So AVON UK is 60 this year and so am I! After receiving the latest AVON newsletter with the title
🎉 You're invited to Avon UK's 60th Birthday 🎉
I wondered what else had happened in that great year of 1959.
Well I was in my element when I googled “What happened in 1959?” and found out loads of interesting facts such as
>In Britain the first Mini Cooper automobile was built in response to the fuel shortage. It was called the Austin Mini Seven or the Morris Mini Minor, later just called The Mini. Well that is my favourite all time car and i have one!
>Barbie made her debut at the American Toy Fair in New York. Well what esteemed birth twins I have!
>The Rodgers and Hammerstein musical “The Sound Of Music” opened on Broadway.
Well these are a few of my favourite things, to coin a phrase lol.
But let’s get back to the birth of AVON UK in 1959 and see how far the company has come in those 60 years. I am not talking about profits and other boring financial issues but about products and above all my AVON memories.
As a small child in the 1960’s I have vivid memories of creeping into my mum and dad’s bedroom and staring open-mouthed at mum’s dressing table. There was an array of colourful little pots, sprinkled with different jewels and when you opened them heavenly aromas erupted from them. This was my mum’s collection of AVON cream sachet fragrances. They had names like Occur, Topaze, Unforgettable, Moonwind and may more exotic names
There were also botanical names such as Honeysuckle and Lily of the Valley which made the garden come into the home, or that’s what I thought. Mum also swore by AVON’s Rich Moisture Cream, which kept her face so soft and youthful looking. It was the ANEW of old! She would also bathe in the luxurious Skin So Soft Original Bath Oil which would keep her whole body in pristine condition.
When I was old enough my auntie used to buy me my very own AVON fragrances and Pretty Peach then took over my dressing table. There was bubble bath, cream sachet fragrance and the best thing ever………Soap On A Rope. The most amazing thing was that there were miniature peaches on the top of the containers and the soap was just like a peach hanging on a rope. Bath times were now a delight all due to AVON.
And so came the teenage years in the 1970’s and the emergence of my interest in David Cassidy, Donny Osmond, Rod Stewart and makeup, what a mixture I hear you say! My friend’s mum was an AVON rep and every few weeks, Beverley would bring the next brochure to school. We would all huddle over the book on the coach journey to school and, even though we didn’t have much pocket money we would order the latest makeup trends like eye shadows and nail polish in a variety of shades.
AVON invented small handbag sized fragrance sticks called Demisticks and what a godsend they were. Instead of carrying your fragrance bottle around you could fit a Demistick in your school pencil case. You just removed the top, turned the bottom until the solid fragrance stick popped up and bingo, instant fragrance rubbed on your wrist and neck.
As well as makeup products AVON began to introduce items for the home and particular favourites of mine were the pomanders that you could hang in your wardrobe. They came with a small bag of fragranced wax chips and once you had filled them they made your clothes smell wonderful. I also loved the mini hairbrush that would also fit into your pencil case. AVON also sold jewellery now and I loved my new jade effect ring
Onwards to the working years, the 1980’s onwards. I suddenly ended up with more money to spend and had lunchtimes to fill so was tempted to spend money in high street shops. My fragrance tastes changed to the likes of French and Italian designers but at an extortionate cost. Unfortunately, I did not have access to any AVON reps any more and was therefore deprived of buying AVON for a number of years. There were no online stores in those days, just the door to door AVON ladies.
At last to my delight in the mid 1990’s, I came home from work and there on the mat inside the porch was……. An AVON brochure. The first thing I looked for was some Men’s fragrance and I entered Black Suede EDT on the order form as well as some Translucent Loose Face Powder. What a joy when they arrived! I continued to order the face powder for many years after and accumulated a large amount of lovely plastic containers that would hold trinkets and bits and bobs like paper clips and staples.
And so to present day, my retirement and beyond. I am an AVON rep and sales leader now and buy most things AVON. AVON ANEW products now come high on my anti-wrinkle list and I love trying out any new fragrances. I love the EVE fragrances and have converted my husband to the Elite Gentleman range. I am actually now a walking AVON brochure….my shoes are AVON, my jewellery is AVON, my fragrance is AVON, my skincare regime is AVON and at the top, my haircare products are all AVON.
Thank you, AVON for 60 years of pleasure.