Goya, Gardenia, English Toilet Water, 100 ml. or 3.4 oz. Flacon, 1937, 1960, London, England ..

In 1932, Douglas Collins, then aged 19, founded a company to make brilliantine and hair cream in Kentish Town. Four years later, after various jobs and changes of fortune, Collins decided to concentrate on making perfume. His autobiography “A Nose for Money – How to Make a Million”, was published in 1963. In it, he stated: “During 1936 I made fifteen different perfumes and began to learn something about my trade. I learned that the success of a perfume depends much more on the fragrance than on its name or the package. The best known houses with big advertising and beautiful packaging cannot sustain sales of a new perfume for more than a year or two unless enough women like it and buy it regularly.”

The firm continued to operate throughout the Second World War, when Collins served with the Royal Navy. An advertisement appeared in The Times for 17 October 1941: “Goodbye Paris But Goya is a luxury that is still in perfect taste”, advertising Coté face powder, Goya lipstick, and five famous perfumes: Gardenia, Studio, No. 5, English Rose and Heather. Paris had fallen in June 1940. The Times of 31 May 1945 carried an advertisement for Goya perfumes, powders and lipsticks with 151 Bond Street as Goya’s address.  Somewhat to Collins’ surprise, the company not only continued in production but managed to do well in the war without him.

Goya initially had offices in Whitehorse Street, near Piccadilly, and a factory at Brook Mews, also in W 1. In 1940, Whitehorse Street had been bombed. The offices were moved to Brook Mews. Concern over bombing remained, and a factory employing 14 people was established over an ironmonger’s warehouse in Buckingham. As soon as Collins was discharged from the Navy in July 1945 he looked for a larger factory. He found it in Amersham in 1946, bought the freehold of the former Wellers’ brewery in Church Street, and named it Badminton Court “because it sounded aristocratic and because the main floor area had been us

Collins’ company’s name was changed from Lafontaine to Goya in 1937. Collins recalled that an advertising show-card was prepared to introduce the name, showing a reclining nude. “When it was printed, no chemist would show it in his window in case his customers objected to it. I had to overprint a sort of nightdress before I could use it. I had never heard of Goya when I chose the name for my perfumes, but, oddly, this first Goya perfume colour drawing repeated the artist’s experience with his naked and clothed Maja portraits.”

Goya perfumes were packed entirely by hand. This is said to give the best possible finish. The company employed many women in the packing department, and had an advanced employment and benefits package.

Goya Gardenia is a classic, vintage floral fragrance originally released by the British cosmetics house Goya International in the 1937. It is celebrated for capturing the true-to-life, creamy, and romantic scent of the single white gardenia flower, often used to define youthful romance and elegance. As a vintage scent, original bottles of Goya Gardenia (like the English Toilet Water) are rare collectors' items.

Launched in 1937, this is a very retro-style white floral with a touch of green, perhaps galbanum or violet leaf. For me it's dominated by lily of the valley, and is not unlike vintage Diorissimo. One hour in though, it's a much more modern-smelling lily fragrance, gardenia-like in its creaminess, if not in scent, and is very pretty. This is a lovely spring perfume, and very pleasant while it lasts. Basenotes review. Teardrop

Offered here is a very rare bottle of this lovely Goya Gardenia English Toilet Water. I is very hard to find .. and very lovely .. fresh and summery ..