Styx by Coty (1910)

Styx, launched by François Coty in 1910 (in USA in 1912), was presented as a fragrance for women of quiet intensity. One advertisement called it “the fragrance of subtle, mysterious, haunting personalities.” Others described an enigmatic woman with calm eyes and a faint smile, and promised the “irresistible fascination of the unknown.” Rather than describing individual ingredients, this language gave the perfume a character: composed, alluring, and difficult to forget.

The name comes from ancient Greek mythology. Pronounced “stiks”—rhyming with sticks—Styx is the river associated with the underworld and the boundary between the living and the dead. Its name is linked to a Greek word for hatred or abhorrence, while its waters were so sacred that the gods swore binding oaths by them. For a perfume, the name conjured darkness, permanence, and the mystery of what lies beyond sight. Coty’s precise reason for choosing it is unknown, but those associations closely match the fragrance’s advertising. 

Styx appeared in the last years of the Belle Époque, just before the First World War. Fashion was moving away from some of the rigid forms of the Edwardian period toward longer, more fluid silhouettes. Parisian designers such as Paul Poiret embraced draping, striking colors, and theatrical effects; the Ballets Russes added to the era’s appetite for fantasy and spectacle. Perfume, too, could be presented as a means of creating a mood or expressing a personality. Against that backdrop, a fragrance named for an underworld river would have seemed provocative and imaginative.

The advertising made that mythology romantic as well as unsettling. It spoke of “the lasting fragrance of love after death” and portrayed Styx as an expression of serenity concealing “incomprehensible depths.” A woman did not need to recognize every classical reference to understand the invitation: wearing Styx meant adopting an air of mystery. Its appeal lay in the tension between outward calm and powerful feeling beneath it.

Styx is classified as a woody, mossy, leafy chypre fragrance for women. Bright citrus and green notes lead into a richly spiced floral heart before settling over oakmoss, woods, resins, amber, and musk. The name suits that progression. Its freshness suggests an opening of light and air, while its deeper, lingering notes evoke the shaded, enduring world imagined by the advertisements.

Styx was part of a wider early twentieth-century interest in evocative fragrances, but its underworld theme gave it a distinctive voice. Other perfumes launched in 1912 took very different approaches: Two years later, Guerlain’s L’Heure Bleue captured the mood of twilight, while Houbigant’s Quelques Fleurs offered an abundant floral bouquet. Styx promised neither a particular hour nor a garden. It promised the fascination of the unknown. Coty’s updated Chypre perfume, would appear in 1917; describing Styx as a chypre reflects its scent structure rather than a name Coty had already modernized for the category in 1910. 

 

COTY ERA:

Fragrance Composition:

So what does it smell like? The original Coty-era formula for Styx is classified as a woody, mossy, leafy chypre fragrance for women. Bright citrus and green notes lead into a richly spiced floral heart, then settle over oakmoss, woods, resins, amber, and musk.

• Top notes: bergamot, neroli, petitgrain, sweet orange, rose geranium, galbanum, violet leaf, clary sage, cassie
• Middle notes: lily of the valley, hydroxycitronellal, incense, opoponax, orange blossom, carnation, clove, eugenol, isoeugenol, ylang ylang, rose, jasmine, orris, violet
• Base notes: myrrh, ambergris, cedar, rosewood, patchouli, oakmoss, vetiver, Mysore sandalwood, amber, Mexican vanilla, vanillin, Siamese benzoin, labdanum, Peru balsam, Tibetan musk, musk xylene, musk ambrette, castoreum, civet, tonka bean, coumarin, storax

 

image colorized & enhanced by Grace Hummel (Cleopatra's Boudoir).

Scent Profile:

Styx is a woody, mossy, leafy chypre with an unusually dramatic progression. Imagine first smelling a piece of citrus peel beside a handful of freshly crushed leaves. Flowers emerge from that sharp greenness, grow warm with clove and incense, and finally give way to damp moss, polished woods, sweet resins, and musk. Each stage changes the atmosphere of the perfume: the opening is alert and cool, the heart is richly expressive, and the base is dark, soft, and lingering.

Top notes. Bergamot provides the first spark. Its peel smells tart and fragrant like citrus, but with a slightly bitter, aromatic edge rather than the straightforward juiciness of an orange. Sweet orange supplies that missing roundness, making the opening glow. Neroli adds the fresh, lightly honeyed scent of distilled bitter-orange blossoms, while petitgrain—distilled from the same tree’s leaves and twigs—smells greener and woodier, as if a leaf had been crushed between the fingers. Together, the three parts of the orange tree create a vivid opening: fruit, flower, and foliage can almost be distinguished in the same breath.

The greenery quickly becomes more insistent. Galbanum smells like a freshly broken stem, sharp with sap; violet leaf is cooler and more watery, with a faint resemblance to cucumber skin. Clary sage brings the warmth of dried herbs and tea, while rose geranium smells rosy but also leafy and brisk, like a flower viewed through its foliage. Cassie changes the texture once more. Its scent is soft, powdery, and honeyed, recalling golden pollen rather than a fresh green leaf. These materials stop the citrus from feeling carefree. Styx opens brightly, but there is already something shaded and intriguing beneath its sparkle.

