Screenland (May-Oct 1931)

94 SCREENL AND The house of Myrurgia at Barcelona, Spain, makes enticing perfumes, soaps, creams, powders, sachets and other beauty products — all utterly fascinating. The TRUTH about Cosmetics y, n Miktoi By Mary Lee I'VE had perfumes from France and perfumes from Araby. I've had eau de colognes from Germany and scented soaps from England, but never until this month have I had perfumes and powders and scentsand the most indescribable creams from Spain. Get set for a rave, for this is going to be a real one, and as sincere as a baby's dislike of creamed spinach ! The perfumes, soaps, creams, powders, sachets and every other enticement you could think of are made by the house of Myrurgia at Barcelona, Spain. Jt is. so far as I can find out, the first attempt of a Spanish firm to invade the already crowded beauty market, but I would certainly like to advise other Spanish firms to come on in too if they can put out things as utterly, devastatingly fascinating as these Myrurgia products. They have, to begin with, the most alluring names. One scent, which goes throughout the powder-creamcologne-soap-perfume stages, is called "Maja," which you pronounce "Maha" which is Spanish for flapper. It has a heavy and insinuating scent, this Maja, with an amber-base, and is dandy if you like amber perfumes. 1 don't very often. But that's a matter of taste. Another is "Maderas de Oriente" which means woods of the orient, and in order to prove it to you, has a stick of very rare wood plump in the center of it ! It is stronge and powerful, and as you might suspect, very woodsy. There are next four divine flower odeurs — Orgia, which means orgy, just as you'd suspect but which is a delicate, floral bouquet just the same; Flor de Blason, which is a heavier perfume but delightful ; Surpiro de Granada, meaning breath of Granada, that lovely Spanish city, a very worldly fiower scent ; and Clavel, a carnation fragrance, which was my own particular favorite since it smelled totally unlike any other perfume I've ever sniffed. All these come in the most dehtful, almost humorous pack ages. The creams, for example, are in tiny glass jars, as delicate as Venetian glass and just as Coty has invented a perfume gadget called "The Diadem" — holding Coty's different perfumes. charming. I fully expect to use mine for holding salted nuts and such like, when the cream gets out of them. The creams, too, are tinted in heavenly shades. None of that commonplace white business for this firm. The Maderas de Oriente comes in a funny little brown wooden box with blue and green woolen tassels all over it. It makes you feel as excited as a two-year-old on Christmas morning. This perfume is $12.50 the bottle, and the powder $4.00 the box. The soaps are fifty cents a cake but as they have been aged for several months — eight months, the company says — before being put on the market they really resemble an economy. And the way those soaps do scent you up ! In case you don't know the value between "new"soap and "old," old is that unbelievable kind that never gets gobs of soap jelly all over it, when you leave it in your tub, but which stays beautifully dry always. None of this Myrurgia line is inexpensive. You can get a small bottle of Maja perfume for $3.50 and a larger one for $6.00. You can also pay $30.00 for the breath of Granada. But honestly, if any perfume is worth such prices — and good perfumes are always expensive— this Myrurgia line deserves your attention. And just . the sheer amusement of seeing these charming, utterly different containers dressing your dressing table seems to me worth more than half the price. Coming back to France from that Spanish tour I'd like to point out to you M. Coty's newest contribution to the girl with the delicate nose. Coty has invented a perfume gadget called "The Diadem" and a little darling it is, too. It is a sort of holder, very much like the "lazy Susan'' affairs people used to have on their dining room tables. You remember those things that whirled around, don't you, holding salt and pepper on one side, and catsup, mustard or what have you on the other. Well, the "Diadem" is arranged like that. It holds five medium-sized bottles of (Continued on page 122)