They say it’s never good to judge a book by its cover, but can you judge a perfume by its bottle? Should you? The original YSL, in its blue, black and silver atomiser, to me smells nothing like the scent that’s inside, while its 1970s sister scent, Opium, smells exactly as it looks. CK One, with its screw top and “hip-flask” shape, smells sa clean and youthful as you’d expect. But Thierry Mugler’s Angel, with that iconic blue star-shape, couldn’t be less representative for me of the warm, chocolatey-vanilla scent.
It’s hard not to be swayed by a beautiful bottle, or repelled by an ugly one. But for the perfume houses who would like to entice customers both in store and online (despite a surage during the pandemic, perfume sales still account for less than five per cent of online beauty sales), creating a bottle that’s as the scent inside it has once again become important. Bottles have colour, texture and even print. Collaborations go beyond the usual holiday-season limited editions, while artists, architects and master glassmakers are being called upon to reinvent the form
Post time: Jun-08-2023