• French perfumer Jacques Guerlain introduced Shalimar in 1925 after four years of experimenting with just the right blend, a mixture of jasmine, citrus, lemon, cedar, orange, rose, and vanilla. Guerlain began his training in the family perfume business at age 16, and created his first perfume, Ambre, that year. Shalimar has been in continuous production since 1925, and was the hands-down favorite of actress Rita Hayworth.
• Introduced in 1929, Joy by Jean Patou now sells for $850 an ounce. The favorite perfume of Jackie Kennedy and actress Vivien Leigh, Joy requires the essential oil of 10,000 jasmine flowers hand-picked in the French Riviera and 28 dozen roses to produce just one ounce.
• In 1957, perfume and fashion designer Hubert de Givenchy, who created the dresses worn by Audrey Hepburn, blended a special scent just for her as a gift. He named it L’Interdit, which translates from the French for “forbidden,” using rose, jasmine, violet, iris, narcissus, and sandalwood in the fragrance. Hepburn wore it exclusively for a year, after which Givenchy released it to the public, with Hepburn as the “face” of the perfume, the first actress to do so.
• The sky-high prices of perfume aren’t always because of the scent. Elaborate bottles contribute greatly to the cost. For example, Clive Christian No. 1 is priced at $2,150 an ounce, but the bottle has a sterling silver neck plated in 24-carat gold. In 2006, Christian offered 500 ml of No. 1 perfume oil in his Imperial Majesty version, packaging it in a bottle loaded with crystals, an 18-carat gold collar, and five carats of white gold diamonds. The price tag was $12,722 an ounce.
• How about DKNY’s Golden Delicious perfume for $1 million an ounce? The company offered this blend of rose, musk, sandalwood, orange blossom, gardenia, and golden delicious apple in a bottle featuring 2,090 precious stones, including yellow sapphires, white diamonds, pink diamonds, rose-cut diamonds, and a canary yellow diamond on the cap. If that’s out of your budget, you can purchase a 3.4 oz. Eau de Parfum spray of the scent for around $40.
• The world’s most expensive perfume was presented in Dubai in 2019 with a price tag of $1.29 million. Its name is Shumukh, which translates from Arabic to “deserving the highest.” Three years of experimenting and 494 trials resulted in an exquisite blend of sandalwood, musk, Turkish rose, and frankincense, along with many other ingredients, with a fragrance that lasts more than 12 hours on the skin. If the price seems exorbitant, consider that the bottle stands at 6.46 feet (1.97 m) and holds 3 liters (3.17 qts.) of fragrance. Contributing to the cost is the fact that the bottle is embellished with 3,571 diamonds, gold, silver, pearls, and topaz.
• When you hear the name Hermes, leather goods and scarves might come to mind. But the French design house is famous for its perfumery as well, notably its 24 Faubourg, introduced in 1995. With its scents of hyacinth, orange blossom, peach, gardenia, jasmine, and sandalwood, and many others, it was the favorite and signature scent of Princess Diana of Wales. An ounce of Hermes 24 Faubourg retails for $1,500.
• Baccarat Les Larmes Sacree de Thebes, a blend of frankincense and myrrh scents, is packaged in a handmade Baccarat crystal pyramid bottle, and sells for $6,800 an ounce.
