Valentine’s Day: perfumes that smell of love

The first perfumes date back thousands of years, created by the Egyptians. In form they were more like incense sticks, but this changed with each century. Later, scented ointments and lotions were created, and finally perfume took the form we know today. 

For many years they were associated only with high social status. Today anyone can reach for perfume. There are indeed many fragrances, and manufacturers are outdoing themselves in creating more notes. We will show you for Valentine’s Day perfumes that smell of love.

The Chanel fashion house was the first to produce “A feminine perfume with a feminine scent.” The fragrance, consisting of about 80 different substances, is based mainly on metallic aldehydes and flowers. According to Ernest Beaux, the creator of the perfume, they are very complicated, just like women. According to legend, the name of the fragrance is the result of a long search for the perfect composition, which was finally found in the fifth sample or…. Coco Chanel’s fondness for this number. Gabriella Bonheur “Coco”, by the way, had a huge impact on the success of the new product, and her words “perfume yourself where you want to be kissed” are still repeated by thousands of women today. Chanel No.5 is still the world’s best-selling perfume, distinguished by its maturity and detachment.

The Guerlain brand has a penchant for creating perfumes shrouded in stories of passion, and Shalimar is a gripping tale of great love that sells well despite the years. Legend has it that Shah Jahan loved only one woman throughout his life – his first wife, Mumtaz Mahal. According to his subordinates, Jahan’s love for his wife was maddening, and Mahal was the most important person in his life, his balm and solace.

Their beautiful story, unfortunately, did not have a happy ending. Mumtaz Mahal died at the birth of their fourteenth child. Shah Jahan could not get over the loss for a long time, and suffered for a long time from the loss of the person who gave his life meaning. To honor her memory, he had a mausoleum built for her, which became one of the greatest wonders of the world – the Taj Mahal in Agra. Shalimar is the quintessential French interpretation of the Orient, and the creator of Chanel No.5 said of them: “K hen I create vanilla, I get milk and egg cream, when Guerlain creates it – I get Shalimar!”.

Yves Saint Laurent’s black horse is the Opium fragrance, which is described as the most scandalous perfume. The fragrance was ahead of its time in terms of its departure from conventional floral notes, tempting with its original flacon inspired by the Japanese inro box, but also with its bold name. The designer himself was accused of promoting drug addiction, and he countered by maintaining that Opium was a new form of addiction. The fragrance is not simple and this is what attracts most – it is slightly sultry, tempts with passion and is based on proven aphrodisiacs.

The JOY fragrance was created by Henry Almeras for clients of the Patou fashion house in 1930, just after the Wall Street crash. Ultimately, the fragrance was intended to respond to the needs of a changing world and a new clientele that could not afford to shop in the city of endless festivity –  in Paris. “Joy”, however, was advertised as the world’s most expensive fragrance, so they became an attribute of the aristocracy. The production of one flacon uses 28 dozen roses and 10,600 thousand jasmine flowers….

When producing his first perfume, Christian Dior asked to create a “love scent,” perhaps predicting that love would never go out of fashion. Miss Dior is an icon of the 20th century, which has been coveted continuously for six decades. The fragrance tempts with elegance, but also with the promise of romantic adventure and a chypre composition. The name of the perfume is a matter of pure coincidence, when his sister visited Christian’s boutique. At this point, the designer’s famous muse, Mitzah Bricard shouted: “Voila Miss Dior!”, to which Christian had to reply “Miss Dior! Here’s my perfume!”

Pani Walewska is a fragrance that was an attribute of every Polish elegant woman. The flacon is inspired by Napoleon Bonaparte’s hat, and the The muse of the Miraculum company was Maria Walewska’s love affair with Little Corporal.
Cosmetics of this luxurious series are a weapon given at the disposal of every woman who, by skillfully emphasizing personal charm, wishes to capture the affections of the Napoleon of her life – encouraged the purchase of leaflets in 1976.
In communist Poland, Pani Walewska was considered synonymous with luxury, but the cobalt bottle can still be purchased in drugstores. Intense, with unusual intensity, the already somewhat old-fashioned fragrance still has its followers.