
The main objective of this website is to chronicle the history of the Coty fragrances and showcase the bottles and advertising used throughout the years.
However, one of the other goals of this website is to show the present owners of the Coty perfume company how much we miss the discontinued classics and hopefully, if they see that there is enough interest and demand, they will bring back these fragrances!
Please leave a comment below (for example: of why you liked the fragrance, describe the scent, time period or age you wore it, who gave it to you or what occasion, any specific memories, what it reminded you of, maybe a relative wore it, or you remembered seeing the bottle on their vanity table), who knows, perhaps someone from the current Coty brand might see it.
The main objective of this website is to chronicle the history of the Coty fragrances and showcase the bottles and advertising used throughout the years.
However, one of the other goals of this website is to show the present owners of the Coty perfume company how much we miss the discontinued classics and hopefully, if they see that there is enough interest and demand, they will bring back these fragrances!
Please leave a comment below (for example: of why you liked the fragrance, describe the scent, time period or age you wore it, who gave it to you or what occasion, any specific memories, what it reminded you of, maybe a relative wore it, or you remembered seeing the bottle on their vanity table), who knows, perhaps someone from the current Coty brand might see it.
Also, this website is a labor of love, it is a work in progress and is always being updated with new information as I can find it, so check back often!
Sunday, October 16, 2016
Thursday, October 22, 2015
Chanel No. 5 and Coty
Chanel No. 5 and Coty
There is a rumor that has been going around since the 1920's. It seems that some people believe that Francois Coty was the inventor of Chanel No.5. People maintain that Chanel No. 5 was an act of industrial espionage and that its formula was stolen from a competitor's laboratory in the south of France. This theory is part of that long, tangled history that connected Coco Chanel and her friend - and -competitor - Francois Coty.
As Edmond Charles-Roux tells it: "The development of No.5 …proceeded in a rather heavy atmosphere reminiscent of the whispered machinations that herald a palace revolution…Plenty of intrigue, sudden reversals and secret alliances. Nothing was missing from the script not even the spectacular disappearance of one of Coty’s top chemists. The deserter fled, clutching to his bosom the fruit of long years of research: the formula for a perfume Coty could not make up his mind to put on the market because it cost so much to produce. That was one reason why this chemist went over to the enemy: he was afraid his invention would never be available to the public…Was his name Ernest Beaux? All queries being met by the impenetrable silence of those who know, we must be content to leave this point in darkness. But one thing is certain: about seven years later, Coty was producing a perfume that was almost exactly the same as Chanel No. 5. But although I sold tolerably well, L’Aimant never made a dent in the Chanel market.”
A closer look revealed a crazy mixed-up, story. On the other hand Yvonne Coty always claimed that Chanel No. 5 was named not after the number of the fragrance vial but after the number of “a station in Coty’s laboratory at either Suresnes or at the Rallet Factory in the south of France.” She seemed to believe that there was some possible buried connection. However, Ernest Beaux never worked for Coty. He has spent his entire career at Rallet, so he couldn’t have been the fleeing chemist. Perhaps it was another perfumer at Coty who absconded with the formula and passed it along to Ernest Beaux - who then handed it to Coco Chanel. One thing is for certain, in 1927, as Charles-Roux says, someone at Coty did have a copy of the Chanel No. 5 formula or something extremely similar to it. Coty’s fragrance L’Aimant, launched that year, was too close to have been any kind of accident. The question remains, did Coty have the formula all along and was Chanel No. 5 the copy?
There is a perfectly simple reason why Coty had a copy of the formula for a Chanel No. 5 perfume in 1927. A year before, Coty’s massive company had swallowed up one of his smaller competitors, the Chiris perfume house. Coty had been closely involved with the operations at Chiris for several decades. At the turn of the century, he has trained in their labs and became business partners with several of the owners of that family company. Since WWI, he has acted as those Chiris was his business alone, in many ways and its perfume “his” holdings. It was this sense of proprietorship that would fuel an intense and not always friendly spirit of competition between Coty and Coco Chanel.
In 1926, Coty had formally purchased the business and all of its holdings, which included the A. Rallet & Co perfume outfit. All the info that Coty needed to produce his own version of Chanel No.5 was sitting right there in the archives. But the name on top of that formula was not Chanel. No. 5. What he had acquired was the recipe for another perfume, one that was invented in 1914. It smelled unmistakably like Chanel No. 5, for one simple reason: it was the secret scent behind the world’s most famous perfume. This time, the crazy story was true.
Most of this info was taken from the book "Secret of Chanel No. 5".
