In 1960, Avon launched a perfume it called "Unforgettable". By 2011, it had forgotten all about it. "It is a very, very old fragrance," the polite Indian gentleman with the unlikely name of Fabian told me on via Avon's customer service phone number. "It has been wiped from the database."
"Someone must have records on it somewhere," I told him. "Do you think you could get me the phone or an email for Avon's PR firm?"
"Just a moment, ma'am," Fabian said. "I will see what I can do." While I waited I fed the cat with my free hand and started stripping the bed for the wash. I didn't have a lot of confidence even if he did come through with a contact number that Avon's public relations people would be very helpful. In my experience, PR firms for niche fragrances are really responsive, but for the big boys — Estée Lauder and Nina Ricci, for instance — Now Smell This's million-plus monthly page views don't seem to mean a lot.
Fabian was back. Skirting my request for a contact in public relations, he said, "Thank you for waiting, ma'am. I tried very, very hard to get information about Unforgettable, but it is very old. It was wiped completely from the database." Well. Unforgettable indeed.
Good thing I have my Avon Fragrance Demonstrator from the early 1960s. The Demonstrator is a set of ten, one-dram samples of fragrances in a slender pink and gold box with "Whatever You Wear, Wear Fragrance" emblazoned across it in script. Inside is a card with a quick description of its fragrances. For Unforgettable it says: "Magnificent floral composition/undertones of moss and wood notes/Romantic as favorite yesterdays, exciting as tomorrow!" It's the only fragrance description that rates an exclamation point.
Unforgettable got the most use in the Fragrance Demonstrator and its dram bottle is only half full. Thanks to Goodwill, I have a three-ounce cologne in one of Avon's pink, rubberized spray bottles with a gold collar and cap. It was so charmingly retro that it's the only perfume I've bought solely for the bottle.
To me, Unforgettable smells like an aldehydic floral-woody chypre. Thinking it smelled familiar, I pulled out my bottle of Millot Crêpe de Chine, and they're similar, except that Unforgettable is less woody, more rosy, and more powdery with a hint of musk. It smells clean and feminine and smacks of good old-fashioned perfumery. Unforgettable's drydown shares the almost clean, mineral smell I get in chypres Molyneux Quartz and Estée Lauder Azurée.
It makes sense to me that Avon might capitalize on the popularity of certain perfumes by making similar fragrances. I don't know when Unforgettable was discontinued, and I suspect it lived a healthy life, but when it came to light in 1960, perfumes of its kind were already a dying breed. Crêpe de Chine itself was discontinued eight years after Unforgettable's launch. The crisp green chypre was on the vanguard.
I don't think I'll wear Unforgettable much, but the cologne spray is so nostalgic and fleeting I like having it around to wear when I watch late 1950s movies or sort through the tangles of costume jewelry in my vanity.
Avon Unforgettable is discontinued, but if you keep an eye out, you'll find it at yard sales and in thrift stores everywhere. If you're lucky, it might even come in a bottle shaped like a poodle or a parrot (the head is its lid).
There’s some good ol’ name irony!
I know, isn’t that funny?
I love those ads. My Mom was an Avon Lady for a short time (if you knew her, you would know what a ridiculous job that was for her) and I loved playing with all her samples. When I was a kid, Avon To a Wild Rose was The One. I loved that stuff, and would love to smell it again.
It’s great that you review all these old things. Having recently procured some vintage perfumes, I am starting to see how much scent has changed over the years. Some of those classics are awfully good – like classic literature, they are classics for a reason even if you don’t like them.
Here’s what my Fragrance Demonstrator says about To a Wild Rose: “Roses/background of moss and forest greenery”. Not very lengthy, but to the point.
I wish I knew more about the perfumers behind them and if any of the fragrances were “translations” of classics.
