Evening in Paris: Perfume That Took the World By Storm

Evening in Paris perfume has captivated generations since its debut in 1928. Known as “Soir de Paris” in its native France, this iconic fragrance by Bourjois projected romance, sophistication, and nostalgia to the buying public.

With its distinctive cobalt blue bottle and a blend of floral and powdery notes, Evening in Paris became a symbol of elegance and glamour, treasured by women around the world. One of their slogans conveyed this sentiment: “Le plus célèbre parfum de monde.” In English: “The most famous fragrance in the world.”

In the same way that those struggling to come up with gift ideas might choose Old Spice for their fathers, they would turn to Evening in Paris for their mothers (or girlfriends or wives).

Photo of bottles of Evening in Paris perfume: cobalt blue and gold

Table of Contents

History of Evening in Paris
Marketing Evening in Paris
Evening in Paris Examples & Values
Where to Find (and Sell) Evening in Paris

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History of Evening in Paris

It was Ernest Beaux, a perfumer for Chanel, who designed the original Evening in Paris scent. Intended for the masses, it could be purchased at an affordable price point. Woman purchased bottles of cologne for as little as 65 cents when it first came out. By 1960 the price had gone up to a just a dollar(!).

Cobalt blue Evening in Paris bottle with silver label

Selecting the cobalt blue and silver color pairing proved a wise choice as it set the perfume apart from most other brands. Interestingly, they match the racing colors of the Wertheimer family who owned Bourjois (Surrender to Chance).

5 types of Evening in Paris labels

While most containers came in blue, you can also find them in both clear and gold glass. Earliest bottle labels were shaped like triangles with the tip at the bottle’s shoulder and then moving down to the base of the bottle (as seen above).

In the 40’s the labels become elongated rectangles and then in the 50’s you’d find the swirly label. Later on some bottles wore gold, rather than silver labels.

Through the years the perfume and related products like talc and lotion came in a rather large number of shapes and sizes. In addition, Bourjois offered them in a wide assortment of collections in highly decorative boxes. Additional items included soap, sachets, bath cubes, and even makeup.

Though discontinued in 1969, Chanel reformulated the scent and offered it in new bottle shapes to the public (under the name Soir de Paris) in 1992, but as of this writing, it has been discontinued.

I searched Amazon to see what might be “out there” and found a bottle of Soir de Paris offered in cobalt glass; however, it appears to be a knock-off.

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About Bourjois

Cobalt blue evening in paris bottle showing embossed "bourgois" on the bottom

The Bourjois story starts in the 1860’s when French actor, Joseph-Albert Ponsin, began making his own stage makeup. Eventually, he turned it into a business under his own name, selling the makeup and perfume, primarily to actors. Sarah Bernhardt became one of his first customers, (Fragrantica).

Alexandra-Napoleon Bourjois took over the business in 1868 when Pondin went bankrupt, and changed the company name to Bourjois (CosmeticsandSkin). It changed hands again in 1917 when Ernest Wertheimer took over (though he’d been part owner before that).

Throughout its long history, Bourjois has produced more than 120 perfumes. Take a deep dive into the company in this article by Cosmetics and Skin.

In 2014, Coty bought Bourjois from the Wertheimer’s for an estimated $239 million dollars! (Wikipedia).

About Ernest Beaux

Ernest Beaux, born in Russia to parents with French ancestry, learned the art of perfume design from successful perfumers in his half-brother’s Russian company, A. Rallet & Co. He developed his first scent (Bouquet de Napoleon) for this company, which was eventually sold to a French company, Chiris (Wikipedia).

Moving to Paris to work for Chiris, but seemingly not able to rise very high in the company, he met with CoCo Chanel in 1921 to present some of the scents he had designed on his own. One of them was the now famous Chanel No. 5, which she loved.

About the Bourjois-Chanel Relationship.

The Wertheimer family, observing the success of Chanel No. 5, bought the rights to it from CoCo and formed Les Parfums Chanel. They hired Beaux as their head perfumer. Since the Wertheimer’s also owned Bourjois they directed him to create scents for the Bourjois line as well.

Coco Chanel complained for years that she had been somehow cheated by the Wertheimer’s into allotting them too large a share in Chanel No. 5. Eventually, her portion was increased and a sort of detente reached.

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Marketing Evening in Paris

Some extremely savvy marketing was developed to launch Evening in Paris. A radio program for Americans, aptly named Evening in Paris, served as the launching off point for introducing the product. The rest is history.

3 Evening in Paris by Bourjois advertisements
Bourjois, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Through the years Bourjois developed some beautiful advertising campaigns, often in monochromatic blues as seen in the first and third ads above.

Advertising in 1948 used the phrase “It whispers your charms” and later in the 1950s, “Exciting things happen when it’s an Evening in Paris“, (Surrender to Chance).

In addition to print ads, Bourjois utilized television advertising as well. You can watch an ad from 1960 HERE.