Here is more info on my Chanel blog site: https://chanelperfumebottles.blogspot.com/2013/05/chanel-no-5-by-chanel-c1921.html
There is a rumor that has been going around since the 1920's. It seems that some people believe that Francois Coty was the inventor of Chanel No.5. People maintain that Chanel No. 5 was an act of industrial espionage and that its formula was stolen from a competitor's laboratory in the south of France. This theory is part of that long, tangled history that connected Coco Chanel and her friend - and -competitor - Francois Coty.
As Edmond Charles-Roux tells it: "The development of No.5 …proceeded in a rather heavy atmosphere reminiscent of the whispered machinations that herald a palace revolution…Plenty of intrigue, sudden reversals and secret alliances. Nothing was missing from the script not even the spectacular disappearance of one of Coty’s top chemists. The deserter fled, clutching to his bosom the fruit of long years of research: the formula for a perfume Coty could not make up his mind to put on the market because it cost so much to produce. That was one reason why this chemist went over to the enemy: he was afraid his invention would never be available to the public…Was his name Ernest Beaux? All queries being met by the impenetrable silence of those who know, we must be content to leave this point in darkness. But one thing is certain: about seven years later, Coty was producing a perfume that was almost exactly the same as Chanel No. 5. But although I sold tolerably well, L’Aimant never made a dent in the Chanel market.”
A closer look revealed a crazy mixed-up, story. On the other hand Yvonne Coty always claimed that Chanel No. 5 was named not after the number of the fragrance vial but after the number of “a station in Coty’s laboratory at either Suresnes or at the Rallet Factory in the south of France.” She seemed to believe that there was some possible buried connection. However, Ernest Beaux never worked for Coty. He has spent his entire career at Rallet, so he couldn’t have been the fleeing chemist. Perhaps it was another perfumer at Coty who absconded with the formula and passed it along to Ernest Beaux - who then handed it to Coco Chanel. One thing is for certain, in 1927, as Charles-Roux says, someone at Coty did have a copy of the Chanel No. 5 formula or something extremely similar to it. Coty’s fragrance L’Aimant, launched that year, was too close to have been any kind of accident. The question remains, did Coty have the formula all along and was Chanel No. 5 the copy?
There is a perfectly simple reason why Coty had a copy of the formula for a Chanel No. 5 perfume in 1927. A year before, Coty’s massive company had swallowed up one of his smaller competitors, the Chiris perfume house. Coty had been closely involved with the operations at Chiris for several decades. At the turn of the century, he has trained in their labs and became business partners with several of the owners of that family company. Since WWI, he has acted as those Chiris was his business alone, in many ways and its perfume “his” holdings. It was this sense of proprietorship that would fuel an intense and not always friendly spirit of competition between Coty and Coco Chanel.
In 1926, Coty had formally purchased the business and all of its holdings, which included the A. Rallet & Co perfume outfit. All the info that Coty needed to produce his own version of Chanel No.5 was sitting right there in the archives. But the name on top of that formula was not Chanel. No. 5. What he had acquired was the recipe for another perfume, one that was invented in 1914. It smelled unmistakably like Chanel No. 5, for one simple reason: it was the secret scent behind the world’s most famous perfume. This time, the crazy story was true.
Most of this info was taken from the book "Secret of Chanel No. 5".
Here is more info on my Chanel blog site: https://chanelperfumebottles.blogspot.com/2013/05/chanel-no-5-by-chanel-c1921.html
Thursday, April 16, 2015
Tuesday, April 7, 2015
Smitty by Coty c1976
Launched in 1976, Smitty was Coty's fragrance for the disco scene and probably their answer to Revlon's Charlie. This was super popular among the younger crowd in the late 1970s and into the early 1980s. Where they got the name Smitty from is anybody's guess.
Monday, January 26, 2015
Coty Perfumes 1954 Advertisement
Coty Perfumes 1954 Advertisement showing the following perfumes: Emeraude, L'Aimant, L'Origan, Paris, Muguet des Bois, Chypre, Styx, and Muse.
Various items shown are Air-Spun face powder, Sub Deb lipstick, talc, dusting powder, special presentations, toilet water, purse bottles, compacts, cologne, Twiststick solid cologne stick and more.
Various items shown are Air-Spun face powder, Sub Deb lipstick, talc, dusting powder, special presentations, toilet water, purse bottles, compacts, cologne, Twiststick solid cologne stick and more.
Monday, January 19, 2015
Coty Perfume Ad c1949
Coty Perfume Ad c1949 showing the following perfumes: L'Aimant, Emeraude, L'origan, Paris, Muguet des Bois, Chypre, A'Suma, L'Origan, Muse and Le Vertige.
Curious finds: the Cinderella Slipper presentation, the Fragrance Bar, Toilet Water & Purser set, dusting powder, talc, toilet water, perfume, soap, etc.