My late grandmother was a devotee of Avon, from those little tiny lipstick samples (whee, what fun! I shared a bathroom with her) to many of the fragrances. She liked Cotillion – which I hated then, and don’t really care for now, but since I bought a pretty half-moon rocker bottle of Cotillion on ebay, I would *love* to know what I’m supposed to be smelling in there. Too bad they can’t bother to reply to a simple “what’s in it?’ question.
“Whatever you wear, wear fragrance.” I am now adopting it as my daily mantra.
As a corollary, one could add, “Wear fragrance, whether you are wearing anything else or not.”
I loved those tiny lipstick samples! Can’t remember where I got them, as no one in my family was much into fragrance OR cosmetics. I’d guess they accepted samples from the neighbor Avon rep as a courtesy. I was the natural recipient of such things, as the only one who had any interest in them at all.
I remember those little lipstick samples too! Didn’t quite like the fragrances and they made my lips dry, but they were such fun to play with.
I really remember them as matte, too. It was hard to sneak around and play with them because they left a stain.
How I loved those teeny lipsticks! I recall that we would get a couple thrown in with the catalog that our neighbor left in a doorhanger plastic bag. Also, I had forgotten my longIng for a poodle bottle.
Yesterday, for the first time EVER (and I’ve lived in this house since 1994), an Avon lady dropped by a catalog! Isn’t that funny? Such perfect timing. No little lipsticks, though.
Lucky you!
I think Cotillion was the one, back in the 60’s, that came in the pink rubberized bottle that Angela talked about. My grandmother had that bottle, along with the tall, yellow one that Topaz came in, although I never knew her to wear them.
Unforgettable came in it, too! Maybe they all did at one time?
Angela,
I bid $10 on a fleabay item that gave a description of Vintage Avon toiletries – I received Unforgettable perfumette – a rollerball perfume – very cute, it looks pretty old, i’m guessing from an estate sale. I also received a lge bottle of Avon Somewhere Crystal Cologne, a beautiful crystal bottle, great improptu bid. The unforgettable smells a little like the vintage Femme that I have.
I was a huge fan of the lipstick samples! I can see them and smell them right now.
Here’s the Fragrance Demonstrator’s take on Cotillion: “Oriental sweetness and spice/floral and sandalwood accents. It’s an ambery sweet one all right.
The smell of red Jujubes reminds me of the smell of Avon lipsticks in those little sample sizes.
Now I’m hungry for jujubes!
Oh, thanks, Angela! I strongly suspect that Cotillion has got some of that resiny stuff I dislike (a la Opium and Obsession and Youth Dew), which would fit with the Oriental description. And would explain why I liked hugging my grandmother much better when she was unscented.
A Cotillion-scented grandma hug would be heaven!
I loved those mini lipsticks! My mom used to keep them in a baggie in a soap tin and I loved to play with them- they definitely left a stain and were like dragging a glue stick across your lips but when you are a child it’s all great. I would spray KL or Aviance Night Musk from her dresser and ‘do’ my face!
Why you little glamour puss you!
Many businesses are notoriously bad at preserving their older records. There would be a lot of social history in Avon’s archives, if they actually exist and have not been chucked. Maybe there are museums that collect not just random bottles, but demonstrator sets, catalogues and print ads? An oral history project with long-time Avon reps could also reveal a great deal of social change. Has anyone ever written a history of Avon? (Or, similarly, Tupperware? I did see a TV documentary once on the history of Tupperware and it was fascinating.)
Anyway, thanks for the review Angela. Another perfume rescued from the past. Avon might have forgotten but we haven’t.
You know, I bet there’s tons of information which Avon once gathered. Its records, probably could have shed light on middle class tastes over time (what people actually wore, not what the fashion magazines showed), small businesses, the social acceptability of make up etc.
I think it would be fascinating. Worthy of a book, even.
If you search for “Avon perfumes” in http://www.worldcat.org, a number of library and museum archives possess copies of Avon catalogs from the 1960’s. Even if the catalog itself cannot leave the premises, many libraries will mail photocopied articles to any public library near you that participates in an interlibrary loan program.
