This is how I came to appreciate a very little known fragrance from the drugstore, called Blasé, which was originally made by Max Factor (and I will revert to that towards the end of the article). The older advertisements mentioned how it didn't try to prove anything, like its wearer. It also implied that it had nothing to do with outer glamour, noting it's the way you wear something, not what you're wearing. Great empowerment, indeed.

He developed a few of his own original make-up techniques, such as flexible greasepaint, false eyelashes, the eyebrow pencil, lip gloss, pancake makeup, color harmony range of face powder and Clara Bow’s heart-shaped lips among others, and was the first one who started to refer to his products as “make-up” instead of “cosmetics.” His sons Davis and Frank were involved in the business and they worked on expanding the company outside the movie industry. In 1927 Max Factor introduced his first cosmetics sold to the broad market advertised with a slogan suggesting every girl could look like a movie star by using Max Factor makeup. Bellodgia, a classic Caron scent, more romantic rather than baroque, with its sweetish soft halo, was a huge success when it came out in 1927, reminiscent of Italian vacations. Today it is considered nostalgically retro, too signora for today's signorinas.Personally it recalls something at odds with the given pyramid, namely Rive Gauche by Yves Saint Laurent, if this bore an illigitimate child with Gloria by Gloria Vanderbilt (which came much later than either); the child has bright rosy cheeks like a scarlet carnation. The spicy carnation atop the aldehydes gives Blasé a very distinct feeling of retro soap. The kind of soap that is not made anymore, now that neither aldehydes, nor carnations are popular with contemporary buyers in the Millenials age group. Blasé however also gives me the feeling of older Max Factor fragrances I loved as a child, namely Le Jardin and Le Jardin d'Amour. Without being similar in smell, the latter two being more multi-floral, they all share the same romantic and at the same time expanding character which makes them fragrances that easily dominate a room, despite the "come on soft" slogan which accompanied Le Jardin especially... It has that distinctive chord which I call "air du temps", surely inspired by the great classic by Nina Ricci which solidified the "clean" carnation for generations of men and women smelling it. Well regarded throughout the years, Blasé carries a reminiscence of an era when women were much more limited in perfumery choices. Reviewed by women of today Blasé, beyond it's nostalgic pedigree, holds it's own amidst a market saturated with persistent designer repurposing and celebrity band-wagon jumping perfumery cash-ins.

Max Factor remained a family business until it was sold to Norton Simon in 1973. During that period, among other products, they launched Halston fragrance, which became the second best-selling designer fragrance in the world. In 1983 Norton Simon was bought by Esmark that merged with Beatrice Foods a year later, which placed Max Factor into their Playtex beauty division. Playtex beauty division was bought by Revlon in 1986. Revlon sold Max Factor to Procter & Gamble in 1991. not be liable for any direct, indirect or consequential loss or damage arising under these terms and

Take a look

Considered a true classic and a popular favourite with our customers, at Express Chemist we offer Blasé as a 90ml eau de toilette spray or in a gift set with a 50ml perfume, an 100ml body lotion and a 75ml body spray. The scent sits atop a mingling of seemingly contradictory terms, but which mingle to produce something lovely: woody, aldehydic, warm spicy, white floral, amber... these terms and conditions in full. If you disagree with any part of these terms and conditions, do the photography may be of a different size of the same product. Please read the product description I therefore deduce that the rights of the fragrance formula have been bought out by an independent manufacturer, as is not unusual in the world of perfumery, and the formula continues its journey to our day. With the usual caveat emptor disclaimer of contemporary restrictions of ingredients...