Middle notes. Lily of the valley introduces the impression of tiny white bells: fresh, delicate, and gently sweet. The living flowers have a recognizable scent, but they do not yield a practical essence for perfumery, so their effect must be recreated. Hydroxycitronellal is central to that illusion. This aroma chemical smells softly floral, clean, and dewy, and gives the lily-of-the-valley note enough body to remain perceptible among stronger flowers. Beside it, orange blossom feels fuller and warmer than the neroli of the opening. Where neroli glitters, orange blossom seems to release a richer, honeyed breath. The synthetic material gives the delicate white-flower effect clarity and staying power; the surrounding floral materials keep it from seeming thin or abstract.

The bouquet then grows opulent. Rose has a rounded, velvety sweetness; jasmine is more heady, with a warm, almost skin-like depth beneath its petals. Ylang-ylang adds a creamy, intensely floral richness that links the two. Orris, prepared from aged iris rhizomes rather than the iris flower, cools this warmth with a powdery, faintly buttery scent reminiscent of fine face powder. Violet contributes a tender, sweet floral impression beside it. Violet leaf can provide a green extract, as it does in Styx’s opening, but the familiar scent of violet flowers is generally reconstructed with aroma chemicals rather than obtained as a practical flower essence. The heart therefore feels plush and powdered, yet the dewy lily of the valley still gives it a little air.

Carnation brings a twist of spice to those soft petals. Its scent has a peppery, clove-like quality, which actual clove makes hotter and more distinct. Eugenol, a fragrant molecule also present in clove, intensifies that warm, recognizable clove smell. Isoeugenol is related but smoother and more floral; it helps the spice read as carnation rather than simply as a clove held beneath the nose. Here the aroma chemicals support the natural spice and flowers, extending their shared character through the bouquet. Incense then adds a dry, wispy smoke, while opoponax gives that smoke a sweeter, warmer resinous weight. The result is a floral heart with an unexpected gravity: beautiful petals, but with spice and smoke moving through them.

Base notes. As the flowers recede, oakmoss takes hold. It smells earthy, cool, and slightly bitter, suggesting damp bark rather than a bright green plant. Patchouli adds the darker scent of dried leaves and soil; vetiver contributes a dry, root-like woodiness with a faint smoky edge. Cedar is cleaner and sharper, like newly cut wood or the inside of a cedar chest, while rosewood softens that dryness with a gentle rosy-spiced quality. These materials give Styx its chypre structure. The lively leaves of the opening now seem to have fallen onto a moss-covered forest floor, creating a sense of depth and stillness.

Mysore sandalwood changes how that forest feels. Associated with the prized Santalum album of the Mysore region of southern India, it is celebrated for a smooth, creamy wood scent that can seem almost milky against cedar’s dry grain. Sandalwoods from other species and growing regions may also smell creamy, but their balance of wood, herb, spice, and softness can differ. “Mysore” signals the particular sandalwood tradition being evoked; it does not, by itself, prove the provenance of material in every historical bottle. In Styx’s base, its role is clear: it cushions the rougher moss, roots, and woods, making their darkness feel luxurious.

The resins add another layer of warmth. Myrrh smells bittersweet and faintly medicinal, like an aromatic resin beginning to smolder. Labdanum is thicker, darker, and somewhat leathery, helping form the perfume’s amber impression. Storax contributes a sweet, smoky balsamic scent. Siamese benzoin is especially gentle and vanilla-like; compared with the generally spicier, more cinnamon-tinged character of Sumatran benzoin, it gives the base a rounder sweetness. Peru balsam adds an opulent blend of vanilla, cinnamon, and soft amber warmth. Its name preserves an old trade designation: the material is traditionally associated with El Salvador, not necessarily with Peru. These resins do not replace the oakmoss; they light it from within, turning Styx’s cool woodland darkness into something glowing and intimate.

Mexican vanilla deepens that glow. Vanilla comes from an orchid native to Mexico, and Mexican beans may present a darker, subtly spiced complexity alongside their familiar sweetness. That natural character is reinforced by vanillin, the molecule that gives vanilla much of its recognizable creamy aroma. Vanillin makes the sweetness more distinct and lasting, while the natural vanilla lends it nuance. Tonka bean adds a different softness: think of sweet hay with hints of almond and warm pastry. Coumarin, a fragrant constituent of tonka that can also be used as a separate aroma chemical, brings that hay-like warmth into clearer focus. Along with labdanum and the balsams, these materials create the golden, enveloping amber effect. Amber here describes an accord built from fragrant materials, not an essential oil squeezed from fossilized amber.

The final traces of Styx are musky and animalic. Ambergris suggests a subtle marine-mineral warmth, softened by time into something close to the scent of skin. “Tibetan musk” evokes the deep animal musk prized in historical perfumery, although the designation alone cannot verify the source of material in a particular bottle. Castoreum gives the base a worn-leather quality, while civet adds a warm, bodily richness that can make the flowers seem more alive even after they have faded. Musk xylene and musk ambrette, early synthetic musks, contribute a sweeter, powderier persistence. Rather than merely copying natural musk, they smooth and extend the irregular warmth of the animal materials, leaving a soft veil that lasts after the sharper notes disappear.

