Vintage Bourjois Evening in Paris Scenic Double Vanity Compact

Picture a woman in the 1930s, saving up for months for a bottle of "Evening in Paris," the famous cobalt-blue perfume that promised, for the price of a small bottle, a taste of French glamour she might never actually travel to see in person. Bourjois built an entire advertising empire on that promise, and this compact is one of the small, wearable pieces of that promise made real, a tiny sunburst of Parisian scenes she could carry in her handbag and open a dozen times a day, each glance a small trip abroad.

This is a Bourjois "Evening in Paris" double vanity compact, silver-tone metal trimmed in navy cobalt enamel to match the perfume's iconic bottle color. The entire lid is engraved in eight wedge-shaped vignettes radiating from the center like a sunburst, each one a tiny scene of Paris life and romance: the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe, a couple locked in a tango embrace, a gendarme walking his dog, an artist painting a seated model, an elegant hand holding a long cigarette holder, a vintage touring car, and a skyline that reads like a grand hotel or ocean liner silhouette. It's a genuinely lovely, detailed piece of Art Deco advertising art, more elaborate than the plainer "Evening in Paris" compacts you sometimes see, clearly designed to be something a woman was proud to pull out of her purse.

The maker's mark is unmistakable and needed no zooming to confirm: the ribbed sunburst back of the case carries the raised script "Evening in Paris — BOURJOIS — New York · Paris," a clear, confident maker's signature from one of the great names in early twentieth-century American cosmetics. We looked closely everywhere else on the piece, interior wells, hinge, rim, for any additional marks, and found nothing beyond that primary maker's stamp, which is exactly what you'd expect on a compact like this.

We want to walk through this compact's condition honestly. The silver-tone plating shows real, heavy wear across nearly the entire surface, fine hairline scratches consistent with decades of genuine purse and pocket carry, with some warmer brassing showing through at the highest-wear points on the ribbed back. There's a small teal or turquoise stain near the rim edge on the back, worth knowing about even though its exact cause isn't certain. The navy enamel trim around the lid is largely intact but shows small chips and thin spots near the hinge. Inside, one well shows dried, caked powder residue rather than fresh product, and there is no powder puff included. We were not able to clearly confirm the mirror's condition in our photographs and want to be upfront about that rather than assume it's flawless. A separate small dark disc, likely the compact's original rouge insert, sits loose and detached rather than fitted in place. This is an honestly used, well-loved compact rather than a pristine, complete example, and we think that's worth knowing clearly before you decide, even though the engraved scenic lid remains the genuine star of the piece regardless of these condition notes.

Bourjois "Evening in Paris" compacts are genuinely beloved among vintage cosmetics and compact collectors, both for the brand's historical importance and for the specific romance of the perfume's own marketing mythology. A compact with this level of engraved scenic detail, eight distinct vignettes rather than a single simple motif, stands out clearly from the plainer examples that turn up more often, even allowing for its honest wear and incomplete interior.

We priced this compact by comparing it against similar Bourjois "Evening in Paris" compacts currently and recently offered, weighing its unusually elaborate scenic engraving against its real condition issues, the worn plating, chipped enamel, missing puff, and detached rouge insert, and landed on a fair number that leans toward the higher end of what comparable examples support while staying honest about what's actually included.

Please look closely at every photograph before deciding, since they show precisely the compact you will receive. If you have questions about the mirror, the missing puff, or anything else, we are glad to answer honestly rather than have you guess. It will be packaged carefully and shipped promptly. Thank you for taking a moment to consider this small, beautifully engraved piece of Bourjois history, and we hope it finds its way into a collection where its eight tiny Parisian scenes keep telling their story.

 _gsrx_vers_1736 (GS 9.9.5 (1736))

Item specifics

From The Spiderpunk Web collection of authentic antiques and collectibles. Ships from the United States with tracking.