Ann Haviland, Jasmin of the Night, 25 ml. or 0.85 oz. Flacon, Parfum Extrait, 1950, New York, NY ..

Ann Haviland of Haviland Laboratories was established by Ann Haviland in 1909 at West 57th Street in New York. Ann Haviland reportedly learned the art of perfumery in far off Smyrna, Turkey, where she lived as a girl. By 1970, the Ann Haviland perfume company was sold to Coper Laboratories to form Haviland-Weil Parfums to distribute both Ann Haviland and Parfums Weil's fragrances in the USA. The Ann Haviland perfumes were discontinued by 1974.

In 1917, silent movie actress Theda Bara, named Ann Haviland as the "poetess of perfume." A 1920 newspaper item references that "Miss Ann Haviland, of New York, who makes individual perfumes to order and can distinguish more than 400 varieties when she is blindfolded, and is recognized today as the one woman owns her own perfume laboratory in New York."

In addition to the loose Sachet Powder, Ann Haviland offered pillow sachets. All which were convenient to tuck among hankies, stockings, and lingerie. Ann Haviland bags were of exquisite quality boudoir satin in lovely colors. Ann Haviland has a veritable garden of delightful scents in her wonderful soaps, bags, toilet waters, and bath salts.

Decades before beauty pioneers Estée Lauder and Elizabeth Arden released fragrances for their cosmetics brands, even before Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel put her name on the now-iconic No. 5 in 1921, Ann Haviland was a celebrated American perfumer with a creative approach to making and selling fragrance. Her motto was “A perfume for every woman and to every woman her own perfume” .. and although her name is now largely forgotten, her career deserves a look back.

Haviland was born circa 1878 in Millington, Maryland and grew up on a family estate with a conservatory and extensive flower gardens, where she learned to identify different varieties of rose by smell. She was educated in Philadelphia and married a cousin who was a pharmacist by trade. After her husband’s death, she started her own business as a perfumer around 1912. Although sources are vague as to the exact dates, she received training from prominent French perfumer Eugene Charabot in Paris in order to hone her natural abilities. Before long, her sensitive sense of smell had earned her the nickname of “the woman with the most wonderful nose in the world.”

When Haviland went into business in New York just before the First World War, the American luxury perfume market was dominated by French brands like Coty, Guerlain, and Houbigant. Most American-made fragrances were modestly priced scents manufactured by large toiletries companies like Colgate or Solon Palmer and sold at drugstores. Even when smaller American companies produced perfumes, they adhered to an established repertoire of scents that varied little from brand to brand. With the exception of New York-based Richard Hudnut, who offered elegantly packaged fragrances and cosmetics in direct competition with imported French products, American perfumeries tended to emphasize affordability and convenience rather than luxury or uniqueness.

Harper’s Bazar’s profile from 1917: “Ann Haviland is an artist. She is the only woman in this country who is striving to lift the compounding of a perfume out of the realm of the commercial. The ingredients in a perfume she chooses as the artist selects his pigments and through them endeavours to express that intangible something which is everything .. personality.”

Launched in 1950, Jasmine of the Night was described in ads as "intense the true scent of the night flowering jasmine that drifts through southern windows like the romantic strains of a serenade .. lovely intricacy devised by this genius of flower fragrances, and entirely new. Perfume and water toilet available. "

"Ann Haviland, a specialist in single-flower scents, puts up her warm and haunting Jasmin of the Night in tiny gold-washed flasks that can be monogrammed"...

There are no notes on the Internet to be found for this absolutely gorgeous perfume. I believe it would be structured something like this ..

Top notes are Bergamot, Neroli, Mandarin, and Orange Blossom
Heart notes are Night Blooming Jasmine, Dawn Blooming Jasmine, Rose, Ylang Ylang, and Honeysuckle
Base note is Sandalwood

Offered here is an exquisite little flacon of this sumptuous perfume. The smell is so gorgeous and lasts on the skin for hours. This is my first Ann Haviland perfume, and I am very impressed. Simply divine!