Lancôme’s Fêtes de l’Hiver was officially launched in 1959, although its origins trace back to 1948 when it was originally named Plaisirs de l’Hiver, or “Pleasures of Winter.” The earlier title emphasized the cozy and indulgent aspects of the winter season, evoking warmth, comfort, and quiet delight during colder months. By renaming it Fêtes de l’Hiver—“Winter Festivities”—Lancôme shifted the focus to celebration, elegance, and seasonal joy, reflecting a more festive and sophisticated persona for the fragrance.
This evolution in naming was mirrored in the perfume’s presentation. Lancôme likely designed the flacon and packaging to echo the seasonal inspiration, combining classic refinement with hints of holiday charm or winter imagery. As part of its mid-20th-century portfolio, Fêtes de l’Hiver represented the house’s ability to blend thematic storytelling with olfactory artistry, creating a fragrance that not only captured the spirit of winter but also embodied the elegance and luxury associated with the Lancôme brand. The fragrance was positioned as an ideal seasonal gift or personal indulgence, reinforcing the brand’s reputation for combining beauty, narrative, and craftsmanship in its perfume creations.
Fêtes de l’Hiver by Lancôme debuted in 1959 as part of the Eaux de Senteurs line, a collection of refined fragrances envisioned by the brand’s founder, Armand Petitjean. The name Fêtes de l’Hiver is French, pronounced "fet duh leev-air" in simple English phonetics, and translates directly to “Winter Festivals” or “Winter Celebrations.” The phrase conjures images of snow-dusted villages, candlelit gatherings, glittering evenings, and the warmth of shared festivities amid the cold season. In scent, it suggests a composition that balances cool elegance with enveloping warmth—a perfume that feels like a cherished winter evening wrapped in silk and fur.
Petitjean’s choice of name aligned perfectly with the romantic, poetic style that defined Lancôme during the mid-20th century. The late 1950s marked the end of the post-war recovery period and the dawn of the modern 1960s—a time often referred to as the “Golden Age” of French haute couture. Dior’s New Look still influenced silhouettes, with cinched waists, full skirts, and ladylike refinement dominating fashion. Women were embracing luxury again, with perfumes as a vital accessory to their personal style. In perfumery, there was a strong leaning toward rich florals, mossy chypres, and woody orientals, reflecting both optimism and sophistication.
For a woman of 1959, Fêtes de l’Hiver would have embodied the allure of glamour during the cold months—a fragrance to wear to soirées, theatre evenings, or intimate dinners. Its floral-woody-chypre profile, described as warm and woody, would translate the idea of “winter festivities” into scent: sparkling bergamot for the crisp winter air, lush jasmine and rose for the richness of holiday bouquets, and deep, resinous woods with moss and patchouli to evoke firesides, polished parquet floors, and luxurious evening wraps.
In the context of its contemporaries, Fêtes de l’Hiver walked the line between trend and distinction. While chypres and woody florals were fashionable, its combination of winter-inspired warmth, exotic base materials, and seasonal romanticism gave it a thematic narrative that set it apart. Rather than being merely another elegant fragrance of the era, it positioned itself as a seasonal, almost storybook creation—a wearable celebration of winter’s beauty.
