Bain de Champagne c1924 and Royal Bain de Champagne c1941 and Royal Bain de Caron c2003

Bain de Champagne: (Bath of Champagne) Created in 1924 by Ernest Daltroff. Reportedly created for a Californian or Texan millionaire who liked to use champagne in his baths, albeit it got too expensive so he commissioned Caron to create a fragrance that would mimic the ritual.

Originally created to be poured into one's bath water as a perfumed bath preparation or splashed lavishly onto the body. Though nowadays this is not necessarily a bath product as in a bubble bath, bath oil or body wash, but as an eau de toilette.

Fragrance Composition:

So what does it smell like? It is classified as an oriental floral fragrance for women and men. 

• Top notes are lilac and rose
• Middle notes are opoponax, benzoin and incense
• Base notes are sandalwood, amber, musk, vanilla and cedar

Bottle:

Presented in a stylized champagne bottle designed by Félicie Vanpouille.

• Original 1920s 8.4 oz extrait bottle stands 8.25" tall and has a glass "cork" stopper.
• 8.4 oz extrait bottle stands 8.5" tall
• 4 1/8 oz extrait bottle stands 6.5" tall and almost 2" wide and has a gold plastic screw cap.
• 4.25 oz extrait bottle has a white plastic screw cap.
• 4.56 oz
• 3.661 oz
• Mini stands 3" tall.
• 2 oz Eau de Toilette bottle stands 5" tall.
• 4.25 oz Eau de Toilette bottle stands 6" tall.
• 3.4 oz Eau de Toilette
• 6.7 oz Eau de Toilette
• 17 oz Eau de Toilette

Starting in 1937, a rival perfume company, Maison Jeurelle-Seventeen, Inc. sold a similar product called "Bain Mousseux", or "Sparkling Bath", which would produce foam in the tub. The presentation was designed by Josephine von Miklos, and the bottles are nestled in shredded cellophane inside an attractive wicker basket. Suede outer closures are tied in place with gold cord. Magnum bottles housed in the wicker basket, retailed for $5 in 1938. Smaller bottles known as "splits" were also sold for $2 each.

In 1938, Caron filed a lawsuit for trademark infringement and unfair competition against the company.

"This is a motion for a preliminary injunction in an action alleging infringement of a trademark and unfair competition. 

The plaintiff, Caron Corporation, has been manufacturing and selling, in bottles, a perfumed bath preparation, known as "Bain de Champagne". The defendant, Maison Jeurelle-Seventeen, Inc., has been manufacturing and selling, in bottles, a perfumed bath preparation, known as "Bain Mousseux". "Mousseux" is translated as "Sparkling".
Both of these products are intended to be used in the bath and in this respect are similar. However, the respective reactions of each with water have not been fully set forth. The defendant's product apparently conveys a sparkling or effervescence to the bath. The plaintiff does not claim a similar effect for its product and its attorney admitted on the argument that no such effect was produced. 

The bottle in which the plaintiff is marketing its product is claimed to be of the champagne bottle type, and is constructed of transparent glass. In fact, the bottle and its contents are fully transparent. The bottle is wider in the middle than at the base. It has a label which almost completely encircles the base of the bottle and contains the legend "BAiN de CHAMPAGNE, CARON" on one line. The upper edge of this label rises higher above the base in the front than at the rear. In addition to the name, the label contains an artistic illustration of a bath, done in various tones of brown on white, which covers its entire surface. There is an ovate monogrammed label, in the same color scheme, attached to the base of the neck of the bottle, being part of a straplike strip, in like coloring, which circumscribes the bottle at that point. There is gold leaf immediately above this strap, completely encasing the neck and cork. The corks of the bottles offered as exhibits are not of a bulbous shape although the plaintiff's brief appears to assume that they are and some of its exhibits bearing date, 1928, illustrate such a cork. 

The defendant's bottle is much larger and is constructed of translucent green glass through which the color of the contents of the bottle cannot be determined. The sides of the bottle rise perpendicularly from the base. Flush with the base of the bottle and encircling a trifle less than one-half of its perimeter is a rectangular label, bearing the words "Bain Mousseux" in red and gold letters, and the word "Jeurelle" in small print below the other two. The label is white, bearing fine *562 horizontal gold lines and a gold border. On the opposite side of the bottle, near the base, is a small red label bearing in white print the words "Use for — bath only." The bottle has a monogrammed label which is circular and bears the words "Maison Jeurelle, International Building, Rockefeller Center, New York", in red letters. This monogram is white and has a gold border and a bull's eye effect made up of fine gold lines. It is sustained by a paper strap that encircles the bottle at its neck and which also has horizontal gold lines and a gold border. A short distance above the strap, the neck of the bottle is wound with gold cord which extends to the top of the bottle, holding down the ends of a chamois wrapper which covers the cork, giving it a bulbous effect.

From these descriptions, it appears that there is no similarity whatsoever in the bottles, either in size, character, color, labeling or in their general preparation, and, when beheld by the eye the difference is complete. The defendant's bottle is sold in a wicker basket, which, plaintiff claims, is a typical champagne basket. The plaintiff's article is contained in a cardboard box decorated with criss-cross lines which it claims are intended to represent or to convey the idea of a wicker basket, but this suggestion the Court finds its imagination unable to follow. The defendant's package encloses a printed slip of paper describing the product and its use in the following language: "Bain Mousseux is a bath oil of rare distinction and quality. In addition to bubbling like champagne in the water, it perfumes and softens the skin and gives it a feeling of stimulation." 

...From plaintiff's exhibit 1, annexed to the complaint, it appears that its trade-mark involved in this motion comprises the words "BAiN de CHAMPAGNE" with the "de" and the letter "i" of the first word small letters as in the form on its bottles. Its association with the label chosen by the plaintiff or its position on the bottle is not part of the trademark issued by the Patent Office. Plaintiff has submitted affidavits of its business manager in which it claims that it has sold its product continuously in interstate and intrastate commerce in the United States of America since the year 1924; that the product has been advertised in the United States since December, 1925 in certain named magazines, and that large sums have been spent on this advertising. It does not set forth the amounts expended for advertising, but sets forth copies of three separate advertisements, one of which was published in February and April, 1928 and the other two respectively in March, 1928 and April and August, 1928."

Fate of the Fragrance:

Discontinued and reworked and relaunched in 1941 with the name Royal Bain de Champagne. A fruity, fresh, clean tangy fragrance with a blend of aromatics.

 

This name had to be changed to Royal Bain de Caron in 2003 as the word "champagne" was reserved only for the sparkling wine sold in Champagne, France.

Vogue, 1967:

"Not of the usual fizzy — luxurious idea though that may be — but of something incomparably better for the skin. Royal Bain de Champagne — Caron's balm for bathers. A capful of which in the bath refreshes and smooths both flesh and spirit. Partly, its the oils - rich, smoothing, emollients. Partly, its the scent - a touch of musk, a flowering of something delicately eluding description. Try tingling it on after the bath. Or, chilled, as a welcoming way to awake in the morning."

Playbill, 1978:

"One more, Caron's Royal Bain de Champagne, fruit-notes in a right kingly vintage, $12." 

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