That’s fascinating! thanks!
Avon is such a big company, with such a long history, that I’d be shocked if they didn’t have an in-house archive and even some oral histories already in the can. Isn’t it common practice for companies to do that now? I’m sure if I put my mind to it and my now-nearly-dormant investigative skills (I used to be a congressional investigator, for real) I could piece together something.
The quality and existence of company archives varies a lot. In the US it is probably more common than here (Aust) for large companies to maintain archives. But they are very vulnerable. Every time a company is sold, gets a new CEO, moves its HQ, someone will ask why they are keeping ‘all that old stuff’. Anyway, with a company like Avon, a lot of the history resides in the experience of the reps and customers. Worth thinking about.
Avon has so much good history. I hope they have a solid record of it and haven’t lost it. Heck, I even think would make a good dissertation.
This comment thread regards something I find fascinating: corporate archives and archivists. I’d probably be bored if that were my job, but I do think it’s interesting.
And yeah, the documentarian inside me would love to see a film of oral histories of Avon reps.
Just think of the social history alone. Avon gave women who had few outlets for any entrepreneurial urges the chance to leave home and make cash. I bet whole marriages were transformed.
I was going to suggest contacting Heritage Microfilm up in Cedar Rapids (IA) here, but checked them out real quick and it seems they stopped doing business archivrs some time ago.
But if you want the fashon and society pages from umpteen newspapers, they’re your guys.
I can’t determine exactly the quality of their library/archives, but the Hagley Museum & Library in Wilmington, DE appears to have a collection that contains quite a bit of Avon lore. Their Avon Historical Archive is located at : http://www.hagley.org/library/exhibits/avon/
As a guess, I’d say if anyone could help out, it would be one of their librarians
Kevin Martin, Digital Archivist, at 302-658-2400 ext 232.
That is fantastic! Thanks. Glad I’ve got the day off tomorrow. I can have really good look.
You guys are amazing researchers! I think it’s time to do a book on this. I’d love to do it.
I think a company like Avon may be less likely than some others to have preserved their archives because their primary products–perfume and cosmetics–are seen as “frivolous” and not worthy of serious study. In contrast, it is inconceivable that Ford, for example, would not have preserved any records relating to the Model T, because automobiles are regarded as an important part of social and cultural history.
I understand your logic–but I hope you’re wrong! I’d so much love to see some Avon history.
My next door neighbor in the mid-70s was an Avon Lady, and she would give me all sorts of samples of their scents. It was my earliest exposure to perfumes other than the local discount/drugstore cosmetic counters. I used to buy the scented wax fragrance sticks that you could dab on the pulse point.
I don’t remember Unforgettable, but my favorites were Moonwind, Charisma, and Field Flowers. And of course, those little pots of scented soliflore sachets!
Thanks again Angela – for the memories!
My Fragrance Demonstrator doesn’t have any of those! It doesn’t have Bird of Paradise, either, which I remember loving.
Dang, I wish I had known! I have some that I could have shared with you! I’ll have to remember it for next time.
What does it smell like? I don’t remember it at all, really, just that I liked it.
Sort of an oriental like Tabu. I’ve actually gotten compliments on it when I’ve worn it. Lutens– no one bats an eye. Old Avon that’s turned? People go gaga. Go figure.
If they could see the bottle, they’d REALLY go gaga, if it’s like any average Avon container.
Mine’s actually a black cat atomizer. It’s pretty cool.
“Whatever you wear, wear fragrance.” LOVE that! And you trying to conduct research while feeding your cat and stripping the bed, you multi-tasker.
Sadly, our local Goodwill and Salvation Army stores never have fragrance and the old antique mall (aka junk shop) near us has closed so I’ll probably never sniff (or see) these but enjoyed the post!
Keep your eyes open at estate sales! The bathroom sinks are usually lined with old Avon bottles. My mother used to have an “elegant” display of aftershave bottles, all shaped like different cars, in a lit buffet in the dining room. Classy, no?
