Today’s poll was suggested by Becca, who wants to talk about perfume bottles: the weirdest, wackiest, ugliest, prettiest, most stately, whatever! Nominate your favorites (or least favorites), and in honor of Marc Jacobs, I’d like to add two more categories: good tacky and bad tacky.
A side note: circumstances prevented me from posting the Monday Mail yesterday, but look for it tomorrow.
Note: image is Réplique under glass [cropped] by Jean-François Chénier at flickr; some rights reserved.
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Hello Everyone!
I nominate AG Songes moon bottle for prettiest.
That’s a darned gorgeous bottle, I’d like to have one. AG in general does perfect LE bottles.
It is a lovely bottle. I also like a similar one, for Sun Moon Stars (I forgot who put that one out), which is round, blue glass, with raised stars and moons.
Sun Moon Stars is a really pretty one too! It’s by Lagerfeld. My mom gave it to me years ago and I still enjoy looking at the bottle.
I would agree about AG Songes, but also the AG Mandragore men’s bottle is really pretty. And, although I’m not crazy about what’s inside, the Christian Lacroix Rouge bottle is lovely. People are always noticing “that pretty red bottle.”
I really liked the men’s Mandragore too (bought a 25 ml off ebay, hooray!)… and in a somewhat similar vein, I love the bottle for Amouage Lyric Woman. Something about that deep red w/gold embellishment gets me every time (I have similar color schemes in my living room and bedroom, too). And in both cases, the juice is fantastic as well.
I agree with you about the Amouage Lyric Woman bottle, but I also have the “vintage” Amouage Gold bottle which is cut glass with the gold top.
Yes, the Lyric bottle is gorgeous. And the men’s Mandragore is nice, too – sad that I found the fragrance nice but not compelling.
Fortunately, just coming off several fragrance-free years, I have plenty of room in my wardrobe for nice but not compelling scents.
I bought a small bottle just as office-wear.
I adore the men’s Mandragore…most unfortunately I own the women’s bottle though.
Hey, I like that tacky MJ Lola bottle. My 19 year old saw it on line and predicted this thing will sell like hotcakes among her crowd.
My all-time favorite perfume bottle is the Apres L’Ondee parfum bottle, followed by that gorgeous violet gizmo bottle for Insolence EdP.
I, also, love my Angel star and Lolita Lempicka apple bottles.
Hugs!
Those LL bottles are cute…but I like the ones for L de Lolita even more. SO wanted to like the juice just so I could have the bottle, but I hated it. Oh well.
I love the Insolence Edp bottle – love that it’s purple most of all and I love the juice so I have no guilt there.
I really liked the Lolita Lempicka L bottle too but ick on the juice so I didn’t get it either. But I was tempted just for the bottle! LOL!
The Givenchy Organza bottles just make absolutely no sense to me whatsoever, they do not do the juice for Organza Indecence justice at all. It’s a sexy and intense scent and it needs a very sexy bottle of its own. I think the OI bottle is bad tacky.~sigh.
I considered buying a mini…surely that was warranted?…but talked myself out of even that, since my very limited budget is much better spent on something I’ll actually use, rather than look at once in a blue moon.
I love the LL bottles … both the apple ones and the L de Lempicka one. And, lucky me, I also like the juice in both!
I love both of the Lolita Lempicka bottles, but only like the juice in the LL original, and my sister wears it as her signature scent so I hate to steal from her. I wanted to like the Coral Flower and L, those bottles would have looked so wonderfully nautical on my dresser. Oh well! I’ll steal my sister’s apple when she kills her bottle soon…
The LL Coral Flower/Fleur de Corail bottle does look really nice, though I’ve never seen one in person.
Joe, they’re prettier in person, and have a really satisfying heft to them. I think the sprayer might break easily though, based on the ones I’ve seen.
Im with you! The original LL EDP and EDT bottles are different-both apples but the EDT ia a pale lilac with rhinestones- but both are very pretty!
R, that MJ Lola bottle is a love it or hate it! I wish I could say why I love Daisy & don’t love Lola, but I can’t even explain it.
I have always loved in that good tacky way the swirly Montana bottle. I also like the Organza Indecence bottle, but am terrified it will topple so I keep it in the box at all times.
That’s a very cool bottle, just never though it was a good fit w/ the juice (the OI).
My brother gave me the Montana many years ago; the juice was very aggressive (late 80s!) so I seldom wore it, but it was a great objet d’art for the dresser.
A bit out of the left field, but I love Armani Prive refill bottles — is that dark glass or metal? Obviously, not as fab as the wood outer bottle, but quite nice on its own right: understated and cool.
I have never seen one, don’t even know what they look like!
http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i125/kegorova/APEJ15_W.jpg
hope this works
Thanks — that’s darned good looking for a refill!
M. Micaleff has some interesting looking bottles.
True — and some of them are lovely. Never seen any of them in person though.
Going to try to include links to pictures, in case people aren’t familiar with the bottles…
Bad tacky: Betsey Johnson
http://www.upscaleperfumes.com/prf_betsey.html
Good tacky: Moschino Cheap and Chic
http://www.parfumsraffy.com/women/moschinocheapchic.html
I loved the Betsey Johnson until I saw it in person…the cheap plastic on the cap changed it from good tacky to bad tacky, for me at least.
I’ve said it before, but those Moschino bottles always make me think of Olive Oyl. Was Olive notoriously cheap or something? Was she their epitome of cheap chic? They had to have done it on purpose – I even saw a coffret with Olive’s picture on the box.
Too bad that Betsey bottle is junk in person – it would be a delight otherwise.
The Moschino Cheap and Chic bottle (and the flankers like I Love Love) leave me undecided whether they are good tacky or bad tacky. . . but most definitely tacky!
Good tacky for me!
Yeah, I also like the cheap’n chic bottles. I find it mostly boring if fashion tries to be funny in that ‘look i’m so ironic’ way, but Moschino always did it with so much esprit. those olive oyl bottles just make me laugh whenever i see them.
Hi there. Franco Moschino loved Olive Oyl because she was not a standard/conventional beauty, and he created the perfume thinking of that kind of woman. Cheap&Chic because fashion should be affordable.