Styx’s name suits this movement from light into depth. The citrus and green leaves invite the first breath; the flowers, clove, and incense hold attention; then moss, sandalwood, resins, and musk remain close to the skin. Its darkness is never empty or cold. It is filled with recognizable sensations—cut stems, powdered petals, smoking resin, damp earth, creamy wood—that gradually become inseparable from one another.

Personal Perfumes:

In the 1920s and 1930s, perfume advertisements often treated fragrance as a form of personal styling. A woman might be invited to choose a scent to suit her coloring, much as she chose the colors of her clothes. Blondes were commonly steered toward lighter perfumes, while brunettes were said to suit heavier “Oriental” fragrances—a period term used for rich, warm scents. Such advice reflected the beauty ideals and marketing habits of the time, rather than any rule about who could wear a particular perfume.

Coty’s recommendations were more varied than that simple division suggests. Blondes were offered Paris, L’Aimant, L’Effleurt, La Rose Jacqueminot, and L’Or. Brunettes might choose L’Aimant, L’Origan, Emeraude, Chypre, Ambréine, Fougeraie au Crépuscule, or Styx. For red-haired women, the selections were Emeraude, Paris, L’Origan, L’Ambre Antique, Iris, and Cyclamen. The overlaps are revealing: L’Aimant appeared for both blondes and brunettes, while Paris, Emeraude, and L’Origan crossed other boundaries. The categories offered a way to begin imagining a fragrance, even as the perfumes themselves resisted tidy rules.

Another approach assigned fragrances according to birth month. A September-born woman was portrayed as secretive and mysterious, strong in her likes and dislikes, and possessed of a dominant will. Beneath “the serene calm of power,” she was fastidious and magnetic, with an enduring youthfulness and a deep love of nature. L’Origan, Styx, Jasmin de Corse, and Chypre were proposed as expressions of that character. Styx, with its suggestive name and enigmatic advertising, found a natural place among them.

The December-born woman was imagined differently: quick to think and act, volatile, impulsive, wholly individual, and perhaps gifted in music or art. Sensitive to praise and blame, she inspired affection and returned it intensely. Chypre, L’Ambréine, Styx, and L’Origan were presented as scents equal to her changeable energy. A January-born woman, meanwhile, was described as brilliant and original, moving between gaiety and sadness without apparent reason, her feelings rising like incense from a censer. Chypre, Styx, Muguet, and Iris were chosen for this ever-aspiring temperament.

For March-born women, the language became especially assured. Dominant in will and brilliant in mind, they were said to attain what they desired. Their independence gave them a rare individuality and a magnetic power to attract. Emeraude, L’Ambre Antique, Styx, and L’Or were offered as fragrant counterparts to that confidence. Across these monthly portraits, Styx reappeared for women described as mysterious, intense, original, or strong-willed. It became more than a perfume recommendation: it was a shorthand for a compelling personality.

Other advertisements set aside coloring and birth dates altogether, inviting women to recognize themselves in a mood. The sunny, joyous woman was matched with L’Effleurt, Muguet, and Violette; the dreamy, elusive woman with Jasmin de Corse, La Jacinthe, and Lilas Blanc. Chypre, Violette Pourpre, and Ambre Antique were proposed for exotic types, while Ambre Antique, Styx, and Cyclamen belonged to the mysterious. Emeraude, Paris, and L’Origan suited brilliant, sophisticated temperaments. These portraits let a customer choose not only how she believed herself to be, but how she wished to appear.

For a shopper uncertain what to wear—or what to give as a present—such descriptions made a crowded perfume counter easier to navigate. A bottle could be selected for a beloved friend’s hair color, a sister’s birthday month, or the qualities admired in her. Whether those suggestions accurately predicted anyone’s taste mattered less than the pleasure of making the choice feel personal. In Styx’s case, the recurring promise was mystery: the fragrance offered its wearer a way to suggest depths that could not be seen at a glance.

Original Product Line:

Styx was offered in several forms, allowing its mysterious character to be worn on the skin or placed among a woman’s belongings. Each product would have presented the fragrance differently. The following descriptions reflect how these product types generally behave; without Coty’s formulas for each version, their exact strength and scent cannot be established.

Parfum, also called extrait, would have offered the most concentrated impression of Styx. A small amount on the skin would release its citrus and green notes before the spiced flowers, incense, and mossy woods gathered warmth. As the brighter materials faded, the resins, amber, and musks would likely remain the most noticeable, giving the extrait an intimate, persistent quality. This was the form for experiencing Styx at its richest: a scent encountered close to its wearer and rediscovered hours later.

Eau de toilette would generally have made Styx feel more spacious. Its bergamot, orange, leafy galbanum, and violet leaf might seem particularly lively at first, with the flowers rising clearly before the darker base took over. The woods and moss would still give it character, but the overall effect would be lighter and less enveloping than the extrait. It would offer the drama of Styx in a form suited to more generous application.