- Top notes: aldehydes, Calabrian bergamot, Guinea sweet orange, Italian tangerine, Persian galbanum, leafy accord
- Middle notes: Grasse jasmine, Turkish rose, Nossi-Be ylang ylang, lily of the valley, hydroxycitronellal, Florentine orris, ionone, Zanzibar carnation, Saigon cinnamon, Ceylon clove bud oil, eugenol, benzyl salicylate
- Base notes: Yemeni opoponax, Sudanese myrrh, Omani frankincense, ambergris, Indian sandalwood, Java vetiver, Tibetan musk, Abyssinian civet, Canadian castoreum, Madagascar vanilla, Siam benzoin, French labdanum, Venezuelan tonka bean, coumarin, Atlas cedar, Brazilian rosewood, Tyrolean oakmoss, Seychelles patchouli
Scent Profile:
Opening the bottle of Fêtes de l’Hiver is like stepping into a grand winter salon just before a holiday celebration—lamplight glinting on crystal, the air rich with warmth and refinement. The very first breath is lifted by a shimmering halo of aldehydes, those airy, effervescent molecules that act like champagne bubbles in scent form, imparting a clean, sparkling brilliance that enhances everything that follows. Calabrian bergamot arrives next—sun-drenched and citrusy, with a delicate floral undertone unique to fruit grown on the rugged, mineral-rich slopes of southern Italy. Its brightness is enriched by the honeyed sweetness of Guinea sweet orange, a tropical citrus with a rounder, juicier character, and the lively tartness of Italian tangerine, whose fine zestiness adds a mouthwatering, almost candied sparkle. Then, the cool green snap of Persian galbanum sweeps in—resinous, bitter, and slightly spicy—evoking crushed stems and frosted pine needles, intensified by a leafy accord that conjures a walk through a winter garden just touched by frost.
As the perfume warms on the skin, the floral heart blooms like candlelight against dark wood paneling. Grasse jasmine, from France’s legendary perfume capital, is lush yet fresh, its indolic richness both intoxicating and elegant. Turkish rose follows—opulent, velvety, and deeply honeyed—its petals capturing the warmth of Anatolian sun and the mineral nuance of its soil. The exotic creaminess of Nossi-Bé ylang ylang, grown on the volcanic island off Madagascar, lends a narcotic tropical heat that feels almost decadent amid the wintry theme. Lily of the valley dances delicately between these richer blooms, its crystalline sweetness enhanced by hydroxycitronellal, a soft, dewy-green synthetic that perfectly mimics the flower’s elusive freshness.
Florentine orris adds its famed powdery, buttery elegance, a luxury ingredient aged for years to coax out its violet-like softness—further amplified by ionone, which deepens the violet nuance and gives a cool, velvety texture. Into this floral tapestry, Zanzibar carnation threads its clove-like warmth, intertwined with the dusky fire of Saigon cinnamon and the richer spice of Ceylon clove bud oil. Here, eugenol—a natural component of clove—heightens the spicy kick, while benzyl salicylate lays down a smooth, sun-warmed floral-woody bridge between the flowers and the base.
The drydown is a cathedral of resin, wood, and animalic warmth—complex, lingering, and exquisitely balanced. Yemeni opoponax brings a sweet, balsamic depth, mingling with the sacred, lemony incense of Sudanese myrrh and the airy, meditative smoke of Omani frankincense. The oceanic, amber-sweet glow of ambergris rises through the resins, lending a silken smoothness. Indian sandalwood, from Mysore, unfolds in creamy, milky layers unmatched by younger plantations, its buttery warmth braided with the smoky earthiness of Java vetiver.
Tibetan musk, Abyssinian civet, and Canadian castoreum lend a sensual, fur-like depth—animalic notes that, in vintage perfumery, added human warmth and pelt-like softness to floral and woody accords. Madagascar vanilla infuses the base with velvety sweetness, supported by the caramel-rich Siam benzoin, the leathery balsam of French labdanum, and the nutty almonded creaminess of Venezuelan tonka bean, with coumarin emphasizing its hay-like facets. The woods emerge in the form of majestic Atlas cedar and the smooth polish of Brazilian rosewood, grounded by the inky forest-floor richness of Tyrolean oakmoss. Finally, Seychelles patchouli—aged and rounded in the island climate—brings a chocolatey, camphor-tinged earthiness, like the deep shadow beneath all the glowing notes above.
The result is a scent that feels both festive and intimate, a perfume that captures winter’s duality—crisp air and warm hearth, frost and candlelight—translating Fêtes de l’Hiver into a sensory celebration.