Bottles that I like:
YSL – a few good ones
Roma by Laura Biagiotti man and woman
Lalique – anything and the miniatures are so….
Escada for man
Kenzo – a few nice ones
Lolita Lempicka au masculin -how it pairs with the woman’s one
Boucheron Jaipur man and woman
Declaration Cartier the 30 ml one
Love the adorable LL bottles and the Nina Ricci apple, they’re just so cute. the new Nina gift set comes with a lipgloss in a tiny mirrored apple *squee*! lol
The original Anna Sui is perfect for the goth girl with it’s black edges and see-through middle to view the purple juice. and I think the Agent Provocateur bottle feels nice in the hand.
hmm good tacky… JPG has lots of tacky but humorous bottles. gotta have a giggle looking at fragile in the snow globe.
Fragile — great bottle! And JPG knows how to do good tacky, I think.
Hello all! Let me just say that I love this blog. I’ve started reading every morning with my coffee before I go to work, and sometimes on my lunch break! I happen to love the Versace Bright Crystal bottle. I just bought it, and that enormous crystal on my vanity makes me so very gleeful when I look at it!
Hi Samantha, and welcome! Congrats on your new bottle
One would think, me being a visual artist and all, that I would be a big bottle whore, but I’m not. I appreciate a pretty bottle but it doesn’t really matter. Except maybe that weird bottle the other day and that one limited one that was a big heavy crystal cube with spherical guts for the juice. Of the bottles I have the fanciest one is probably the Lolita Lempicka apple. I have not yet bought a perfume just for the bottle (good thing Harajuku Lovers has a couple of passable ones for when that day comes – lol).
I hate the rectangular Prada bottles – they are so freakin’ hard to hold!!
In the end it doesn’t matter much to me either since they’re all in a cabinet, but I still like talking about them — and I did fall prey to the Harajuku Lovers!
Oh, I sooo second that on the Prada bottles…I have smallish hands I guess because it actually kind of hurts the knuckles to try to get a firm grip on those darn things!
How about most frustrating? I love my Bulgari Omnia so much but have a hard time decanting it due to the sprayer and have accidentally squirted it all over the place with how darned sensitive that plastic top is. I don’t mind the way it looks, it’s just so unwieldy to use.
Yes! … I have an Omnia mini and it is so hard to use! I’m not crazy about the look of the bottle either.
Exactly! That mini Omnia is awful! It took me forever to figure out how to open it (ignoring as I did the instructions on the box flap), and I nearly slice my finger off every time I use it.
Hate that bottle. Also hard to decant: Kenzo Air.
I think Amouage has some of the most elegant bottles out there and I’d love to own one. I own the AG Mandragore men and I have to say it looks MUCH less “cheap” in photos than it does in real life.
I love the Kenzo aesthetic in general; to me, Amour is as elegant as a Brancusi sculpture.
Good/cute tacky = Harajuku Lovers.
All that being said, I’m not that much of a bottle collector, though an elegant bottle, even if somewhat plain does make a juice a bit more appealing. I don’t enjoy too much whimsy (Mugler bottles tend to not appeal to me).
Agreed, the Mandragore is a bit “less” in person than in photos. I still love it though. And Kenzo does have some nice bottles.
I like the Amour bottle too – very touchable!
Agree on Amouage, although I liked the original Gold men/women bottles better than the new one. Must have been very expensive to make though!
I find that Delicioius Night is hard to spray. Well, for me at least – I’m sure others with decent hand/eye coordination won’t have much difficulty. I like SO many bottles, I could be here all day talking about the pretty or classic ones that I like. So I’ll just mention one that I think is kind of bizarre. Feerie. Since I have a hard time with the harmless Delicious Night bottle, I would probably maim myslef at the very least with the Feerie bottle.
I agree, the Feerie bottle looks like it could be used as a weapon.
It’s an accident waiting to happen.
Feerie is a “no” in my book too.
I like red bottles, Vivienne Westwoods Anglomania is a favourite, kitchy but not to much (IMO), and I also find the bottle and design of Krasnaya Moskva to be really russian, in a good way. Generally I have a weak spot for kitchy or really scaled down bottles, like Stoned by Solange (it´s red too!) or the plain (not bell) SL bottles… Interesting in different ways.
Love the Stoned bottle, and the older Krasnaya Moskva bottles…the cap on the newer ones isn’t so much fun.
Krasnaya Moskva (Red Moscow) is a great example of the soviet design. Another good one is Stone Flower:
http://www.casual-info.ru/images/Pict/derussiezaray.jpg
My vote for the biggest pain in the a$$ bottles goes to all the bottles that cannot stand up without having to stand behind them at all times, just in case. I love the artistry and perfume of Organza Indecence and Donna Karan’s original Black Cashmere among way too many others. I like the simplicity and elegance of the Chanel Parfum bottles. But, The Lorax in me loves refillable bottles. (By Killian comes to mind, and although the packaging is stunning and unique, it is just too excessive)
I love the black pebble Black Cashmere bottle, too! It reminds me of Elsa Peretti’s stuff for Tiffany’s, and by extensions, her bottle for Halston, which is great, too.
Love the BC bottle, although I don’t usually like lay down bottles so much. That one is just the perfect shape, and fits the juice so nicely.
Has anyone seen the bottle for ‘Stoned’ by Solange.. it’s kind of tacky, weird in a good way: http://www.luckyscent.com/shop/item/36300/Stoned.html
i love the classic guerlain parfum bottles, i.e. jicky, vol de nuit, shalimar
the original gucci eau de parfum bottle was great. really heavy looked like a retro/modern paperweight: https://shop.maxs.nf/cart/components/com_virtuemart/shop_image/product/5436eff413dc4694b4596ffa02fd4262.jpg
also Jalaine makes cool bottles: http://www.luckyscent.com/shop/section/1/item/27302/brand/Jalaine/Amber.html
i also vote for the betsey johnson as worst bottle. it would stick out like a sore thumb, is not easily stored or hidden … and even if i loved the juice (which smells just like cartier’s delices on me) would be too embarrassed to have the bottle.
The Stoned bottle is great, wish I loved that fragrance because I’d like to have one.
That Jalaine is gorgeous!
Like the Stoned bottle, too but I’d be almost afraid to try it.