Cologne would usually give the quickest, freshest impression. Citrus and aromatic greenery would make the first splash feel brisk, while rose geranium, neroli, and the lighter flowers would lend it elegance as the initial brightness subsided. The incense, moss, and resins might appear as a quieter suggestion rather than the sustained presence expected of the parfum. Historical products did not always follow today’s fixed concentration ranges, however, so “cologne” should be understood as a lighter presentation rather than a precise percentage of perfume oil.

Poudre Au Styx, the face powder, would have placed the fragrance in a soft, dry medium. Applied with a puff, it would likely emphasize Styx’s velvety orris and violet, its floral warmth, and the sweet, powdery side of its musks. The sharp sparkle of citrus would be less prominent than in an alcohol-based perfume. Close to the face, the result would be a discreet scented halo: recognizably Styx, but softened into the familiar ritual of powdering.

Styx dusting powder would have created a related effect over a larger area of skin. Its light, silky application after bathing would favor the perfume’s floral, woody, and musky qualities over the fleeting brightness of its opening. Where the face powder was encountered near the cheeks and hair, the dusting powder could leave a diffuse scent on the body and beneath clothing. Its appeal was less a distinct burst of perfume than a gentle continuity of fragrance as its wearer moved.

The powder sachet was intended for fabrics and enclosed spaces rather than for application to skin. Tucked among handkerchiefs, lingerie, or clothing, it would slowly lend them an impression of Styx. Historical sachet powders often used fragrant dry materials such as orris, vanilla, tonka, and woods, sometimes strengthened with perfume. The effect would probably favor Styx’s lasting powdery, woody, resinous, and musky facets. Opening a drawer would release a faint reminder of the fragrance before its owner had put on a drop.

 

image colorized & enhanced by Grace Hummel (Cleopatra's Boudoir).

The Early Coty Bottles:

Carnette Guêpes Flacon (1911-1920s):

The earliest Styx flacon was a René Lalique design known as “Carnette Guêpes,” or “collar of wasps.” About five inches tall to the top of its stopper, the bottle has a flat base and a slender, upright body marked by eight raised lines. At its narrow mouth sits the detail that gives the design its name: a sculpted, frosted-glass collar of four wasps set at right angles to one another. A thin sculpted stopper, finished with a sepia-toned patina, closes the bottle, while an embossed gold paper label identifies the perfume.

Lalique created the model in 1911 for sale as an empty flacon through his own Maison. Coty subsequently used the design for Styx. The two uses are recorded separately in Félix Marcilhac’s R. Lalique: Catalogue Raisonné de l’Œuvre de Verre: the Lalique model appears as reference “H” on page 322 of the 2011 French edition, and the Styx bottle as “Coty 6” on page 927. Marcilhac notes that Lalique’s production of the bottle ended in 1919.

The design nevertheless remained associated with Styx. Coty later had the same form made at his own glassworks in France, and a 1923 advertisement shows that it was still in use. Styx was eventually sold in other bottles as well, making the wasp-collared flacon a distinctive early presentation rather than its only one.

Briar Stopper Flacon (1911-1950s):

René Lalique designed the Briar Stopper flacon in 1911. Its tall, clear-glass body rises from a square base and is finished with a frosted stopper molded in a briar motif. Originally used for Coty’s eaux de toilette, the design was later adapted in smaller sizes for parfum. After 1920, Coty’s own glassworks also produced the flacon.

The square base required careful handling. A message printed inside some 1920s boxes described the bottles as hand-cut in Coty’s Paris ateliers and warned owners to take care when setting them on a dressing table, lest the corners break. The instruction offers a glimpse of how these bottles were meant to be used: displayed as elegant dressing-table objects, but handled with attention.

Sizes:

• 0.13 oz bottle stands 2" tall (miniature)
• 0.27 oz bottle stands 2.5" tall (miniature)- Petite Modele
• 0.60 oz bottle stands 3" tall
• 4" tall
• 1.70 oz bottle stands 4.25" tall
• 5" tall
• 3 oz bottle stands 5.25" tall
• 5.5" tall
• 6" tall
• 6.25" tall
• 6.5" tall
• 8.75" tall

Lilas Pourpre Flacon:


René Lalique’s “Lilas Pourpre” flacon was first used for Coty’s perfume of that name in 1911. Its arched body and sloping shoulders are topped by a frosted-glass stopper molded with a stepped, scale-like pattern. Coty later used the design for other fragrances from the 1910s through the 1930s. After 1920, many examples were made at Coty’s own glassworks in Pantin and paired with presentation cases from his boxing factory in Neuilly. A small 0.35 oz version stands approximately 1.75 inches tall.

Banded Bottles with Frosted Stoppers (1922-1934):

Introduced around 1922, the “Flacon Borne Ovale Perlée,” more commonly called the Banded Bottle, has an embossed band around its upper body and a frosted-glass stopper molded with flowers and ridged details. Although examples are sometimes attributed to Lalique or Baccarat, the design does not appear in either firm’s catalogs and is identified with Coty’s own glassworks in France.

The parfum flacon came in three sizes: ¼ oz, standing approximately 2.25 inches tall; ½ oz, at 2.75 inches; and 1 oz, at 3.75 inches. Larger boudoir bottles, primarily intended for eau de toilette, stood about 6, 7.25, and 8 inches tall. A 3 oz version was also produced, though its height is not specified here.

