Mouseyblue-2008 has a passion for vintage perfume and EOTB's Margot is a regular visitor to her eBay shop.
Mousey and I made friends on Twitter so long ago that I can’t remember which of our many shared interests drew us together. Mouseyblue-2008’s online shop is a Cave of Wonders, offering the serendipitous pleasure and thrill of discovering fabulous perfumes that are either unknown to you, or if known, difficult to source.
Here’s Margot’s photo of her current summer and winter perfumes – both bought from Mousey.
But Mousey doesn’t only sell perfume, she picks up all sorts of other treasure here and there so I thought it would be fun (for me, and hopefully for you) to do an ‘edit’ (as we in the word trade pretentiously call it) of Mousey’s shop, focussing NOT on the perfume, but on some of the other wonderful stuff she has in there.
This is a bit different to a regular gift guide, because everything here is a one-off. I decided to limit myself to eight things only from the Buy It Now tab, and prices range from £15.00 to £200.00. All prices were correct at the time of writing, and all pieces were still available, but no guarantees that they will still be available when you’re actually reading this.
Bourjois ‘Evening In Paris’ 1937-1943 vintage gift set
BUY IT NOW at £200
This Bourjois gift set might be the closest thing to a time machine that I’ve ever seen. Take a look at the illustrations! All the things that Bourjois believed you might like to enjoy, were you lucky enough to be spending an evening in the City of Light … it’s just gorgeous, isn’t it?
Vintage 1970s Infini by Caron, bottle by Serge Mansau
BUY IT NOW at £150
One of the rules I set for myself was not to include any perfume in this guide – then I saw this and thought, oh well, just one won’t hurt! I couldn’t stop looking at the angular bottle and the tigerish colour of the contents … it looks so much like a scent that femme-fatale-and-heroine’s-nemesis Cable might have worn in Jilly Cooper’s novel Imogen … I just had to include it.
LONGCHAMP X Pikachu Cosmetic Bag
BUY IT NOW at £100
I am a huge fan of Longchamp bags, in fact a high proportion of my time on eBay has been spent sourcing them. I love how neatly they’re crafted, how durable they are, and Pikachu looks so at home on this one, no? If you like this, and you also like to do a ‘full look’, make sure you keep reading!
Vintage carved Lucite crystal clutch bag.
BUY IT NOW at £80
Had Charles Perrault enough word-count left to bless Cinderella with a bag to match her dainty little slippers, this is the bag he would have imagined for her. Buy this and you’ll have endless fun putting together the mix of things you wish to be seen to be carrying within it, and disguising the things you don’t want seen. Not a bag for undercover assassins, although having said that, they probably like a challenge … so if you know a Bond Girl, buy it for them!
French Art Nouveau brass ink stand.
BUY IT NOW at £75
I don’t need an inkstand. I don’t own a fountain pen, or a quill, and the last time I owned a bottle of ink, I spilt it all over my little wooden desk so, I really don’t need an inkstand. But having said that, who wouldn’t want an inkstand so pretty, so enchanting? It’s a gorgeous little objet and if anyone sneered at you for buying something now so impractical, you could use it to deal them a glancing blow and explain that you bought it to use as a weapon of self-defence against burglars and critics. Gavin (member of the EOTB family responsible for web design, proof-reading and a host of other invaluable services) thinks that you could use this to burn incense. If he’s right, this would be a beautiful second life for this piece, but do check for safety with your local friendly fire-person before doing so etc etc and so forth …
Longchamp×Pokémon Pikachu Le Pliage Coin Purse
BUY IT NOW at £60
A companion piece to the Longchamp x Pikachu Le Pliage cosmetic bag up-the-way, this is a cute and adorable little purse. One of my best superstitions is to change up my purse or wallet when my money situation seems particularly stuck. I don’t always buy a new one, but that is a way to pledge your commitment to your financial situation improving, if you’re the superstitious sort. If you had two linked young people to buy for at Christmas, this and the cosmetic bag would be a nice similar-but-not-identical gift for them.
Vintage 50/60s Jean Patou Poudre. face powder, sealed and boxed.
BUY IT NOW at £27
The more I work through this list, the more I realise what a boon a shop like Mousey’s is for anyone that has a reason to wish to connect with the past. Intimate, everyday things have such a magic once their day has gone, and they become a portal into an earlier time. I would buy this Jean Patou powder as an ornament, although I’m sure I would not be able to resist unsealing it.
Vintage Viners Lion’s Head Salt Pot With Liner
BUY IT NOW at £15
One of my favourite things about the Leo in my life is that she is very fond of a drawn, painted, sculpted or carved lion, which helps considerably when gift-buying. The Lion is the King of Sculpture, because of his beautiful hair, which lends itself so well to being chiselled or carved. You could set this little pot on your breakfast table to add grandeur to your boiled egg or porridge, or put it on your desk or dressing table and fill it with paperclips or hairpins. It is a small but mighty object of delight.
Thank you for reading my first ever:
‘Snap Up A One-Off Thing That You Might Never Have Realised You Wanted Until You Laid Eyes On It’ Gift Guide!
Important Note: If you prefer the hurly-burly of the eBay auction, to the sweet, sweet certainty offered by the Buy It Now button, you’ll enjoy looking through Mousey’s Auction tab. There you will find many perfumes, collectable perfume bottles, and miniatures, also gorgeous small luxuries like the fork and spoon pictured below.
Vintage Scallop Edged Silver Plated EPNS Salad / Fruit Servers 22 cm Starting Bid £5.99
All imagery is courtesy of Mousey and copyright is hers, apart from the photograph of the two bottles of L.T.Piver fragrance: that picture was taken by Margot, and copyright is hers.
Ethical Stuff
There are no affiliate links in this post.
I have absolutely no professional or affiliate links with eBay, or Mouseyblue-2008.
This post is not sponsored, and although I asked Mousey’s permission to use her photographs to illustrate this post, she has no idea what I’ve picked for my edit, or why, and she will not see this post until it goes live. So if there are any errors in this post, they are mine and mine alone!
Although Mousey and I made friends on social media several years ago, we have not yet met one another in real life. Despite this, I consider her a truly trusted and greatly valued friend.
I think it will be a surprise to Mousey to realise that Margot is one of her very satisfied customers!