I like the case and the bottle to Arabia Ouds Mokhalat Ghoroob.
I’ll have to look for those — don’t know the brand.
I love so many of the Guerlain bottles- of course the gold bee bottle, the Shalimar bottle (I saw a gorgeous limited edition done in black somewhere online a while back), the mitsouko/l’heure blue bottle, the apres l’ondee bottle, the propellar Vol de Nuit bottle
Also love the new Amouage bottles- And of course the lovely SL Bell Jar (sigh)…a bunch of the Bond no. 9 (really like the new Brooklyn bottle that people have their panties in a wad about
That new line Omnia Profumo- that is a nice looking bottle…
Don’t much like those three limited edition Georgio Armani bottles- the pink/purple/green trio-very clunky/frumpy)
the Vol de Nuit propeller bottle is great!
Yes! The Vole de Nuit propeller bottle is one of my very favorites. It was the first time I could remember really “needing” a bottle instead of a decant. It just didn’t seem like the experience of the perfume would be complete without one.
I found a vintage one on *bay — complete with the crazy zebra patterned box. I treasure it.
Oh for pete’s sake. Vol de Nuit.
Vole de Nuit is an entirely different lemming. (snerk!)
Hah! I do love a silly pun…
you’re not kidding! LOL
OMG! You lucky you! 1 of my favourites, too – just recently discovered that I a*d*o*r*e that fragrance, after always having fancied that bottle design. If I found a vintage bottle I’s be so disconsolate as I prob. couldn’t afford it.
Never say never! I got mine for under half of what it retails. You could set a limit, and then sell some decants once you purchase.
Um. Not that I’m an expert at enabling myself and others…
I agree that the Shalimar perfume bottles are gorgeous-particularly the antique baccaurate ones.
Oh, yes, all the classic Guerlain bottles are so lovely. I’m not sure whether my favorite bottle is Shalimar or Chamade (the upside-down heart one).
But I love the classic, straightforward heft of Chanel bottles in crystal, too.
Good tacky: Lola – will sell like crazy.
Bad tacky: Galliano.
Awful: the refills for Guerlain – I feel “poor” when I see them thinking I could not afford the metall stuff also.
Beauty: Chanel Extrait with the small elegnat bottle, the packaging, a treasure.
I havent’ seen the Galliano in person, but don’t much care for the picture.
I don’t care for the contents, but the Lulu Guinness Cast a Spell bottle is good tacky and the box is very pretty. It channels the inner Disney Princess.
http://www.sephora.com/browse/product.jhtml?id=P126500
It is a cute bottle! I used to have it but swapped it because I didn’t care for the contents either. But I kind of miss the bottle …
Oh, I forgot the most beautiful I want just or mostly for the bottle (does this exist as perfume?!) LANVIN Arpege.
And I think I love also L’Instant de Guerlain extrait bottle. All tiny bottles are cute!
That’s a lovely bottle.
Remember Lagerfeld’s Sun Moon Stars? My 5-yr old niece loved the mini bottle.
Everyone loves that one! I never got to see it, will have to go Google.
I just saw Sun Moon Stars on sale (+ – 9 Euro) in a dept. store! I have to say it was ‘bad tacky’ for me, but I do know lots of people who love that bottle; there were actually two ladies swooning over it at the counter where I saw it on sale.
I don’t know why, since my aesthetic is generally pretty eclectic, but I generally prefer plain to funky in my bottles. I don’t like the LLs, or the coloured plastic Kenzos, or the Poison series of crazy-coloured pumpkins. I can appreciate them as objects sometimes, but they don’t seem romantic enough for perfume, which I prefer in classical (Chanel, vintage Guerlain, the glorious SL bell jars) or minimalist (Bulgari Black, the Donna Karan reissues) forms. I think the Diptyques are lovely as well, with their exquisite labels and oval shapes. Oh, and I agree – the Arpege bottle is spectacular!
I bought a bottle of L’Heure Bleue this week which came in a refillable gold shell with little holes that I hadn’t seen before. I think I like it, but whoa, 80s.
I adore the Diptyques, perfect packaging and great fit with the brand.
I always though Hermes Caleche eau Delicate and Hermès Un Jardin en Méditerranée were beautiful bottles. And MJ Daisy has to be the cutest…
Yes, you remind me that I love the graduated colors in the Hermès Jardins bottles; they look great all lined up next to each other.
Agree, I think amongst the simple classical shapes I love the standard Hermès best (beside Chanel). Bottle and lid feel so good in your hand, there’s something very organic-erotic about them, in totally classy way, if that makes sense…
I love bottles with clean lines and something so simple about them that the let the fragrance talk.
For men–Dior Homme.
For women–Maud Frizon perfume.
Other than that– vintage 1920′ bottles rock
They did a great job w/ Dior Homme. I don’t know Maud Frizon!
Maud Frizon was the Manolo Blahnik of the eighties. Her perfume came out in the mid to late eighties. 1985 maybe?? (It’s fruity floral fragrance with lime, ginger, tulip, gardenia, myrrh and musk…)
The bottle is a perfect sphere. A cristal ball to see the future…..When you first look at it, it’s even hard to figure out that it is a perfume bottle. Especially while still full. It’s now nearly impossible to find.
Thanks!
Idole de Lubin with the African mask is one I’d buy just for the bottle – although I happen to love the fragrance, too!
Good tacky: The Max Factor vintage black cat.
Bad tacky: Bond #9 bottles covered in Swarovski crystals.
I’m with you on L’Idole
I like the Idole a lot too, although it’s politically suspect. This is an exception to my simple/classic rule, since it’s neither, but it’s very stylish.
Idole is a great bottle, wish I had one.
I like the Chopard Madness bottle, square red glass with beveled lines on it–too bad the juice is kind of weird.
Great looking bottle, although I never got to see it in person.
I love the Madness bottle, and I love Madness. I have a mini, and it is cute as heck. I would say my least favorite bottle is the Betsy Johnson, and favorite is perhaps the Theorema bottle, although I have only seen it in photos. There are so many good ones, it is difficult to choose.
I just purchased the 25 ml travelling size Thierry Mugler Cologne. It’s shaped as a tube of toothpaste and looks very cool imho. And I love love love the juice as well.
