Did you wake up this morning and wonder what women smelled like in the 1970s? This is your lucky day. We’re taking our noses for a sniff down vintage lane by remembering 1970s perfumes, specifically the ones aimed at the middle mass market. You know, the perfumes you bought at the drug store.
The number one driver of perfume purchases was not how it smelled or how the bottle was shaped, it was how much you aspired to be like the woman in the advertisements. So we’ll conduct our survey using ads. And boy, were there some ads.
1. Love’s Baby Soft
Every hallway in every high school had one overwhelming scent for most of the 1970s and that was Love’s Baby Soft. Launched in 1974 by Dana Perfumes, it smelled like baby powder, with some lavender, jasmine and vanilla. All the marketing was aimed at teenage girls, from the soft focus ads to the sweet packaging to the slogan “Because innocence is sexier than you think.” The slogan was not outrageous for the 70s, when women were used to that kind of innuendo, but it makes one’s skin crawl now.
Three spin off perfumes tried to capitalize on their sibling’s overwhelming popularity: Love’s Fresh Lemon, Love’s Rain Scent and Love’s Musky Jasmine. The Lemon had some popularity, lemon was a big 70s thing. You put lemon juice on your hair to get the sun to highlight it. Lemon Up shampoo was super popular. But none of the junior Love’s ever came close to the phenomenon that was Love’s Baby Soft.
2. Sweet Honesty
Avon, with it’s slogan “Ding Dong! Avon Calling,” was the largest perfume seller in the world in the 1970s, owning 20-30% of the US market. Sold by your friendly Avon lady, Avon never pretended to be anything other than a mid-market priced perfume for the everywoman. The top Avon 1970s perfumes were Sweet Honesty, another powdery floral scent aimed squarely at Love’s Baby Soft, Charisma, Topaz, Occur! and Moonwind.
Sweet Honesty was introduced in 1973, and marketed towards teen and pre-teen girls. For many, it was a very first perfume. After the scent met with success, Avon expanded the line into makeup as well.
3. Charlie
Revlon’s Charlie perfume, launched in 1973, was not just a perfume. It was a liberation statement. Ads featured bold confident women, ardently striding and in charge of their world. Among the models featured in Charlie ads were Shelley Hack, a future Charlie’s Angel (shown below); Naomi Simms, her Charlie ads made her the first black American featured in national ads for beauty products; and supermodels Cheryl Tiegs and Lauren Hutton.
Wearing Charlie meant you were liberated, self-sufficient and career oriented. You can still be that Charlie girl, as the perfume is still available.
4. Jontue
Jontue was Charlie’s polar opposite Revlon sibling. Introduced in 1975 with the advertising slogan “Sensual…but not too far from innocence,” it’s described as floral and green and distinctly romantic and girly. It was Revlon’s second best selling perfume.
Bit of trivia: Charlie was named after Revlon founder Charles Revson and Jontue was named after Revson’s son, John Charles Revson (John-too).
5. Bonne Bell Skin
Bonne Bell is best known for their legendary Lip Smackers (I loved the 7-up flavor) and Ten-O-Six astringents and cleansers, but they also dabbled in perfumes. Founded in 1927 by entrepreneur Jesse Grover Bell, the products were originally concocted in his basement. FYI, the company is named after his daughter Bonne. In the 1950s, Bonne Bell started focusing on women who loved outdoor sports, making moisturizers, sun blocker and lip protectors to save their skin from the elements. During the 1960s, they sponsored the U.S. Ski Team and hosted sports events around the country.
Lip Smackers, debuting in 1973, shifted the company emphasis onto sporty pre-teens and teens. Their Skin perfume, introduced in 1975, was a powdery floral musk that was lighter than most of the musk scents of the era. It’s still available, produced by Prince Matchabelli.
6. Jean Naté
Jean Naté was introduced by NY perfumer Charles of the Ritz in 1932. It’s boom time was the 1970s and 1980s, when it was a popular “after bath splash.” Women kept bottles in the fridge during the summer to splash on for a lift. It had a light citrus-fougere scent, a little powdery and always fresh. Jean Naté achieved legend status for their omnipresent, omnigifted classic Christmas ensemble boxes. The scent still exists as a reformulation, however the internet is pretty sure that it’s not the same. (Reproduction scents rarely have the je nais se quoi of the original.)
7. Coty Sweet Earth
“Fragrances nature wears herself,” the tagline for the Coty Sweet Earth collection sums up the line perfectly. Designed to attract hippie chicks and earth children, scents included hyacinth, ylang-ylang, clover, hay, sandalwood, patchouli, chamomile, lilac, wild rose and lavender. The solid form scents came in a three scent compact and were only made from 1973-1976. The fragrances were also available as soft mist sprays, oils and roll-ons. There was even some expansion in candles and pomanders as well as skin care products like masks and cleansers.
Coty Sweet Earth was a 1970s perfume flash in the pan. The body fragrances ceased production in 1980, but the home fragrances hung in there until 1988.
8. Jōvan Musk Oil
While Love’s Baby Soft dominated the younger market, Jōvan Musk Oil for Women was the signature 1970s perfume of the disco generation. The first musk oil to achieve mainstream popularity, it was introduced in 1972 as an oil perfume concentrate. There was none of that powdery and floral nonsense about it; it was all about sensuality, personal chemistry and sexual liberation. The tagline was “Drop for drop, Jovan Musk Oil works with your body’s chemistry to create a personal scent that’s yours alone.”
Jōvan Musk oil smelled warm and sensual like clean skin, with notes of jasmine and bergamot. A spicier, woodsier men’s version followed. Although it isn’t the cultural phenomenon it was in the 1970s and 1980s, it’s still available, should you need to sample it.
These are some of the most popular 1970s perfumes aimed at the mass market and sold in drug stores or by catalog only. Of course, there are dozens of other perfumes from the era. If you were around then, what was your signature 1970s perfume? Let us know in the comments.