The design was used for Styx and other Coty fragrances, including Eau de Coty, L’Origan, Chypre, Paris, La Rose Jacqueminot, and L’Aimant. Production of the line was phased out around 1932, with the ¼ oz size continuing until 1934. Remaining store stock could still be sold for several years, so a later purchase date does not necessarily indicate a later-made bottle.

Bottles stand:

• 2.25" tall - 1/4 oz Parfum
• 2.75" tall - 1/2 oz Parfum
• 3.75" tall - 1 oz Parfum
• 6" tall - Eau de Toilette
• 7.25" tall - Eau de Toilette
• 8" tall - Eau de Toilette

Metal Case Parfum Bottles (1928-1933):

Introduced around 1928, Coty’s metal case parfum bottles made the familiar Banded Bottle portable. The small glass flacon, with its frosted stopper, sat within a fitted metal frame pierced with the Coty name. A hinged case with an arched top closed around it like a book, protecting the bottle in a handbag while making its presentation part of the pleasure of using it.

The case stood approximately 2¾ inches tall and came in two finishes: a textured crackle effect with an antiqued appearance, and a smooth platinum-tone nickel finish. The design was patented by Philip A. Reutter and manufactured by the Scoville Manufacturing Co. Its fitted frame held the bottle securely while allowing it to be removed for use.

Discontinued in 1933, these sets paired a decorative parfum flacon with a practical carrying case. Surviving examples are especially interesting when both the metal case and its original fitted bottle remain together.

Eau de Cologne Flacons:


The classic rectangular bottle measures 4 5/8"it features a long neck and is fitted with a plain faceted stopper. The plain cardboard box (5" x 2 7/8" x 1 3/4") is in cream and gray. This bottle was used for other Coty fragrances in the 1920s.

Cathedral Flacon for Parfum (1930):

In 1930, Gimbel’s advertised Coty’s “Cathedral” bottle as a design created exclusively for its store. The presentation was offered for extracts of L’Aimant, Emeraude, Styx, L’Origan, La Jacée, Chypre, Muguet, L’Or, L’Effleurt, Lilas, La Rose Jacqueminot, and Paris. Presented as a special home for Coty’s prestigious parfums, it gave familiar fragrances a fresh sense of occasion.

The exclusivity claim does not hold up across contemporary advertising. L. S. Ayres pictured the same bottle and likewise described it as made especially for its store. These competing promotions indicate that the flacon was distributed through more than one retailer, with each presenting it to customers as a distinctive offering.

The bottle earned its “Cathedral” nickname through its strong vertical lines and arched architectural silhouette. Its shape suggests both cathedral spires and the rising skyscrapers of the early 1930s. Offered in 1 oz and 1⅔ oz sizes, it gave Styx and Coty’s other established extracts a striking presentation suited to a department-store promotion.

Neptune Green Packaging (1935):

In 1935, Coty introduced Neptune Green, an undersea-inspired presentation for its toiletries. Boxes and containers for talc, bath salts, and dusting powder were finished in soft seafoam green, with bubbles and rosy starfish adding a playful ocean motif. The design gave familiar Coty products a fresh visual identity suited to the mid-1930s.

Neptune Green was used for toilet waters, bath salts, dusting powders, and talc in fragrances including Styx, L’Aimant, Emeraude, L’Origan, Paris, and Chypre. Satin-finished glass bottles carried molded bubble details that echoed the decoration on their packaging. For Styx, the pale green finish and sea imagery offered a distinctive alternative to its darker, more mysterious earlier presentations.

Feuilles d'Automne (Autumn Leaves) Packaging (1936-1942):

Beginning in 1936, Coty introduced Feuilles d’Automne, or Autumn Leaves, as a coordinated presentation for its perfumes and face powders. The name suited the boxes: stylized leaves in red, blue, and gold appeared scattered across them, giving the design color and movement while making products from different Coty lines recognizable as part of the same collection.

A 1936 account in Rester Jeune described a flat crystal perfume bottle topped with a green-and-gold plastic stopper. Its simple silhouette and contrasting materials gave the flacon a modern appearance, while the leaf-patterned box supplied a more decorative finish. Matching face-powder boxes carried the motif beyond perfume, allowing the products to sit together as a unified display. Feuilles d’Automne packaging remained in use as late as 1942.

Obelisque Flacon (1930-1937):

Introduced in 1930, Coty’s Obélisque flacon has a tall, slender silhouette that gives it an architectural presence on a dressing table. Its flat, square stopper is made of frosted glass, molded with stylized foliage and the COTY name at each corner. The crisp outline and decorative detail place the bottle firmly within the Art Deco style of the early 1930s.

Coty used the design for Styx, Paris, Chypre, Emeraude, L’Aimant, and L’Origan. A smaller 0.34 oz miniature was also made, with a scale-patterned stopper recalling details seen on Coty’s Lilas Pourpre flacon and Louvre packaging. Discontinued in 1937, the Obélisque remains a distinctive example of how Coty used one elegant bottle design to present several different fragrances.