A very kind person sent me one of those Mugler Cologne bottles & I love it too.
I don’t really care for frilly bottles. Especially when they are not functional,i.e leak etc. The bottles I like are the Malles. Solid,well packaged, no humbug. I also like the CSP aluminium ones; not for their looks so much. But they protect what’s in them very well.
See, and I wish the Malles were maybe just a wee tad more interesting? Even if just a more interesting label? But do agree w/ the philosophy — it shouldn’t be “about” the packaging.
Yes, I remember your comment on that in the Parfum de Thérèse review. I admire F. Malle’s consistent view on his product: an olfactory Gallimard. I have only smelled a few of his fragrances, but they were pretty stunning.
I guess what annoys me most about some bottles is that they may look great, but will fall apart pretty quickly. The L’Histoire d’Eau Topaze one by Mauboussin for instance. Unusual looking but spraying the fragrance erodes the plastic that holds the perfume-containing bottle. It simply looks ghastly now.
A bottle I do seriously admire for it’s looks is the L’eau d’Issey one. Simply beautiful. I guess I mostly like the more minimalist bottles, like the Chanels, the Ormonde Jaynes, the masculine Goutal bottles and the Divines.
Yes…at the very least, you should be able to use the scent w/o ruining the bottle!
I agree completely – I love a minimalist aesthetic, and I think it would be so beautiful and apothecary-like to have a line of Frederic Malles, Le Labos and CB I Hate Perfumes in my cabinet! Not to mention the beautiful juice from all these lines!
A vote for most frustrating spray: Murmure by VC&A. Flacon is meh, scent is–ahem–hard to ignore.
Not a favorite bottle of mine either.
Of the bottles I own or have owned in the past:
Most boring/cheapest looking: Parfums de Nicolai
Tackiest: M by Mariah Carey
Classiest: Chanel – love them
Favorites: Original Poison bottle, the Lempickas, Juicy Couture, Angel star, Kenzo Ryoko
Everyone hates the PdN packaging — I don’t mind it although admittedly it isn’t the best.
I bought a large bottle of Le Temps d’une Fete, and after I’d used it once, I went to use it again, and the cheap, plastic, gold-colored globe on the top popped loose. I suppose I can glue it back on, but really…that’s pretty bad. If better packaging = higher prices, however, I’ll take the cheap packaging, thank you very much!!!!
Oh, that is pretty bad. Luckily I haven’t had trouble w/ any of mine.
It turns out I love bottles way more than I thought I would, given that the bulk of my collection are decants! I own a bottle of Fendi Palazzo just to look at as the juice does nothing for me (I swapped for it) and I have a fondness for Rochas bottles; they have personality. Absolu, Femme and Tocade are favorites (although I’m sure at least the Tocade bottle is someone else’s bad tacky.) I like the clean and classic look of Chanel bottles the most, but I also have an unreasonable fondness for the undoubtably tacky Gres Cabaret bottle. Bad tacky imo is Betsy Johnson, but I think the way overpriced lady head sculpture MDCI bottles are kind of tacky, too. Fun post!
I wanted that Palazzo bottle too — really nice, they ought to use it for another scent since they axed it anyway!
What about those Ajne embellishments?! They are impressive, aren’t they?
And Pilar and Lucy with the furry-feathers? Too tacky for me
Ajne uses lots of Bohemian glass, right?
I have no idea what type of glass they are made of but the bottles are just lovely!
http://www.ajne.com/shop/home.php?cat=23
Don’t you agree?
I like the black one…gotta admit the others just aren’t really my taste, but everyone has different taste, right?
That’s true, thankfully, or we wouldn’t be able to swap!
LOL…exactly!
I’m not much of a bottle girl….usually like ones that fit in small space well together…so I can get more bottles in the same space!
But I have to say that there is something about the L’artisan bottles that has always appealed to me–classy, elegant, clean lines…
My daughter love the Shiseido Feminite du Bois bottle –she says it looks like it’d hold poison…that’s it! no more shakespeare for that girl!
Another bottle that is very interesting, strangely appealing in person is John Varvatos Artisan in it’s wicker cover…it’s just neat.
I really like the L’Artisan bottles too … they’re elegant and I love the heavily weighted cap.
Oh, a chance to dissent! LOL! Feel like I’ve been saying “me too” all day. I hate the l’Artisan bottles. They just look big and clunky to me.
that’s not clunky —it’s ‘substantial’ —go stand in the corner j/k
I really enjoy the uniformity of L’Artisan also, and the colored stripe and silhouette logo for each perfume. I also think the newer cap looks nicer than the old one, though many dislike it. The bottles also look especially nice in a large grouping (no further comment!!!).
Really like the wicker — great idea.
Is it okay to mention cute rollerballs and all those Christmas compact cases? ~ oh oh!
Of course!
I love the bottles for Feminite du Bois and Nikki de st Phalle, both are so beautiful, and so different too.
Yay! I love both of these, and how could I forget Niki, whom I’m always touting? Love the parfum bottle AND all the zodiac EDT bottles. So cool.
Oh, the Niki de Saint Phalle is one of the best ever.
The old Vigny Golliwog bottles are fascinating. It’s hard to imagine a world in which such a design would be popular, but I credit those strange, whimsical and somewhat horrific bottles with seducing me into the world of fragrance.
The very definition of politically incorrect now, right? They’re amazing.
I like all the Bois 1920 bottles; I think they’re lovely. And as I mentioned somewhere above, Chanels in crystal are so elegant.
I love Tocade, but I think the bottle is one of the double-cheeziest things I’ve ever seen (yes, I used a Z on purpose). Worse: the Lola bottle we discussed last (?) week: an accident in elementary school art class.
In the good-tacky category, we have Daisy and Maurer & Wirtz Pussy Deluxe Velvet Kitten, with its peacock feathers and blue-and-green cats. I’ll see if I can find a link – can’t now, I’m taking a kid to baseball practice…
OMG I NEED some Pussy Deluxe Velvet Kitten! The bottle is fabulous, plus how can I pass up something called Pussy Deluxe??? The regular PD bottle is cool too but Velvet Kitten is great.
http://tinyurl.com/p8772v
Promises to smell really teenagery, too. lol
Love that Velvet Kitten bottle, & the box! I almost wouldn’t care what it smelled like.
