Hello and welcome! Please understand that this website is not affiliated with Bourjois 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 Bourjois 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 Bourjois 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 Bourjois brand might see it.
Showing posts with label Manon Lescaut. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Manon Lescaut. Show all posts

Monday, May 20, 2013

Manon Lescaut Face Powder

Manon Lescaut is an opera in four acts by Giacomo Puccini. The story is based on the 1731 novel L’histoire du chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut by the Abbé Prévost.


The libretto is in Italian. It was somehow cobbled together by five librettists whom Puccini employed (or went through): Ruggero Leoncavallo, Marco Praga, Giuseppe Giacosa, Domenico Oliva and Luigi Illica. The publisher, Giulio Ricordi, and the composer himself also contributed to the libretto. So confused was the authorship of the libretto that no one was credited on the title page of the original score.

Puccini took some musical elements in Manon Lescaut from earlier works he had written. For example, the madrigal Sulla vetta tu del monte from Act II echoes the Agnus Dei from his 1880 Messa a quattro voci. Other elements of Manon Lescaut come from his compositions for strings: the quartet Crisantemi (January 1890), three Menuets (probably 1884)[1] and a Scherzo (1883?). The love theme comes from the aria Mentia l'avviso (1883).

Bourjois used this beautiful name for their powder, Manon Lescaut starting in 1907. The powder was still being sold in 1946.


From advertisements in the 1908 Sears & Roebuck catalog:

"Bourjois Manon Lescaut. This world famous perfume represents the finest article manufactured by any Paris perfumer. The perfume odor is not that of any particular flower but represents the fragrance from the combined flowers of France. This perfume, therefore, has many times been called the Pride of France. The perfume is put up in beautiful colored embossed bottles holding by actual measurement 1 1/2 fluid ounces. The bottles are of irregular design characteristic of imported goods and trimmed with colored kid and rich silk. Each bottle put up in handsome colored lithographed fancy box. This wonderfully lasting perfume is very rich in odor, sweet and refined in character and wonderfully lasting, a few drops being sufficient to perfume an entire room.. Our price -$1.67."

"Bourjois Poudre Manon Lescaut. If you want the best, buy this. This world famous powder has been named after the beautiful heroine of the Abbe Prevost. This is the most famous of all face powders , highly and sweetly perfumed and made of the finest Oriental rice, which is bolted many times until it has become perfectly impalpable. This is combined with other ingredients, all of which are absolutely harmless to the most delicate complexion, yet when used upon the face,become perfectly invisible. This powder is made by and represents the highest skill of the world's master in face powder. Our price -per box $0.93, two boxes -$1.75."

c1922 ad