Standard Informal Fragrance Bottles (1940):

Alongside the decorative pottery amphorae, Coty offered its Informal Fragrances in standard clear-glass bottles whose simple profiles recalled the house’s 1930s designs. Each was fitted with a plastic atomizer head for convenient, even application. Available in three sizes, the glass bottles provided a practical alternative to the stoneware presentation while retaining a familiar Coty look.

Fate of the Fragrance:

By the end of the Second World War, Styx had disappeared from regular production, although older stock could still be found in American and overseas shops. The war created serious obstacles for a perfume made from materials gathered across international supply routes. German forces occupied Paris from 1940 to 1944; obtaining floral extracts, resins, alcohol, glass, and packaging, and moving finished goods between France and foreign markets, became more difficult. Those pressures offer a plausible explanation for Styx’s withdrawal, but no Coty record identifies a single cause or establishes precisely when the last wartime batch was made.

Coty also faced a change in its sources of fragrant materials. Jardin Vallon, an important early supplier associated particularly with jasmine extracts, is reported to have closed in 1940. Replacing a supplier of delicate floral materials would have required care: extracts from different producers can vary in character, even when made from the same flower. That closure may have added to Coty’s production challenges, though it should not be treated as proof that Styx itself was discontinued for this reason.

Styx had not yet vanished from Coty’s promotional imagination. In 1940, the company and milliner Lilly Daché introduced hats whose linings and headbands were scented with a choice of Coty fragrances: Emeraude, Styx, L’Origan, Chypre, or L’Aimant. The idea carried perfume into clothing, allowing a trace of scent to rise from a hat as it was worn. It also shows that Styx remained a recognizable name during the early war years, even if the availability of newly produced bottles later became uncertain.

The fragrance returned to sales counters in 1951, alongside La Rose Jacqueminot. Coty’s contemporary promotion announced Styx with the words “Yours again”—a direct appeal to customers who remembered it. Its return marked a new chapter for a perfume whose original presentation belonged to the years before the First World War and whose name had endured through another.

When Styx returned to sales counters in 1951, it appeared in a bottle shape Coty also used for other fragrances. Styx would be sold in other bottles as well, but these later forms had a simpler character than the early René Lalique flacons, with their sculpted glass and intricate detail.  

The parfum remained available in the tall glass bottle with a frosted briar stopper. Based on Lalique’s design, these later examples were manufactured by Coty’s own glassworks. 

• 0.06 oz Parfum
• 0.13 oz Parfum (mini)
• 0.27 oz Parfum (mini bottle measures 2.25" tall)
• 1 oz Parfum
• 1.7 oz Parfum
• 0.60 oz (bottle measures 2.75" tall)

For eau de toilette, Coty used a modified Obélisque bottle. A Lucite screw cap replaced the ground-glass stopper, making the bottle convenient for regular use.  Depending on the presentation, the bottle was topped with a gilded, white, or black Lucite cap. It was offered in 1 oz, 2 oz, and 3.1 oz sizes. 

• 1 oz EDT
• 2 oz EDT
• 3.1 oz EDT

Together, the parfum and eau de toilette presentations carried Styx into the postwar years while retaining recognizable elements of Coty’s earlier bottle designs.

 

Parfum de Toilette:

Styx Parfum de Toilette came in a glass bottle related to the eau de toilette flacons introduced in 1951, but with a fuller, more bowed silhouette. Coty used the same shape for other fragrances, fitted with a golden plastic screw cap whose raised form suggests an abstract crown. Some surviving boxes bear the words “Compounded in USA,” indicating that at least those examples were blended or prepared for the American market.

• 2.5 oz PDT

Styx by Coty was eventually discontinued in 1960, although old stock was still being sold in stores, but with reduced prices, bringing an end to a fragrance that had appeared in Coty’s range for more than half a century, apart from its wartime interruption. From its early René Lalique flacons to its postwar parfum and toilet-water bottles, Styx had changed its presentation while retaining the mysterious name that first distinguished it.

COTY-PFIZER/RALLET-PFIZER ERA:

In 1963, Yvonne Alexandrine Coty sold Coty Inc. to Pfizer, ending the family’s control of the company. Under its new owner, Coty placed greater emphasis on drugstore distribution and on presentations designed for a broader market. Collectors may consequently find Rallet–Pfizer on later Styx packaging. Rallet was an older perfume house acquired by Coty in 1926; after Pfizer purchased Coty, the Rallet name remained in use as part of the business. It does not indicate that a Styx bottle came from a separate nineteenth-century Rallet formulation.

1971 ad restored & enhanced by Grace Hummel (Cleopatra's Boudoir).

After Styx disappeared from regular sale in the 1960s, the name returned in 1971 with a very different personality. Introduced by the Rallet Division of Pfizer in time for Halloween, the new Styx collection was promoted to the “young at heart.” Its mythology was recast as playful witchcraft: the products were called “seven potions,” carried spells or incantations, and shared a fragrance described in contemporary publicity as amber and citrus. The first to appear was Spell-Spinning Spray, an aerosol mist sold in 1 oz and 2 oz sizes.