LOL too cute, too cute…but I can’t spend money on cute. Love the box!
The Pussy Deluxe Velvet Kitten even has tassels – I mean, how adorable can it be?! I can’t take it.
I’m not particularly into bottles, but I do love the borderline tacky MDCI bottles — although they remind me of some faux Italianate palazzo with plaster-of-paris busts dotting the yard — and the Nikki de Saint Phalle, just because I have a thing for snakes. And my heart goes pitter-patter at the sight of a Chanel bottle, although that might be PTSD — when I was 16, I clumsily dropped my bottle of No. 5 extrait on the bathroom floor, ker-smasho. I still relive the horror…
While I’m not enthralled by bottles, however, I LOVE the boxes they come in! Nothing like a beautifully fitted little box. Oh, and I’ve got to confess that the thoughtfulness of Andy Tauer’s hand-tied ribbons and handwritten notes actually bring a tear to my eye.
Funny — I look at the boxes for a minute then throw them out!
I usually keep my boxes too! Well, as long as I can justify holding onto them. I love the Tauer packaging, though I wish the bottles were less gold. =P And those notes are so touching, I agree.
For my money, you can’t beat the Hermessence bottles. They’ve got weight. Only way to make them better? Upping the size (with no noticeable price increase, of course)! ;3
I also love the L’Artisan bottles. Apparently the seven sides are symbolic but for the life of me can’t remember why.
I like heavy bottles, if you couldn’t tell.
I totally agree!
And I also keep the packaging – mostly for swapping.
Exactly! Like a plastic fountain with a plastic classical goddess pouring the water–supposed to be “fancy” but just ends up looking cheap.
Beside the obvious ones (Arpège black glass, VdN propeller bottle, Hermès ‘standard’, Chanel) I’ve always loved Cacharel’s LOU LOU for it’s sheer freakyness. That loud colour combination and the weird plastic toy look. Very sexy.
I also like the Costume National 30 ml pebble flacon.
Why in the world did I think Lou Lou’s bottle was made of plastic…? Ceramics – even better, still wonderfully outlandish to me.
That reminds me of other oldfashioned ceramics bottles: Tabac and Old Spice. Lov’em!
I’m assuming you mean this one?:
http://www.fragrantica.com/images/perfume/nd.1276.jpg
I don’t know what came over me, but I just found a mini on ebay for $9.95 and HAD to have it. The juice actually sounds half interesting too, and even if the mini bottle is plastic, I don’t care. It’s pretty cute.
Joe, let me know how you like it. We seem to overlap on likes a lot, and I remember all the LouLou ads from my teen years (aka my fashion-magazine-obsessing years). I always wondered what it smelled like, but only see it in places that don’t have testers.
Yeah, I should be at least interesting, Luca T calls it one of the greats.
Actually I meant the normal size bottle, which looks like a cross between icicle and hand grenade.
http://img.perfume.com/p/l/a/94/lou-lou-by-cacharel-1008833.jpg
Those small ones are definitely cute, though. Look as if they are the perfume version.
I like ceramic bottles too…the original Lou Lou was a great bottle. The later ones I don’t know — were they plastic?
Oh no, I think they still are ceramics. It’s just that the colour and milky blue makes them look like plastic to me and I got confused. I saw them in a design exhibition once. I think the designer was someone with a name.
That makes sense, thanks.
Some of the Bond 9 bottles are gorgeous. I especially like the new Aster Place bottle.
So true … I’m surprised Bond No. 9 wasn’t mentioned earlier!
Was suprised not to see one mention either Jill. We ARE talking bottles and not juice so I figured there would have been at least one.
They’ve done a great job. Whatever happened to the Brooklyn bottle contest, I wonder??
I like the Etro packaging
I also like the Bvlgari Black bottle.
and the silver words CdG 2 bottle
The John Galliano bottle looked really nice in the picture.
CdG has done some really wonderful limited edition bottles.
The Galliano bottle is a weapon! I nearly dropped it until I find how to spray it on, then I nearly hit my eys with the sharp end of it.
I kind of love/hate Galliano, and I was very curious.
Love the guerlain exclusive bottles of the Art et La Materie. They are simple, but very elegant. The bad thing is that you can’t keep it with the spray inside the package.
Love the ambered-brown with metalic spray bottle of M7. It fits well with the juice itself. M7 Fresh is very interesting to, because acording the angle that you look the bottle, it has a slightly different color.
Good tacky to me is the Kingdom Bottle. The bad thing is to apply it, it’s amost impossible to hold it in the 100ml version.
I love the Kingdom bottle
but it is very hard to spray and I’m always missing my arm
I have never seen Kingdom in person! I need to shop more
OH! How could I forget John Varvatos Artisan? Totally original packaging and a damn good fragrance too!
Yep.
Most beautiful: “Puredistance” and the classic “Chanel No.5″ and “l’Eau d’Issey”
Ugliest: too busy to be beautiful’s “Breath of God”
L’Eau d’Issey is a great bottle, very classic.
True on the last one but they’re so cheap that I hardly mind.
I’m glad someone else up there mentioned the Poison bottle, because though we’ve all seen it a million times and it’s just part of the landscape, it really is amazingly beautiful–the esprit de parfum bottle more so than the eaux, but they’re all gorgeous.
Halston’s Catalyst for Men is completely fantastic if you’re a guy: bottles that look like test tubes (complete with stands) and beakers, to bring out the eight-year-old in all of us. Simple but irresistible.
I just bought a one-ounce bottle of Tom Ford Black Orchid and let me tell you, that bottle is a sensual delight. Not only is it sleek and beautiful (a round-shouldered pebble of ink-black glass), it feels really wonderful in the hand–slender and compact and a little heavy, with that ribbed surface that sets up little vibrations in your skin as your run your fingers over it. Not to make it sound too sexual or anything.
*Fans self*
I wore Catalyst for many many years!
Had to google the Catalyst…great fun! And agree on the TF.
