A Mini-Post About Aqua Manda Because...

... blogger seems to be up the spout again, this time its google chrome not letting me comment (don't all say "but that's a good thing") so this is in reply to Linda from Tabbyroo (hi!) who mentioned seeing the bottle of Aqua Manda in my Mantelpiece On Monday post.

I don't remember its original scent but it must have been deliciously orangey, as there were a lot of fruit-impersonating chemical unguents around at the time. I found it at a junk market a couple of years back and recognised the packaging; its soooo gorgeous and early 70s. That vivid orange bottle is the same orange as the washing up bowl my best friend's mum had in the early 70s. Ditto orange squash, pre-tartrazine ban*...

Shortly after I'd bought it I think Dawn French mentioned Aqua Manda in a book - so presumably that's made the stuff harder to track down, and hideously expensive for collectors fans of vintage cosmetics.

I've just taken a dab of it and sniffed it; it's definitely gone "off" - I can only describe it as smelling of one of those ancient potions intended to provide a bandaging, muscular-relieving effect, that's been festering at the back of the grandparents' bathroom cabinet, with a hefty dose of gaviscon thrown in for good measure.

* I thought it had been banned - apparently its now "not recommended for children". So, obviously totally safe then. Not. http://www.ukfoodguide.net/e102.html



If I get replies describing the 2011 olfactory experience of a gone-off bottle of Aqua Manda, I may be tempted to award prizes.... possibly of remaindered, dog-eared copies of Dawn French's book.