For many, perfumery can only be French. In the middle of the 19th century, several perfumers were able to prove the opposite and organized the production of perfumes and soaps in the Russian Empire, which were not at all worse than those in Paris.
Russian perfumery. Start
The main feature of Russian perfumery is its close connection with the medical profession. For a long time in Russia, all kinds of cosmetics (blush, antimony, whitewash and incense) were on the same counter with medicines and herbs. Therefore, most of the perfumers of the Russian Empire came from the environment of pharmacists and pharmacists.
Organic cosmetics our way
The first Russian perfumes often had simple, uncomplicated names: "Cornflowers", "Lilac", "Wonderful lily of the valley", "Nile lily". And the point here is not a lack of imagination: natural ingredients, mainly flowers, were used to make such compositions. The first synthetic raw materials for the manufacture of perfumery in Russia appeared only in the twenties of the XX century.
Famous scents and "noses"
In 1843, in Moscow, the French Alphonse Ralle founded a perfume factory “A. Ralle & Co”, which produced 160 types of perfumery products. The company has received 60 top awards at exhibitions. Many modern perfumery companies can only envy this success. Alphonse Ralle charmed the holy persons with his aromas and was awarded the right to put four coats of arms of the Russian Empire on his products. The mark of the highest quality products.
Ralle was the first to come up with the so-called "winter perfume". In the Moscow frosty air, they acquired a special charm - a light crystal note. The first beauties of that time called them "Perfume de Furor" ("Perfume for fur"), so then it was very fashionable to smother furs, gloves and hats with them.
Hereditary perfumer Heinrich Brocard began his career in 1861 at one of the Moscow perfume factories. He started with soap: "Children's" with the Russian alphabet squeezed out on it, "Amber" and "Honey". And after 3 years he founded his own business - the company "Brocar and Co", which after 10 years earned the title of the official supplier of the Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna.
In St. Petersburg, two large enterprises set the tone. The pharmacist and merchant of the first guild Fyodor Ivanovich Kal in 1860 founded the "Petersburg Chemical Laboratory", which produced wonderful perfumes and colognes. Already in 1890 the enterprise was called the St. Petersburg Chemical Laboratory Joint Stock Company, and the factory's sales department was chaired by the father of the poet Sasha Cherny. The second perfume "giant" of the city was a partnership with a similar name "St. Petersburg Techno-Chemical Laboratory". It included the Vasily Aurich division, named after the talented perfume manufacturer, chief laboratory assistant, or, as he was called at the time, the main “nose” of the factory, Vasily Aurich.
Alexander Ostroumov was the first Russian cosmetician perfumer who became famous for the creation of anti-dandruff products. All the proceeds from the sale of funds, he invested in his production of perfumes. And he made the right decision! Perfume from Ostroumov was used by the entire "upper world". Among the fans of Ostroumov's perfumery products were ballerina Tamara Karsavina, singer Nadezhda Plevitskaya, ballerina Maria Petipa, actress of the Maly Theater Vera Pashennaya, prima of the Bolshoi Theater, singers Antonina Nezhdanova, Elena Stepanova and many others.
August Michel, a mythical person on the Russian perfume market, creator of the famous perfume called "The Empress's Favorite Bouquet", created for the 300th anniversary of the House of Romanov. An employee of the Brokara factory, who became the chief perfumer of “Novaya Zarya”, renamed his famous perfume “Krasnaya Moskva”.