Have a look at Duke University’s “Beauty and Hygiene” digital ad collection:
http://library.duke.edu/digitalcollections/adaccess/search/results?t=beauty+and+hygiene
(hope the link’s good)
I can’t wait to settle down with this link and a cup of coffee!
Oh! Me too! That’s terrific, thanks so much for the link.
This morning at the thrift store, I spied a perfume bottle in the shape of a mouse wearing a bridal gown, and thought, “MUST be Avon.” Of course it was– and it was filled with their Delicate Daisies cologne, an Avon oldie-but-goodie. It didn’t smell half bad, to tell you the truth. I’d take it over any Kimora-Jessica-Britney-Celine cotton-candy horror any day of the week….. even in that unbelievably tacky bottle.
A mouse wearing a bridal gown! Wow. Those bottle designers must have been partaking of illegal substances.
I agree. Give me Delicate Daisies (especially in a bottle like that) over most celeb fragrances anyday.
Cute as a set, I guess:
http://images.cloud.worthpoint.com/wpimages/images/images1/1/0307/13/1_55740a53416acb36b8644188239109d2.jpg
Shoot–I can’t get it to open up on my browser. I’ll have to try from another computer tomorrow.
Oooh, I used to love Delicate Daisies when I was younger! I was disappointed when I finally used up my bottle and Avon didn’t carry it anymore. I’ll have to start Googling for bottles again.
On a separate note, my mother bought a bottle of Carnation cologne from Avon once. It smelled nice in the bottle, but like old onions on Mom. +0(
I wonder what you’d think of Delicate Daisies now, after you’ve smelled some darned good fragrances? (Also, I wonder why they called it Delicate Daisies? Do daisies really have much of a smell?)
I don’t know, but I’d sure be curious to find out. Daisies, since they’re in the Chrysanthemum family, tend to have a somewhat rank smell because of the foliage (no blossom scent per se); it has puzzled me why perfumers tend to portray them as being floral and delicate.
It’s all tied up in the idea of the daisy, rather than the actual flower. The idea is something young and fresh and innocent and delicate.
But short of drowning them and choking them in mint (which causes other problems,) daisies are a complete bitch to get rid of.
Drat, I should have grabbed it. If it’s still there next time I go, I’ll get it and send you some, if you like….. True about daisies & other chrysanthemums smelling unpleasant; their scent has always struck me as having an acrid, skunky edge. The Delicate Daisies I encountered in the thrift store was a mimosa-tuberose affair with a touch of soap, very clean and innocent. (Gad, doesn’t that sound like the Penhaligon/Kate Middleton thing?)
I love this one! I’ve actually been planning to buy a bunch of the coral-colored bottles of it from the 60’s that they have on ebay all the time. Maybe I should have done that when I had the chance. There will probably be a run on them now.
The bottles are just plain so good! I like the bath powder containers, too.
They have a lot of cute poodle decanters, too.
Ok, I’ll admit it, I bought one on ebay earlier. They’re so cheap!
I know them very well!
Oh, the nostalgia! Not only did our familu use Avon products, but i was an Avon rep several times in my life. Wore Sweet Honesty for years too…. Thanks for the memories!
Sweet honesty was a big part of junior high for me. All I remember was the “sweet” part.
I had the Sweet Honesty powder perfume stick and used it down to the base. I recall it smelling very similar to Love’s Baby Soft, totally inoffensive. Incidentally, the LBS marketing, with the boyfriend loving the smell of his varsity jacket after his girlfriend wore it, totally worked on ‘me and my friends- when we were old enough to date boys who had varsity jackets their jackets were going to reek of Love’s Baby Soft!
That’s so funny! Now teen boys’ jackets probably smell like Axe.
Oh wow! What a fun post! Thanks for a great walk down memory lane. The minute I saw it, the first thing I thought of was the Sweet Honesty. Wore the dickens out of that stuff, and also Coty’s Sweet Earth trio of solid fragrances. Oh, to be that young again!
