It took only a single powder compact found online to awaken a beauty house that had been dormant for over half a century.
Yet the story begins in 1935, when the chemist and perfumer Robert Bienaimé, former head of the Houbigant house, founded his own brand. From the very start, perfumes, powders, lipsticks, creams, and nail polishes appeared, presented in cases crafted like true vanity objects. Among his first fragrances were La Vie en Fleurs, Fleurs d’Été, and Vermeil—names that would span nearly a century. After the perfumer’s death in 1960, the house fell asleep.
Until Cécilia Mergui, a passionate collector of Art Deco, stumbled upon an old Bienaimé powder compact. The object was beautiful, but one detail intrigued her even more: it was refillable. She traced its history, bought the brand in 2019, and brought it back to life in 2021.
Today, Bienaimé revives the delightfully powdery language of 1930s beauty—iris, violet, rose, heliotrope, balms, soaps, and candles—adapting it to contemporary life. The historic fragrances have been reworked for modern sensibilities, while the bottles are designed to be refilled and the boxes reused. The Vermeil bottle, for instance, is crafted in Normandy by a manufacturer certified as a Living Heritage Company, and is fully refillable.
TASTE
Art Deco · Powdery · French Perfumery · Vanity Objects · 1930s