I used to like the Black Orchid bottle but I’ve come to think it looks like a caricature of a bobby. xP
Hi Becca here. I suggested this post because for me, the bottle forms my first impression. I desperately want to like Tom Ford’s White Patchouli because of the elegance of the austere white bottle with the gold plaque. The same is true for Black Orchid. I also adore the Bulgari Black Violette bottle. Also the Lolita Lempika bottles, the Poison bottles, Cacheral’s Anais Anais and Noa Perle, Organza’s artistic lines, all the Jaline bottles, all bottles that are chunky square glass with rectangular glass tops (Chanel, Bagley Mishca(?)…). They feel like they are holding something with meaning. Versace Woman and I like, not love the Versace Versace bottle. But my favorite bottle (and juice is nice too) is Givenchy’s Fleur De Privee, a slightly V’d frosted glass with etched flower’s all the way up. I have one on display in my bedroom. Fragrance.com has just gotten some new in. I hope they haven’t cheaped out and it’s still glass.
Tacky? Marc Jacobs Lola, and Betsy Johnson.
I don’t understand why so many designers pick plain bottles…Ormande Jayne and Jo Malone? I just want to feel like I’m do something special and ritualistic when I put on my perfume.
Joy.
Becca
Hope you enjoy the poll…I don’t think I care nearly as much as you do about bottles. It’s nice if they’re pretty, but a plain but classic bottle like OJ or JM is just fine w/ me.
Thanks Robin. It is very interesting. I have a ton of bottles, that are plain-but the juice is wonderful…Water Lilly and Honeysuckle from Jo Malone for example. S.L., O.J., J.M., all have rather plain bottles, I think, because they want to emphasize the perfume, i.e., no need for a fancy bottle.
I can’t believe I forgot this. But the prissiest,pretty, most feminine bottle has to go to the pink and gold Fifi Chachnit. Wow. It’s too bad the juice doesn’t smell anything like the bottle. For me, its smells like woods and rubber that was set on fire and then rained on. Darn, I wanted so hard to like this.
What do you think of White Patchouli? Love that bottle to. It’s a woody floral, which several references have allured to it smelling like Narcisso Rodriguez, which I like.
Hi Becca. I collect the bottles and know exactly where you’re coming from. I will buy the same perfume but NEVER the same bottle twice. I am a huge sucker for the limited edition bottles. This past year I’ve been on a ‘refillable purse atomizer’ kick and love the Ralph Lauren, Ralph Lauren Safari, and Miss Boucheron ones (that one is actually on a silk cord-love it). The Bvlgari ones have a nice, elegant, simplistic architecture to them.
). But, that’s her design aesthetic. I am shocked with MJ and the Lola bottle. I have to give a confession…for the longest time I didn’t smell any of the Lolita perfumes because the bottles made me think they were cheap drug store perfumes…sorry.
I cursed Kenzo-before I ever even smelled the perfume-when I saw the Kenzo Amour bottles–those wicked, wicked people. Love the perfume and am trying to get the Indian Holi and the one in the gold bottle now, too. All of my bottles are packed away right now and the brain won’t let me do inventory for favs.
I hate it when the juice is colored instead of the bottle. I have a beautiful limited edition Emeraude bottle from when I was younger that just isn’t the same clear-instead of green.
I hate paying an arm and leg for a perfume that is in a plain bottle. the CSP’s just kill me–they look like air freshers. As for JM…I have Black Vetiver Cafe-love, LOVE it-but have to keep reapplying every fifteen minutes.
I think EVERYONE agrees on the BJ bottle (unless I missed someone
Now, for the White Patchouli (sorry for being so winded). I have been dying to know if ANYONE ELSE gets METALLIC in the opening? On me, that’s what I get. Two hours later, in the dry-down, it’s a beautiful, sophisticated patchouli.
I forgot to add that Narciso Rodriguez doesn’t smell anything like White Patchouli. They are both soft (once the metallic goes away for me), sophisticated, earthy fragrances but don’t smell alike. One is patch and the other amber.
For me the prettiest bottle is L’Air Du Tems
and the second prise goes to Orgaza
Good tacky are some Guerlains
Bad tacky are bottles with sculptures on top like Sisley Eau du Soir, Soir de Lune and those MSDI-something….I just hate those!
From mainstream I don’t like 1million Paco Rabanne. It’s defenetly for gentlemen with low self-esteem.
I myself adore Hermes simple design and the Eau des Merveilles is also georgeous.
And there is nothing more elegant than Chanel!
Eau des Merveilles is a fabulous bottle, and love what they’ve done with the limited edition versions too.
I agree with you about sculptured bottle tops — blah. But I do prefer the Eau du Soir flacon to the MDCI bottles; someone further up said MDCI reminded them of that fake rococo garden marble ornament look, which is how I feel about it, too.
Interesting thread! Bottles, I’m finding, are pretty important to me. I almost wouldn’t buy a fragrance if I hated the bottle (notice I say “almost”, but I’ve been pretty lucky so far to not fall in love with such a product.) I do have Gres Cabaret, but I like its funky bottle.
I think the Etro bottles are the most beautiful of those I know. They are simple, balanced, graceful and classy. And I may be in the minority on this one, but I like The Different Company’s bottles. Very modern and “architectural”! I fell for the mini aluminum travel case (yes, I admit to having one.)
HA…I like the TDC bottles but can only afford the refills
Well, the refills are mostly what I have too. I did splurge for the big bottle of Bergamote when I was younger and more foolish. A few months ago, LOL.
the Diesel Only the Brave bottle is so ugly
apparently it is supposed to be a ~*revolutionary fist*~ but I’d be scared that it might sucka punch mee
LMAO at KROK. HA!
I didn’t think it was ugly, exactly, but like many bottles (maybe even most) it was not as cool looking in person as it was in pictures.
It looked like a cheap rip-off the Joe Louis memorial tribute statue in downtown Detroit. Affectionately known as “The Fist” because no one can be bothered to remember it’s real title. It’s just a huge clenched fist suspended from a tripod.
I didn’t like it either. Thought it was tacky and in bad taste.
Prettiest bottle? Lovely by SJP, Lismore by Waterford, Chanel No. 5. I also love the SL bell jars and the Jo Malone bottles.
Bad tacky? Head Over Heels by Ultima II
Here’s the photo
http://www.namebrandsperfume.com/index.php?file=product&iproductid=525&icategoryid=1345
And a “bad tacky” to all the His & Hers duos that look like KY Yours & Mine…
This head over heels is really mad!