The full range invited customers to use Styx throughout a beauty routine. Crème Fatale was a scented cream with a pale purple tint, while Witches Potion was a creamy skin perfume. Quick Silver Powder came in a shaker, and Triple Ripple Bath Brew was described as a layered “parfait” of oils for the bath. Eau de Mischief offered the scent in liquid form, and Destiny Drops was a perfume oil. Each name turned an ordinary product into a small piece of the campaign’s magical story.

This revival preserved the mystery of the name Styx, but expressed it in a style quite different from the solemn, enigmatic advertising of the original perfume. The 1971 bottles and cartons belong to the Coty–Pfizer era and its youth-oriented “potions” campaign; their shared name should not be taken as evidence that they contained the unchanged Coty-era fragrance.

1971 ad restored & enhanced by Grace Hummel (Cleopatra's Boudoir).

The 1971 Styx gave the old name a greener, drier character. Compared with the earlier perfume’s fuller floral and sweet balsamic impression, this version placed more emphasis on leafy chypre notes, amber, and incense. Citrus still brightened the opening, but the lasting effect was more mossy, woody, and bittersweet. Its mystery came less from an opulent bouquet than from the tension between freshness and a warm, shadowed base.

That change suited an emerging taste in early 1970s perfumery. Green fragrances were gaining attention, offering women the brisk scent of leaves, herbs, patchouli, woods, and moss alongside—and sometimes in place of—the romantic florals their mothers might have favored. Some had a dry, assertive quality then often described as nearly masculine. Coty’s publicity presented Styx as the opposite of an “all sweetness and light” floral, calling it a “warm spirited amber fragrance” with lingering citrus. The campaign still promised an aura of mystery, but expressed it in a more contemporary scent.

The packaging made the change unmistakable. Early products appeared in black with white lettering, with a heart-shaped devil’s tail worked into the Y of Styx. Items could also be found in flame red, giving the spells-and-potions theme a more theatrical look. Later packaging shifted to off-white and red, a more restrained presentation that nevertheless retained the revived fragrance’s distinctive identity.

Styx Spell Spinning Spray Mist:

Spell Spinning Spray Mist introduced the revived Styx collection in 1971. Coty described it as a fragile “web” of fragrance carrying secret thoughts of love. The aerosol was promoted as an instant cologne mist, light enough to spray over the body yet lasting enough to leave a trace. Sold in 1 oz and 2 oz black cans, it was made for an airy application that suited the campaign’s idea of scent drifting through the air toward someone else.

The packaging turned that ordinary act into a flirtatious ritual. Copy on the back of the can invited the wearer to spray a cloud of Styx around herself and imagine its vapors carrying her message. The box went further, printing a short “Styx-Charm” and directing her to apply the mist in a spiral—from ankle to knee, wrist, and throat, then downward again. The instructions made the movement of the spray part of the story: perfume became an invisible thread meant to catch a sweetheart’s attention.

The back of the bottle reads: "Send your love a secret message, set it spinning through the air! Spray a cloud of Styx about you...and the magic of its vapors twine and tangle with his mind. -With Styx and a smile - he'll understand." 

The legend on the back of the box instructed you to: "The Styx-Charm to send him a message by air “I summon the spirits, the powers that be, Whisper my message, enchant him for me.” Cast the spell as you apply this mist-of-Styx in a spiraling spray; ankle to knee to wrist to throat, and down around again. Now wrap your thoughts around him."

For identification, the aerosol can should carry the marking “Rallet, Div. Pfizer, N.Y., N.Y. 10017.” Its black presentation, romantic copy, and playful spell place it firmly within the Coty–Pfizer revival, rather than among the earlier, more solemn Styx products.

 

Styx Destiny Drops:

Destiny Drops offered the 1970s Styx fragrance as a ¼ oz concentrated perfume oil, intended to be touched onto the skin a few drops at a time. A tag on the bottle identifies it as a Rallet division of Pfizer product. Advertising called it “the magical fragrance of love” and presented the concentrated scent as something potent enough to carry throughout the day.

Its heart-shaped hang tag supplied the theatrical instructions. The wearer was told to keep the small bottle close “as an amulet” and apply a few drops whenever romance seemed uncertain, while murmuring a printed Styx-Charm. The charm’s language about taking a man’s will belongs to the campaign’s exaggerated spell-casting fantasy. In this presentation, the oil was more than a portable perfume: its bottle, tag, and copy made applying Styx feel like a private ritual.

The heart-shaped hang tag reads: "The Styx-Charm that weakens him instantly. "Take his will away, I say, Make (his name) the slave of my charms." Always carry the Styx concentrate with you as an amulet. When fate (and his heart) seem to be turning against you, stroke on a few potent drops and murmur the spell."

Eau de Styx:

Eau de Styx was a 3 oz cologne splash in a black bottle, offering the revived fragrance in a form that could be applied more generously than the concentrated Destiny Drops. The back identifies it as “Rallet, Div. Pfizer, N.Y., N.Y. 10017,” placing it within the 1970s Coty–Pfizer range.

Its back-label legend invites the wearer to begin her “love tricks” with a charm as potent as the mythological river Styx. Veiled glances, hidden thoughts, the approaching witching hour, and brewing mischief all appear in the copy. The language turns a simple splash of cologne into another episode in the collection’s playful romance-and-spells story

The bottle reads: "Start your love tricks with a charm as potent as the mystic river. Veiled glances (hidden hear thoughts!) -all will be fulfilled. Now the witching hour is near...mischief's brewing. Styx is here!"

