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.

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, June 30, 2019

Coty Perfumes and Their Color Coordinations

Over the years, Coty often used special colors when packaging their perfumes. These colors variations often changed according to the different packaging used. Most bakelite are solid colors while the lucite caps often had marbling veins. Please note that the caps can fade color if exposed to sunlight, one example is that the pale pink can often turn almost white. Here is a list of known color coordinations that I have found, you will usually find the caps for perfume bottles are colored in the following:


  • Red: generally used for L'Aimant, but also used for A'Suma , L'Origan
  • Dark Pink to Fuschia: generally used for L'Aimant in later years
  • Light Pink to Lavender: generally used for La Rose Jacqueminot, but also used for L'Origan, Meteor,  Muguet des Bois, A'Suma
  • Orange to Peach: generally used for L'Origan, used for A'Suma
  • Dark Green: generally used for Emeraude, but also used for Chypre, La Rose Jacqueminot, L'Aimant, A'Suma, Le Vertige, Muguet, Le Nouveau Gardenia
  • Jade Green: generally used for Chypre, Le Vertige, Emeraude, A'Suma, Meteor, Oeillet France, Le Nouveau Gardenia
  • Blue: generally used for Paris, but also used by L'Aimant, L'Origan, Chypre, Le Vertige, Muguet des Bois, Iris, Le Nouveau Gardenia, and L'Ambre Antique
  • White: generally used for L'Origan but also used for Styx, Chypre, Meteor, Muguet, Muse, A'Suma, Le Vertige, Le Nouveau Gardenia
  • Black: generally used for Styx, but also by Le Vertige, Lavande, L'Origan, and Muse

Wednesday, May 23, 2018

Chypre by Coty c1908

Chypre by Coty: launched in 1908. Although many sources state that Coty introduced his famous Chypre de Coty in 1917, the truth is that is he in fact, sold hs Chypre as early as 1908. 



Thursday, April 19, 2018

L'Or by Coty c1912

L'Or by Coty: Originally created in 1912, introduced to the USA in 1916. Created by Vincent Roubert who reportedly took five years to perfect the formula. In 1913 the fragrance was available in parfum, toilet water, face powder and sachet.

The Times Herald, 1925:
"L'Or: the golden lure of strange quests; gilt sailed argosies with high prows breasting the foam of unknown seas toward the gal of all desires. Leaping, glowing soul of flames; subtle fragrance of the golden blonde of sunset hair and eyes, symbol of the unquenchable dream within the hearts of men, alluring, inspiring to high endeavor. It is an exquisite perfume for cigarettes. A few drops on a bit of silk kept in the box gives them a delicate, fascinating balminess, breathing out in smoke, the fragrance of her it expresses."

The fragrance was relaunched with much fanfare in a gorgeous Baccarat crystal flacon in 1959. In 1960, it was said to be the world's most expensive fragrance, as one ounce in that Baccarat bottle cost $60.


c1960



Wednesday, April 4, 2018

Jasmin de Corse by Coty 1906

Jasmin de Corse by Coty: launched in 1906.  Corse refers to Corsica, Francois Coty's place of birth. Had a great following from the Russian princess, Tatiana Romanov and the French writer Colette who was enamored with the fragrance and wore it daily.






Sunday, October 16, 2016

Very Rare Antique 1920s Coty Perfume & Cosmetics Catalog Price List w/Pictures

Here are the scanned pages from my 1928 Coty catalog featuring updated prices on perfumes and cosmetics available that year.
















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

Thursday, April 16, 2015

Ambre Antique by Coty c1905

Ambre Antique was launched in 1905 by Coty. Pronounced "Ahm-ber ahn-teek", it was described as the "fragrance of splendour and conquest, the thrall of legendary queens."




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.













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.










A'Suma by Coty c1934

A'Suma was launched in France in 1934 by Coty.  Subtitled "Fantaisie Japonaise." It was jointly created by Francois Coty and  Coty's chief perfumer Vincent Roubert..  The sensuous perfume was inspired by a mysterious moonlit tropical beach in Bali.



1945 Advertisement for Coty Perfume and Powder

 Vintage 1945 Sears (Spring and Summer) catalog page advertising Coty perfumes and cosmetics.










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.