LOL! Had never heard of that Head Over Heels, very funny.
It looks like the yard decorations people use to make graveyard decorations for Halloween – just the feet and legs sticking up from the ground. *ew*
Ack! The winner is Head Over Heels!
It is really quite dreadful, isn’t it?
Goodness – I’m so so so late to the party this time!
Half the fun of perfuming is bottle collecting. Of course, Guerlain has some masterpieces, but I also love the original 1987 Nina by Nina Ricci perfume bottle and the special edition Ce Soir ou Jamais frosted glass bottle that resembles a velvet pouch with tassels. Both these bottles reflect the soft femininity of the liquid within.
I will have to find a picture of that AG, never seen it…
Hi Robin,
Fragrantica has a picture of it….
http://www.fragrantica.com/perfume/Annick-Goutal/Ce-Soir-Ou-Jamais-753.html
- Ann
Confused…thought that was a fabric pouch over their regular glass bottle?
On my computer, it’s featured in the Ebay ad right under the title. But Perfumesmellinthings also has a picture in Donna’s review:
http://perfumesmellinthings.blogspot.com/2008/06/roses-in-3-d-annick-goutal-ce-soir-ou.html
Aha, I stand corrected, thanks!
Never seen it in person, but I think the tackiest bottle I’ve ever seen in a picture is the Etat Libre d’Orange Secretions Magnifique with its, um, anatomical illustration.
Not necessarily what you want on your dresser
or in the house, or in the neighborhood….eww.
I love the Bond No. 9 bottles. They’re so pretty and unique and I adore those little subway tokens on each bottle!. Everytime I see a Bond bottle I want to own it. The scents are great, too, I’m in Love with Fire Island, New Haarlem and Nuits de NoHo.
They do a great job on packaging…I esp. want all the Andy Warhol series.
Im probably alone in this but i think the Chopard Wish diamond shaped bottle is quite nice- and i like the perfume.
I also think the Anna Sui, Sui Dreams handbag bottle is tacky but i cant make up my mind if its tacky good or bad.
I think that’s a great bottle!
I have a question on bottles – when I buy a LANVIN Arpege bottle, which one is the black, is it a certain size?
I would try to get it somewhere or put it on my wishlist for my b-day
My bottle of Arpege is a 50ml EDP and is clear with a gold lid-I have seen the black bottle in chemists maybe it is the EDT. Goodluck with the wishlist!
Thank you! I would love to have a tiny bottle, maybe I should look in the drugstores. I found a store who has 30ml EdP but I am not sure what the bottle looks like.
The original LANVIN bottle (I have it in a book about Lanvin herself) is made out of Sevrés-Porcalin. It is sooo beautiful *dream*
To me the most beautiful bottles of all time are:
1. L’Air du Temps
2. Dior’s Baccarat bottle with the gold flowers on top
3. Shalimar
My contemporary favourites are:
1. L de Lolita
2. Angel
3. Lolita Lempicka EDT with rhinestones
I was wondering what the Betsey Joyhnson top should be made of if it isn’t plastic? Surely glass would fall over and break too easily. I agree that it’s tacky though.
Karl Lagerfeld sure seems to borrow from the past. His Sun, Moon & Stars is reminiscent of Worth’s Je Reviens blue orb covered with tiny stars. His newer Kapsule is just like Ybry’s shape.
Parure is pretty stunning with its smoky amorphous stopper. I just got a Metallica bottle to add to my extensive collection. I have both it and its box on display in my new vitrine. I keep all boxes. They can be flattened for easier storage until the time comes to sell the bottle. Then the bottle may be sold for more than without the box.
This will sound silly, but better quality plastic…I know it could not be glass.
My most beautifull bottles (designer though)
Dior Homme and Narciso Rodriguez – for Him.. They are simple, clean, amazing.. just beautifull..
I’m surprised Narciso Rodriguez hasn’t had a mention yet…really nice job on packaging.
My favourite bottles are:
Coriolan by Guerlain with the classic powder horn shape.
Dior Homme – for sheer clean lines and elegance.
The Penhaligon’s bottles with the exception of Quercus which needs redesigning. If you have a fairly large number of them they look great together.
For originality I don’t think you can beat L’Anarchiste by Caron. The idea of a copper coating that develops it’s own unique patina with age is inspired.
Yeeaaow — wicked picks!
L’Anarchiste is a great bottle, and another one that’s a really good match w/ the juice.
hey…what about Serge Lutens export range…classic,clean, with a slight edge, refillable…and great to hold !!!
ok there are gazillion gorgeous bottles out there shapes, sizes. textures…there is only one that strikes discord…angel!!!
BTW, have just received a bottle of Fem d bois from fragrancenet (the original one). i don’t have a side by side comparison, but it seems to smell like the new one i remember smelling at the SL counter quite stong cederwood and little else. can anybody comment on the differences?
Sorry, I have not yet smelled the new FdB…
I remembered another one I really like: Rive Gauche, with its incredible metal canister and blue and black stripes. Iconic and timeless and not too frou-frou: perfect.
Yes! Too bad they wrecked the scent.
Love bottles: most of the old Guerlains, Chanel n° 5 and serge Lutens bell jars (not to mention his limited editions: gorgeus stuff!).
I’m sad to say that, except for SL and few other exceptions (isabey gardenia, OJ, dyptique, byredo and Vero kern – all love bottle/love juice), usually the more I love a bottle the least I like the fragrance inside (and vice versa).
Parfums d’empire, Eau d’Italie, Montale, CdG incense series and l’artisan parfumeur – featuring most of my favorite juices- have very plain/dull bottles IMO.
bad bad bad tacky: amouage
good tacky: LL, Angel, Cheap&chic
my soft spot: anything with a retro-looking atomizer
I am not a fan of the Eau d’Italie bottles either…they all look like shampoo.
I adore the Serge Lutens bell jars. They are very exotic yet simple. I also love how they are individually designed to reflect the character of the perfume, or just left plain to honour the juice itself. Very nice.
Ormonde Jayne EdPs are elegant and minimalist, and the hefty stoppers click satisfyingly into place. I also love her Parfum bottles – again, simple elegance with a delightful touch of gold wire wrapped around the neck of the opening.