That young and smelly!
Angela, it’s always so nice to read your vintage perfume reviews, especially for the mention of others of the type, for comparison, and the way you place the perfumes in historical context of long-term trends in popular perfume types.
Since I assume Avon has always been at a lower price point, I wonder if you think their vintage scents might degrade faster than more expensive perfumes because of the formula ingredients.
Also, I’d love to see larger versions of those images illustrating this post. Are they from that perfume advertising gallery website?
You know, I must have been thinking of “Images de Parfums” website, but I now realize that’s only relatively recent ads.
I just stumbled on another really interesting site though:
http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/perfume-ads
Type “Avon” in the search box, and it brings up pages of interesting stuff (though it includes “savon” and similar results). I love old print advertisements.
Great site! I love those old ads, too.
That site is amazing – I could look at it for hours! Thanks Joe!
Is that SNOOPY cologne???
http://file.vintageadbrowser.com/ffxb8au5bihrxr.jpg
WANT.
Yep. When I was a kid, we had a snoopy soap dish in the bathroom.
We had that, too!
That’s hilarious! My dog does smell like heaven, and I’m sure Snoopy does, too, but it’s funny to think of perfume packaged in dogs.
Oh I had forgotten about vintage ad browser. Thanks for the link. For some time now I have been resisting the urge to collect vintage perfume ads. I mean, where would it end …
I feel your pain. Those ads are so great.
I wish I knew more about the materials that went into Avon fragrances compared to some of the department store companies. The perfumers, too. I know my Unforgettable EdC smells as lively as my Crepe de Chine extrait from the same era, although the Crepe de Chine lasts longer and is more mysterious and dark.
Robin does all the images for my posts. Doesn’t she pick great ones?
I just discovered this film made by Avon as well. A bit long, but equal parts interesting and unintentionally funny:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1025532923288027104&q=fragrances+avon#
My connection is too slow–must watch tomorrow! Thanks for digging these things up.
Thanks for sharing the film, Joe. Too funny. My co-worker sells Avon, and one day, she smelled great — spicy, sweet, and kind of familiar. I asked her what she was wearing, and she replied “Sweet Honesty.” I used to wear Sweet Honesty when I was a kid, so I ordered some. My chemitstry must have changed, because it smelled horrible on me — a totally generic “perfume” scent. I was so disappointed.
That’s too bad!
I think a dissertation could be written just on the cultural and social implications in this film.
I concur.
I remember wearing Avon’s Come Summer (borrowed from my mom’s dresser) on my first “real” date – meaning to the movies with a boy old enough to drive! I bought a bottle several years later when Avon rereleased it but either it was reformulated or my memory of the scent was colored by the excitement of a date where my dad didn’t have to chauffer! I’d love to find an old bottle of it that hasn’t turned. I’m sure that one sniff would take me back to my teens.
“Come Summer”–what a lovely name. I hope you find a good bottle soon, and I hope it brings back good memories.
Hi Angela Its been fun reading about the avon community…we never had anything like that growing up in South Africa! I got my perfume cabinet finally.. a gorgeous 80 yrs old tibetan one with painting of peonies and perhaps lotus’s…It is amazing, you can smell the pine smell so strongly after all these years when you open it, and I have read that the Spruce tree wood can do that in these cabinets…I wonder how it will smell after the perfumes have all be in there for a while. I am one extrememly happy lady…all my bottles from all over the house are coming together into one big symphony or painting of senses…BLISS
Congrats, hongkongmom, your cabinet sounds absolutely lovely!
Oh, sounds very pretty! Enjoy.
