From greasepaint for actors...to the “Special Manufacturer of Products for Women’s Beauty"
The first creations were waxy makeup sticks in many colours, with amusing names like Jealous or Lovesick, that Joseph-Albert Ponsin, a genial visionary, a bit of an actor and a great cosmetologist, concocted for the theater.
His cosmetic palette broadened rapidly; the refinement and variety of his makeup brought success that extended beyond the circle of actors and actresses. His "Supplier for Theatres" title on the makeup boxes gave way to a new tagline: "Special Manufacturer of Products for the Beauty of Women".
As of 1863, Bourjois developed the Baked Technology: the Little Round Pot was born
How do you obtain a very fine and silky powdered texture that allows dusting the skin with soft, transparent colour?
Take a carefully thought out combination of powder and water, mix it delicately, pour it into rounded molds and put it in the oven to bake...this is the principle behind a complex recipe that Bourjois has been improving since 1863: a few grams of pearls here, a bit more baking there, depending on the effect desired.
150 years of experience guarantees a certain expertise in preparing makeup!
The quality of Bourjois powders awarded at universal exhibitions
Java rice powder was launched in 1879 and was designed to lighten skin and leave it velvety: women adopted it immediately and Bourjois thus extended to the mass market in many countries. A steam factory was built at Pantin in 1891.
In 1897, it sold 2 million boxes of Java rice powder throughout the world. Product information was given in 5 languages. At that time, the telegraphic address for Bourjois was "Poudjava Paris"!
1898: a catalog of over 700 references and refinement in the slightest details!
Makeup for cheeks, makeup for eyelids, rice powders, polishes, lipsticks and Indian tablets that were the ancestors of mascara, as well as "perfume extracts for the handkerchief," "perfumed sachets to put inside slippers," toothpastes, hair lotions...and even a "Hungarian pomade" to help arrange a gentleman's moustache!
The offer of beauty products was extremely broad and each piece was elaborated by paying very careful attention to detail, all the way to its presentation in the sales catalog.
Bourjois the Perfumer, creator of “Mon Parfum" in 1924, “Soir de Paris" in 1928...
The amber, floral and spicy scent of Soir de Paris, which was designed by Ernest Beaux, came in a midnight blue bottle that is highly valued by today's collectors. In the United States, Soir de Paris became "Evening in Paris" and was immensely successful.
With Evening in Paris, bourgeois luxury became accessible to the middle classes that developed in the 30s.
Imagination, energy, creativity and prolific production!
Starting with the 30s, Bourjois edited hundreds of Evening in Paris boxes for every budget; the boxes contained a complete offer for feminine beauty, from makeup to perfume, in very original presentations. There was a music box created in 1958 that still plays "Forever and Ever" when you turn the key, a box in the shape of a sailor's beret...
Unlimited inventiveness tied to the brand's theatrical origins
The festive series of Evening in Paris gift boxes illustrates the brand's creative imagination, like this "party hat" box dating from around 1953. Bourjois deployed treasures of imagination to present products in the shops of Britain and the Commonwealth countries: "Owl" box for Australia produced in 1939; "Gift for the Beach" box from 1949 and seasonal creations for Christmas or Easter...
Bourjois, "The Ladies' Friend“
This was the name of a very practical makeup kit created in 1890: Bourjois was already concerned with simplifying beauty and making life easier for women. The kit included a small midnight blue cylindrical box that contained lipstick, powder, a puff and mascara.
Bourjois also designed an ultra-thin version with a moiré palette and built-in mirror, a mini push-up lipstick in a grape shade, a small powder puff in swan's-down and a bit of powder: these were elegant, avant-garde formats that women could take with them everywhere. Another similar product designed by Bourjois was an easy-to-carry mini perfume bottle.
Bourjois supports women’s emancipation
During the roaring 20s, when women demanded independence and a new identity with the "tomboy" look, Bourjois supported women in their new way of applying makeup: for personal pleasure, without constraints and to affirm their personality.
In 1936, Bourjois evoked women's right to vote in one of its ads while the idea was still under discussion in the French parliament; women were not effectively given the right to vote until 1945!
A modern brand far ahead of the others
With the late 19th-century invention of "mini" formats, which combined practicality and pretty, modern-style designs, Bourjois was a pioneer of the "take-along" concept.
Also a precursor on the "story-telling" side of marketing, Bourjois told about the adventures of "Babette" in 1924. She was an imaginary woman, young, elegant and Parisian, who was for six years the ambassadress of Pastel perfumes and makeup in all the leading newspapers. She was the heroine of over 200 short, punchy texts with titles like those of a serial: "Babette Exterminates Some Statues," "Babette in Trouble!" "Babette Tries to Close Her Trunk," "Babette Prepares a Masterpiece," "Babette and the Reluctant Fiancé"...