I own the 7ml Bandit parfum, and I enjoy its dinkiness and vintage feel!!!!!
Basically, I love a bottle with a stopper!
Hey, I have a mini Fracas like that! Love it.
I’ll admit, I’m a sucker for nearly anything opaque (also good for long-term storage) and Modern-Art-looking. Someone mentioned that Black Cashmere bottle, that smooth black little egg, I love it but too bad the fume doesn’t work on me. Oh, yeah, and those little Kenzo Amour bottles.
I like opaque too, and it’s rare.
I also quite like most Chanels (except Chance, the weirdo) and vintage Guerlains and Diors.
I like Isabey Gardenia by Parouge — just a small, tight, square little chunk of gold.
Also the beautiful, wild looking Eau de Rochas with its big, round, textured cap.
I also rather like Narcisso Rodriguez For Her — the black one and the pink one, but I don’t particularly like the scent. In fact, I like really sleak looking perfumes — all the black Robert Piguet bottles.
I generally don’t like bottles which are too pretty (like all the AG women’s fragrances, especially the round ones with butterflies and half-moons as stoppers — sorry round bottle lovers, I know there are quite a few of you!), but I do kind of like the tiny, plain looking Borsari bottles with old-fashioned font labels and small bowties… never seen them in person though.
And I like the lovely 1930s flacon of AdP Profumo with the big vaporizer.
I don’t like perfumes that are difficult to hold or don’t stand upright without a little contraption to prop them up — looks silly, even when the bottles are otherwise quite nice (CdG, Angel).
The ugliest bottles to me are those adorned with lots of plastic (Paloma Picasso or Trésor with that big, black plastic cap), huge fake jewels (Maitre Parfumeur et Gantier) or just generally ugly design (Dalissime, Dalimania, Organza, which has already been mentioned a lot).
I think it’s most likely easier to go wrong with a really fancy bottle, and it doesn’t happen often that I fall for really elaborate ones, but I also tend to find some of the plainer ones a bit uninspired (Serge Lutens, Frederic Malle).
Also like: the vanity bottle of Onyx by Sage Machado, ahhhh.
Also: Jil Sander Man and Man Absolute. Those bottles are hot. Bye!
Hate, hate, hate the fake jewels in the MPG bottles!
Just wanted to mention, to me the Narciso R. For her bottes are very nice in the sense that they look creamy, rich, and the contrast of pink and black is alluring in a sort of contrasting innocence vs. sensual sort of way.
HOWEVER. They are completely and totally opaque, which means that even when you hold them up to the light you can’t tell how much juice there is or is left. I have a friend who bought a 50 ml, and it ran out on her in a matter of very few weeks and she has a sneaking suspicion it was sold to her half full, but she had no way of telling.
Humm, you’re right, a completely opaque botle would be annoying for not knowing how much is actually inside.
I’ve not owned one so far, so never had to deal with that… They must be good for long term storage, though.
Late to the bottle party here. . .
My favorite: Chanel no 5/ no 22/ etc— the classic.
Right up there: Niki de St. Phalle– cobalt blue with snakes!
Gres Cabochard (cube with corners smoothed away)
Chloe (original) parfum (globe with frosted calla lily stopper)
Arpege (black globe)
Better late than never, and all good picks!
I forgot a pretty bottle – Dolce Vita. And I love the scent, too.
And two cute-tackies: Anna Sui Night of Fancy and Flight of Fancy (the peacock ones).
Yes, Anna Sui does really good tacky bottles!
Bottles I love eh, there r so many of em! I love the bottle of the first perfume I ever wore, Alchimie by Rochas! Looks like a pumpkin with a crystal on top of it. I love the bottle of the new Shiseido Zen. i love the bottle of Noa by Cacharel with a little pearl floatin inside of it. I love the bottle of Pucci Vivara, and I adore the juice too:)) I love the bottle of CdG series Sweet, especially the butterfly-shaped Sticky Cake (and I freakin love the juice that’s discontinued!) bottle. I love Hermes bottle of the Un Jardin series. Now the good tacky? Yea, Marc Jacobs Daisy. It’s kinda tacky but I like it that way. Bad tacky? Britney Spears Curious and other In Control, whatever, it’s tacky n ungly. Curious bottle was inspired by a beautiful and tasteful bottle created by YSL, and the one containing Baby doll.
Pucci Vivara was perfect…do wish it had another juice in it.
I skimmed most of these comments and was pretty sure that no one had mentioned Zen, but now I just saw your comment!!
I’m glad you liked it, the bottle is beautiful isn’t it? Such a simple idea, opaque and transparent planes, but very nice effect achieved. They say the bottle was inspired by traditional Japanese tea houses. Not that I know what those look like. What’d you think of the perfume? No one on this blog seems to have smelled it. I’m dying for an educated opinion.
Ah, I know I’m super late, but I will throw in my penny’s worth….I should add that I’m a newbie and not familiar with much other than mainstream scents….
Prettiest( AND a pretty good perfume in my very humble opinion )is Zen by shiseido:
http://www.misscompras.com/uploaded/normal/perfume_zen_de_shiseido.jpg
Most annoying : M by Mariah Carey with the big butterfly on it. What is it with that woman and butterflies? http://makeupbag.net/wp-content/uploads/m-by-mariah-carey-bottle-shot.jpg
Funniest: diesel’s fuel for life. It actually made me chuckle once as I imagined it to have felt a bit chilly in the store, thus putting on a grandma shawl.
https://shop.maxs.nf/cart/components/com_virtuemart/shop_image/product/00747175dba510335ed25f8d6bc336cb.jpg
LOL…the Diesel Fuel “covers” are kind of funny.
I love that too. N.R. falls in with my classy square (rectangular) bottles with rectangular tops). It’s similar to tom ford’s curved lines.
Who is the guy, oh, Jean Paul Galtier? with the dress form bottles and other unusual ones. Weird, strangely appealing.
I collect bottles. And any pretty pink packaging, I am making a collage to put in my shabby chic bedroom.
Have you smelled White Patchouli Robin? Is it very feminine? I am hoping I will love it. I love N.R. Is it similar in attitude?
Here you go:
http://www.nstperfume.com/2008/08/27/tom-ford-white-patchouli-perfume-review/