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Evening in Paris Examples & Values

cobalt blue bottle of vintage Evening in Paris perfume

The oval-shaped (1 oz.) cobalt bottle of Evening in Paris on the left (c. 1950) is perhaps the most common shape, the one that most people are familiar with. Value: $8-12 (empty) AVAILABLE, $25-35 (full)

Cobalt blue, bullet-shaped bottle of Evening in Paris (vintage)

The bullet-shaped bottles came out early on in 1928 or 29. Intended for carrying in a lady’s purse, they were very popular (and continue to be so). The very first caps were made of black Bakelite, like ths one. Value: $20-25 (empty), $30-35 (full)

Vintage label-less bullet shaped evening in paris perfume bottle

Unfortunately, because of all that josteling around in purses, the labels are often lost to time, though that doesn’t reduce the value by too much. Value: $30-40 (partial) AVAILABLE (as of this writing)

Small clear bottle of Evening in Paris perfume almost full

This tiny (2.5″ .125 oz.) bottle has also lost its label, but anyone interested in getting their hands onto authentic vintage scent will nonetheless be very interested in it. Value: $2-3 (empty), $25-30 (90% full) AVAILABLE

Tiny cobalt blue bottle of Evening in Paris perfume

An even tinier example (1 7/8″ .073 oz.) Value: $6-8 (empty), $20-25 (full) A SIMILAR BOTTLE AVAILABLE 85% FULL

Early bottle of cobalt blue Evening in Paris with frosted white stopper

This bottle, labeled Soir de Paris, would have been sold in France where the scent became available only after its tremendous popularity in American. Its lovely frosted crystal stopper makes it especially desireable. Value: $25-35 (empty), $75-100 (full)

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Where to Buy & Sell Evening in Paris

I come across both filled and empty bottles of Evening in Paris most commonly at estate sales and antique malls. While prices are not necessarily dirt-cheap, they are often low enough to allow room for making a profit.

Perfumes in general are often undervalued because many believe that scents go bad after a year or so. In fact, if stored at stable temps out of sunlight (as most are) they retain their scent quite well (according to perfume experts).

I sell a great number of partial and full bottles of vintage (and modern!) perfumes on both eBay and Etsy for fairly high dollar amounts. Here are a few examples:

Sold on eBay

three vintage perfumes: Eve, L'origan, Black Tie Midnight Musk
  1. Eve sold for $92 + shipping
  2. L’Origan sold for $38+ shipping
  3. Black Tie Midnight Musk sold for $25 + shipping

Sold on Etsy

Vintage perfumes
  1. Early American Old Spice (perfume) sold for $30
  2. Eau de Cologne Guelain sold for $23
  3. L’Aimant in its original box sold for $33

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Conclusion

Evening in Paris is just one of many vintage perfumes that has a strong market, both for its unique cobalt bottles, as well as for its flowery scented contents. If you’ve never bought and sold any older perfumes, I highly recommend you give them a try. You won’t be disappointed.

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12 Comments

  1. I really enjoyed this article. My childhood next door neighbor who we called “Nana” seemed to always wear it. As I love cobalt glass, I don’t know WHY I haven’t picked some of the bottles up over the years! Will have to be on the lookout!

  2. My grandmother, Nonny Blanche, would put an empty Evening in Paris bottle in every shoebox of doll clothes she made for me! I wish I still had both – the bottle and the doll clothes! Great article! I liked learning the history of it.

  3. Oh awesome! I found the purse version and had never thought to research the bottle as the label
    was missing!! Thank you, you always have something relevant in your articles.

  4. Hi Diana, great article just wondering how you pack perfume bottles (with perfume inside) to make sure nothing leaks out?
    TIA,
    Pat

    1. Hi Pat, I make sure any lid is on tightly and then I place it in a ziploc bag. So far that’s worked great–no complaints about leakage but the ziploc is added security.

  5. Hello!
    Very, very informative. My mom used to wear this fragrance and, as a 5 year old, I was captivated by the bottle color and shape. However, as a 5 year old, I was not impressed by the fragrance at that time and opened that gorgeous bottle just once.

    Thanks for the memory!

  6. I loved this article, Diana! Evening in Paris was one of the popular and inexpensive perfumes when I was growing up. Unfortunately, as I remember it, it could be quite overpowering if too much was used! Anyway, I think I used to have some of the cobalt bottles somewhere but sadly, have no idea where they’ve gotten to!

    I’m surprised that they are so popular these days. You just never know what may sell, do you? I am now inspired to look for some of those old bottles. Which are actually the color of quite a few of the antique bottles that I have collected already. Thanks for the interesting post, Diana! Now I have a new mission–find those cobalt blue Evening in Paris bottles!

    1. I think E. in P. brings back so many memories of our mothers and grandmothers that we want to experience it again. Also, perfume bottles are quite collectible these days (thank goodness something is, right??). Hope you can lay your hands on yours Naomi ☺

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