"Lancôme, in particular, offers us such a varied selection that the choice becomes delightfully difficult. Alongside its magnificent perfumes in bottles and cases of great luxury, we find the same extraits Magie and Trésor in small novelty bottles, such as le Coeur de Cristal (the Crystal Heart), the le Bâton de Magicien (Magician’s Wand), la Sphere Magique (the Magic Sphere), la Goutte d'Eau (the Water Drop), la Dragonne (the Wrist Strap), and la Pleine Lune (the Full Moon)—each a charming trinket in its new white satin-padded case. In a large model of generous capacity, the aerosol was created especially for Eau d’Envol and the scent Eau de Senteur Fêtes de l’Hiver, which has just been released and completes the beautiful series of the Four Seasons. Also noteworthy is the luxurious double case."
Bottles:
Lancôme’s Eaux de Senteur presentation was an exquisite blend of artistry and craftsmanship. The packaging showcased a large polychrome label featuring hand-painted motifs by Georges Delhomme, a distinguished artist and longtime collaborator with the house. Each label portrayed a graceful female figure symbolizing her season, surrounded by vibrant colors and evocative scenes that perfectly captured the essence and atmosphere of spring, summer, autumn, or winter.
The frosted glass flask-shaped bottle, crafted by the renowned Verrières de la Bresle, was equally captivating. Its arched shoulders were adorned with a delicate lattice pattern that played beautifully with light and shadow, enhancing its visual depth. The frosted stopper rose elegantly from an oval carnette base, reminiscent of a fountain’s jet arching gently back into its basin—an image of natural fluidity and grace. This was complemented by subtle decorative curves inspired by garden arches and the inviting shelter of a pergola, lending the bottle a tranquil architectural sophistication. Anchoring the design at the base, a wide gilded metallic label served as a stately pedestal, adding an aura of luxury and refinement. Each bottle came nestled in a protective case embossed with Lancôme’s iconic rose emblem, and the fragrances were offered in a variety of sizes, ranging from 4 to 32 ounces, to meet a wide range of preferences and uses.
Flacon Coloquint:
The Flacon Coloquint, introduced by Lancôme around 1947 for their Eaux des Senteurs, featured a graceful double-gourd shape in frosted glass, with a smaller rounded top section above a larger bulbous base. Its softly diffused surface lent a velvety texture and a cool, elegant appearance, while the organic curves conveyed balance and refinement. The bottle was topped with a Pollopas (urea-formaldehyde) plastic screw cap—lightweight, durable, and modern for the era—offering a secure, practical closure that contrasted yet harmonized with the bottle’s sculptural form. Together, the frosted glass and innovative closure reflected the postwar period’s blend of artistry and technological progress.
Dumbbell Bottle:
Lancôme’s Eaux de Senteur were later presented in a distinctive clear glass “dumbbell” bottle, composed of a smaller sphere atop three narrow horizontal rings, which rested on a larger sphere. This modern, tiered silhouette was a streamlined reinterpretation of the earlier Flacon Coloquint—a frosted double-gourd bottle with a Pollopas plastic screw cap—shifting from soft, traditional elegance to a more contemporary, sculptural form. The ringed midsection may have been intended to improve grip, while practical factors such as reduced production costs, increased durability, or changing manufacturing capabilities likely drove the design change. The result was a bottle that balanced functionality with modern visual appeal.
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Fate of the Fragrance:
Fêtes de l’Hiver, once part of Lancôme’s celebrated fragrance collection, was discontinued at an unknown date, yet records show it was still available for purchase in 1965. Its name—translating to “Winter Festivals”—suggests a composition steeped in the opulence and intimacy of the cold season, perhaps evoking gatherings by firelight, the shimmer of frost on evergreens, and the rich, comforting scents that define year-end celebrations. In the mid-1960s, while perfume trends leaned toward fresh florals and streamlined modern blends, Fêtes de l’Hiver retained an old-world elegance, offering wearers a fragrance that likely balanced warmth and formality with a certain celebratory sparkle.
Though no official formula is recorded, its very survival into the 1960s hints at a fragrance that resonated across decades—a scent possibly woven with rich resins, aromatic woods, and deep florals, carrying a touch of festive spice. Today, its disappearance from the market leaves it cloaked in intrigue, its memory preserved through the occasional surviving flacon—a reminder of Lancôme’s artistry in creating seasonal fragrances that felt both timeless and luxuriously of their moment.
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