Curious finds: the Cinderella Slipper presentation, the Fragrance Bar, Toilet Water & Purser set, dusting powder, talc, toilet water, perfume, soap, etc.
Labels:
1949,
a'suma,
advertisement,
bottle,
chypre,
Cinderella slipper,
coty,
dusting powder,
emeraude,
flacon,
l'aimant,
l'origan,
le vertige,
muguet des bois,
muse,
paris,
perfume,
presentation set,
talc
A'Suma by Coty c1934
Labels:
1920s,
a suma,
a'suma,
asuma,
bottle,
coty,
discontinued,
discontinued perfume,
extrait,
flacon,
frasco,
frosted glass,
lalique,
parfum,
perfum,
perfume,
vincent roubert,
vintage perfume
Tuesday, December 16, 2014
L'Aimant by Coty c1927
L'Aimant by Coty: launched in 1927. Pronounced "LEH MON", the name means "magnet" in French.
In 1926, Coty purchased the Antoine Chiris company, established in 1768, who harvested and supplied raw materials for perfumes, manufactured perfumery bases, essential oils and made perfumes for other companies.
The Russian perfumery A. Rallet & Company was owned by Chiris and produced the perfume Rallet No. 1, originally named Bouquet de Catherine, composed by Ernest Beaux. When the Russian Revolution began, Rallet relocated to France and set Ernest Beaux up with a new laboratory in Grasse. It was here that he met Coco Chanel and worked on making a perfume for her. Ernest Beaux tweaked Rallet No. 1 and thus in 1921, Chanel No. 5 was born.
The popularity of this perfume was so great that Coty felt he needed to make a clone so he and his chief collaborator in perfumery, Vincent Roubert, gave the old Rallet No. 1 a slight adaptation and it was christened L'Aimant.
In 1926, Coty purchased the Antoine Chiris company, established in 1768, who harvested and supplied raw materials for perfumes, manufactured perfumery bases, essential oils and made perfumes for other companies.
The Russian perfumery A. Rallet & Company was owned by Chiris and produced the perfume Rallet No. 1, originally named Bouquet de Catherine, composed by Ernest Beaux. When the Russian Revolution began, Rallet relocated to France and set Ernest Beaux up with a new laboratory in Grasse. It was here that he met Coco Chanel and worked on making a perfume for her. Ernest Beaux tweaked Rallet No. 1 and thus in 1921, Chanel No. 5 was born.
The popularity of this perfume was so great that Coty felt he needed to make a clone so he and his chief collaborator in perfumery, Vincent Roubert, gave the old Rallet No. 1 a slight adaptation and it was christened L'Aimant.
Saturday, November 29, 2014
Complice de Francois Coty c1973
Francois Coty originally created Complice ('Accomplice') in 1934, but died before it could be launched. It remained on ice until 1973, when the Coty company launched it in a period design bottle. The name Complice was filed for trademark in 1939, company claimed use since 1938.
Sunday, August 3, 2014
Friday, June 6, 2014
Masumi Toujours by Coty c2001
Masumi Toujours by Coty: launched in 2001. A flanker scent to Coty's original 1967 fragrance, Masumi.
Available in:
So what does it smell like? It is a fresh, fruity floral perfume for women.
It has been discontinued, but you can still find at some retailers online.
Available in:
- 15ml Eau de Toilette
- 30ml Eau de Toilette
- 75ml Deodorant Spray
So what does it smell like? It is a fresh, fruity floral perfume for women.
- Top notes: apricot, pineapple, mandarin, passion fruit, melon and orange
- Middle notes: Egyptian jasmine, violet, pink freesia and lily of the valley
- Base notes: sandalwood, oakmoss and musk
It has been discontinued, but you can still find at some retailers online.
Masumi Je T'aime by Coty c2003
Masumi Je T'aime by Coty: launched in 2003. A flanker scent to Coty's 1967 perfume, Masumi.
Available in:
So what does it smell like? Sweet, sensuous fruity floral.
Discontinued, but you can still find it at some online retailers.
Available in:
- 15ml Eau de Toilette
- 30ml Eau de Toilette
So what does it smell like? Sweet, sensuous fruity floral.
Discontinued, but you can still find it at some online retailers.
Eau Masumi by Coty c1993
Eau Masumi by Coty: launched in 1993. It was a flanker to Coty's 1967 fragrance, Masumi.
Available in:
So what does it smell like? It is described as a floral woody musk perfume.
Still in production.
Available in:
- 50ml Eau de Toilette
- 150ml Deodorant Spray
So what does it smell like? It is described as a floral woody musk perfume.
- Top notes: bergamot and orange
- Middle notes: rose, blackcurrant and peach
- Base notes: amber, musk and sandalwood.
Still in production.
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