That cabinet sounds absolutely to die for! Congratulations! I wish I could be there to see it.
thanks guys for sharing the joy…
This post and comments are prompting me to ask you ladies for help recalling a nameless Avon scent in my memory. It was one my grandma wore in the mid 80s to early 90s (when I was a child). I didn’t even consciously know I had a perfume memory of her until a couple years ago I smelled Bvlgari’s Jasmin Noir and TDC Jasmine de Nuit, and she instantly came to mind. She passed away in 1994 before I really knew of my interest in perfume, so of course I’d ask her if I could. I did ask my aunt what perfume Grandma wore, who replied that it was probably something Avon.
Does anyone remember a jasmine based Avon scent that has the same feel as either Jasmin Noir or Jasmine de Nuit? I’d love to actually know what she wore and try to procure some for myself!
I don’t recall any firmly jasmine-oriented scent in my Fragrance Demonstrator. The reference to Jasmin de Nuit makes me wonder if it might be an oriental, like Cotillion. Good luck tracking it down!
Ebay is teaming with bottles of Avon Unforgettable. They even have the little poodle bottles up for sale.
Thanks! I’ve seen them at lots of yard sales, too.
They have so many different bottles and most of them are completely unused and I’ve yet to see anything above $16. Adorable Christmas edition w/ a green glass bottle & silver mouse topper for $5.
What a terrific article Angela! As a fellow affecionado of vintage fragrances, I soooo feel your pain. I tried to find some Arianne with no luck so far, but tag sale season is not that far away and of course I just visited the thrift store last week and they had nothing. I had an old Avon bottle with remnants of Charisma in it, but not enough to even get a drop out of it. Found it @ a thrift store a couple of years back that has since sadly gone out of business. My aunt used to colllect Avon bottles in the 1970’s and I don’t remember when she started, but what I do recall was Zany,Occur,Arianne,Moonwind,etc. Thank God for thrift stores and tag sales! That’s my preferred method to shop for these things, but when need be, I turn to the big E.
With the internet now, we can have almost anything we want, it seems–if we’re willing to pay for it!
I just happened to be on a stroll down memory lane, researching old Avon fragrances, when I came across this post. A 1966 catalogue is available online, and it’s cover pitch is for Unforgettable. http://digital.hagley.org/cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=/p15017coll20&CISOPTR=11911&REC=7
Thanks for the link! I can’t get it to work, though. Isn’t it amazing what you can find online?
I came across this site whilst searching for “Unforgettable”. As an English teenager in the ’60’s I LOVED this perfume and often think of it. I used the cream perfume in the pink glass pot which was so pretty. Another Summer favourite was “Honeysuckle” cream perfume. It always made me think of long, hot summer days – a rarity in England now! I also wish that Avon would remake these lines. I’m sure there are other ladies of a “certain age” and younger females who would be delighted to be able to buy these “classics” again.
I remember those cream pots! They were so pretty and felt so nice in the hand. I love old fashioned perfumes, too. I’ve seen Unforgettable around here and there at thrift stores and antiques stores. Maybe you’ll stumble across a bottle someday. Think of the memories that will come from smelling it again!
Avon seems to have some kind of pattern of what it replaces various scents with. http://www.auntjudysattic.com/Avon_Facts.htm
In any case, eBay.com is a good place to look for vintage perfume.
Interesting! Thanks for the link. One good thing about Avon is that they made a lot of product, so it’s still easy to find here and there.
I know this is an old thread, but I just re-registered to this blog and have a comment about this scent. I am a baby boomer whose first girlfriend wore Unforgettable and even though that was over 40 years ago (!) I still remember loving this perfume. Today, after years of thinking about it from time to time, I finally bought a bottle of NOS in the box. The price was very reasonable, so if it turns out to be a dud I’m out less than ten bucks, but I just thought I’d post this as a commentary on how powerful scent can burrow into our memory and still have sway over us. Unforgettable, indeed. I’m really curious to see if it still smells as wonderful as it did back then.
I, too, am constantly amazed at how smell becomes tangled up with all sorts of history–especially when there’s emotion involved. I hope you’ll report back with what you experience when you try Unforgettable again!