Florence Gunnarson Oils: Brand Archive

At a glance

Florence Gunnarson is an American line of perfumed bath oils, best known for No. 67, Wild Fern, White Blossom and Mary Black. Each is a concentrated perfume in an oil base, meant for the bath, the shower or the skin.

Little independent documentation exists; most of what is known comes from the company itself.

Creation and context

According to the company, Florence Gunnarson grew up in a wealthy family on Chicago’s Lake Shore Drive in the early 1900s, travelled widely, and began blending her own perfumes. It says she launched Florence Gunnarson Fine Perfumes in 1939 and later developed a perfume that could be used in the bath. The company calls her “America’s first female perfumer” and the inventor of the perfumed bath oil category. Neither claim has been independently confirmed.

The company and a 2010 post on the style blog The Fashionable Won both describe a private clientele of film stars, first ladies and society women, and a business built on word of mouth rather than advertising. The blog adds that Zsa Zsa and Eva Gabor used No. 67 to scent their swimming pools, and that the oils were then sold at Barneys New York.

Public trademark records list a Florence Gunnarson Cosmetics Corporation, with a 1997 filing for skin cream and a later one covering bath oil, shower gel, bubble bath, body lotion and perfume.

The composition

No formulas or note lists have been published for any of the oils. Both the company and The Fashionable Won name No. 67, Wild Fern, White Blossom and Mary Black; the blog also names a fifth, Deco No. 23, and describes the originals as essential-oil based.

Without published notes, the only reliable guide to any of them is the label and a test on your own skin.

Why it matters

Bath oil was one of the ways fragrance reached American buyers in the mid-20th century: the History of Perfume describes how Estée Lauder positioned Youth-Dew (1953) as a bath oil rather than a perfume. Florence Gunnarson belongs to the same tradition of fragrance used generously, in private, as part of bathing.

It is also a reminder that houses sold only by word of mouth leave few records, which is why its history rests mostly on its own account. For the wider history of oil-based perfumes, see the history of traditional perfume oils.

Availability

The oils have come and gone. A 2012 comment on The Fashionable Won announced a limited holiday release, and vintage bottles appear on resale sites. The company’s current website, florencegunnarson.com, lists No. 67, Mary Black, Wild Fern and White Blossom as perfumed bath and shower oils. When Fragrance Help first listed the brand, it pointed readers to florencegunnarson.us; that address no longer resolves.

Using the oils

The company suggests one or two capfuls under running water for a bath, a small amount on a shower puff, or a few drops on pulse points as perfume. Because these are concentrated oils, start with less than you think you need and test a drop on your skin first.

Related entries

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