Styx Eau de Mischief Splash:

Styx Eau de Mischief Splash was presented in a 3 oz black bottle and promoted as “a wicked splash on cologne to set his senses spinning.” The generous splash format invited the wearer to apply the fragrance freely, making it a livelier counterpart to the small bottle of concentrated Destiny Drops.

The bottle carried its own playful incantation: “Styx river, Styx water, mystery double—turn him my way or bring him trouble!” By invoking the mythological river and adding a mischievous threat, the copy kept the 1970s collection’s spell-casting theme at the center of even its most straightforward cologne.

Creme Fatale:

Crème Fatale, sold as Witches’ Potion in England, was a scented body cream with a pale purple tint. Its small, footed, urn-shaped pot made it look like a potion waiting on the dressing table. Smoothed onto the skin, the cream offered a softer, closer way to wear Styx than either the cologne splash or aerosol mist.

Advertising called it a “passionate purple crème parfum to make his pulse race.” Its accompanying spell read, “Blood run hot, heart beat fast, / Warm his love and make it last.” The colored cream, decorative pot, and rhyming charm turned the ordinary act of applying body cream into part of the 1970s Styx campaign’s playful witchcraft fantasy.

The spell read: "Blood run hot, heart beat fast, Warm his love and make it last."

Styx Quicksilver Powder:

Styx Quicksilver Powder was a silky, shimmering talc intended for use after a bath or shower. Its silvery finish added a glint to the skin while leaving behind the fragrance of Styx. Advertising called it a “shimmering, silvery dust,” making the powder both a scented toiletry and a decorative finishing touch.

The package also carried a Styx-Charm meant, in the campaign’s playful language, to distract a sweetheart from another girl. After reciting the charm, the wearer was instructed to repeat his name backward ten times to complete the spell. Like the other products in the 1970s range, Quicksilver Powder turned an ordinary beauty ritual into a bit of make-believe.

The spell included read: "The Styx-Charm That Distracts Him From Another Girl: "Lightshine, Quickshine, Blind His Eyes To Any Other Girl But Me". Repeat his name (spelled backward) 10 times. Thus the spell is cast." 

Triple Ripple Bath Brew:

Triple Ripple Bath Brew turned Styx into a bath treatment with three visible layers that settled into “parfait” colors when the bottle stood still. Shaking it briefly mixed the layers before use. Coty described one layer as softening the skin, another as supplying the fragrance, and the third as leaving an emollient, silky feel. The separate bands made the product as entertaining to look at as it was to pour.

The directions advised users to “shake well” and add three capfuls to the bath. Press materials promised “three layers of precious oils to silken and scent you,” presenting a soak as a head-to-toe beauty ritual. Its accompanying spell—“Stir his heart as I stir these waters. Disturb him with my image”—linked the movement of the bathwater to the collection’s playful theme of romantic enchantment.

Styx Solid Perfume:

Introduced in 1972, Styx Solid Perfume came in a tiny 0.13 oz black plastic cauldron, small enough to carry in a purse or pocket. Inside was a translucent gel perfume intended to be stroked onto pulse points. Advertising described it as long-lasting and claimed that, unlike some solid perfumes, it would not crumble, harden, or evaporate. The cauldron made a portable fragrance feel like another potion in the Styx collection.

The package instructed you to: "Repeat these words as you stroke on this potent Styx perfume: "Let love begin! Let cauldron and fire bind our hearts in one desire." As with the sprays, creams, and bath products, the charm made using Styx part of the campaign’s playful ritual of romantic magic.

Gift sets:

The "Witchin' Kit" held the enchanting Styx Spell Spinning spray and Quicksilver Powder.

The "Catch Him Quick" set included a set of Styx Spell Spinning spray and wicked, long-lasting Creme Fatale.

1971 image restored & enhanced by Grace Hummel (Cleopatra's Boudoir).

FATE OF THE FRAGRANCE:

Styx was discontinued in 1978, ending its Coty–Pfizer chapter. Surviving bottles trace the fragrance’s changing identity, from the mysterious early presentations to the playful spells and potions of the 1970s. For collectors, labels, boxes, closures, and bottle designs can be as revealing as the perfume once held inside them.

The earliest examples are often valued chiefly as historical objects. Their contents may have evaporated or changed substantially with age, while the bottles preserve the design history of Coty’s first decades. René Lalique’s flacons are particularly sought after for their sculpted glass and their connection to Coty’s early work with the designer. Condition, original components, packaging, and a sound attribution to Lalique all affect an individual example’s appeal.

Bottles from the 1971 revival can still be found, but they represent a different collecting category from the early Lalique presentations. An unusually high asking price does not, on its own, establish rarity or value. Nor should a surviving bottle be assumed to smell as it did when new: the contents of later Styx products, like those of earlier perfumes, may have altered during decades of storage. The strongest reasons to collect a 1970s example are its condition, completeness, and place in the distinctive Rallet–Pfizer campaign.