Lightyears Collection
Picot Laboratories



Note: Information on this page was borrowed from Stephen V. Dowthwaite, PerfumersWorld.com, and from other sources.

Click on image to enlarge
'Pagan' perfume by Picot

Pagan, perfume by Picot

The beginnings of Picot Laboratories are currently lost in time but we do know a bit about some of the fragrances they once created and marketed, and we do know a bit about how the Picot name came to an end.

Picot Laboratories was one of the last creative perfumery houses in the U.K. and it was famous for its use of (expensive) natural materials. In the 1970's, Picot was owned by Scott & Bowne, manufacturing chemists, with roots in 19th century America.

Scott & Bowne, marketers of Scott's Cod Liver Oil, sold Picot to SmithKlein Beecham sometime before 1980. Picot's popular fragrances, Pagan and Pagan Man, were ultimately acquired by Jovan and marketed under the Mayfair and Lentheric brands.

Known Perfumes By Picot

FragrancePerfumerNotes
Le Train Bleu (194?)  
Pagan (1968)  
Pagan Man (196?)  
Lily of the Valley in Bloom (196?)  
Suede (196?)  
Akabar (196?)  
Fiesta (196?) An answer to Chanel's No.5, an aldehydic floral, discontinued in the late 1970's.

—— ## ——

If you have any information you would like to share with us about Picot, please use the message sender below.


Comments On This Article
Add Your Comment
  • Ann Amos, 03/27/2024. I notice that some people are unable to find Pagan but I bought some a few days ago from Amazon. It still smells exactly the same as it always did and it was my late husband’s favourite. I’m 78 now but I was just a young girl when I first bought it. Nothing evokes memories like perfume or music and Pagan reminds me of so many happy times.

    — —

  • Christine Rose, 02/27/2024. I wore Suede probably from about 1963. Loved it. I eventually got Kiku as a gift set, which actually contained a daffodil yellow bath brush - looked good in the bathroom at the time! Electrique was also a favourite of mine a bit later.
    When I eventually married I discovered my mother-in-law only ever wore Picot's Pagan.
    When I first bought Suede I remember that inside the box was a piece of card printed with the words 'we don't advertise - we just make good perfume'.

    — —

  • Patricia Williams, 12/23/2023. My Mum loved Le Train Blue and I loved Lily of the Valley. No other brand of Lily of the Valley is as good in my opinion

    — —

  • Gaye Dove, 12/23/2023. I discovered this range of perfumes in the mid sixities. A boy friend at the time bought me all of them one birthday, I wore them all but Pagan became my favourite and I have continued to seek it out over the years through all of its incarnations. I would love to find Suede, Blue train,Fiesta and Akebar again, they were the perfumes of my youth and have very happy memories associated with their wonderful fragrances.

    — —

  • Flora mackinnon, 12/23/2023. My sister and I wore picot fiesta no 5. We would club together to buy a tiny bottle. I’m 82 and can still imagine the scent. You would go into your ward rope and your clothes still had that beautiful scent. That was the thing,I have never found a perfume that lasted the way no 5 did. Sooo disappointed when it was discontinued. Can someone not revive it. I tried a few old ones in the past. Sha lunar was lovely but a bit heavy. Nothing can compare with no 5 fiesta


    — —

  • Brenda Brewer, 06/16/2023. I discovered Picot in the mid-fiftiest. I left school in 1956 and started working in the City. I always wore Picot perfumes. My faourites were Pagan, Le Train Bleu and Suede. There was only one chemists in Sidcup Kent (where I lived) that sold Picot. When it closed I was unable to find Picot. I have just come across your web page by chance and it took me back to the fifties. Happy days. Thank you.

    — —

  • Sylvia shardlow, 06/16/2023. I used to use fiesta perfume in1958 I wish I could buy some today

    — —

  • Ann, 11/28/2022. Wow - blue train. Mm the olfactory sweeps me back to that warm beautiful perfume. You would never mistake that cloud of sophistication wafting around. I would catch just a remnant of it the next day while putting away a scarf or a sweater. Exact perfume smell only more powdery. Wonderful.

    — —

  • Alexandra Edwards, 11/28/2022. I worked at Picot Perfumes at Hammersmith Broadway in the mid sixties. I remember gluing the labels on the bottles and packaging them. I particularly liked the Suede, it’s package had a suedey effect. During a postal strike, I had to hand deliver a few orders to pharmacies around London.

    — —

  • Diane Blomfield, 06/13/2022. Ah Picot perfumes. In the early 1960's I wore Le train Blue, Fiesta and Suede. I still have one of those little bottles of Suede still with some of the perfume in it. Pict lasted on your skin for such a long time. So wish it was still in production at it's original strength.

    — —

  • Margaret Leverick, Nee Carroll, 06/10/2022. My time at Picot perfumes from 1965 -1971
    Left. Mr Kenneth Burrows (perfumer)
    Middle. Margaret Carroll.
    Right. Mr Pereire.
    Picot Lab

    — —

  • Margaret Leverick, Nee Carroll, 06/08/2022. I still have a photo of an item about Picot Perfume Laboratory, featuring me with Mr Burrows the perfumer and Mr Pierere the manager in the laboratory in 1969. I don't know how I can attach it here. The photo was featured in the telegraph newspaper.

    — —

  • Margaret Leverick, Nee Carroll, 06/02/2022. When I worked at Picot laboratory in 60's Mr Henry Kobus was the perfumer and shortly afterwards Kenneth Burrows. Mr Patrick would often visit us. He lived across the road in Latymer court. We could always smell his cigar and hear his loud voice before we could see him.
    I was assistant perfumer to Kenneth Burrows, working on small sub compounds in the experimental lab which we called the X lab. Patrick Hibbett talked to me about how he started out. His daughter Pat sometimes visited. She was very nice and friendly.
    I use to go home smelling strongly of perfume, getting lots of looks on the bus. Happy times.

    — —

  • Julie Mitchell nee Rhodes, 09/15/2021. It was lovely reading all the comments.
    I was Secretary to Mr. Hibbert I think in the late 50's. Had an office in the lab. and also another one a ten minute walk away.
    Can't remember street but it was a main street. Lost track of
    everyone but remember the people in the office calling me
    Cecil ! Mr. Hibert was very strict and proper. Nice to
    remember those times.

    — —

  • Liz Hibbert, 07/20/2021. Hi Olivia, Michael was my father and Patrick my uncle. Both sadly deceased. My niece found your post. We would love to make contact, if Brian would like.

    — —

  • Olivia Zenonos, 03/11/2021. I am a carer and I look after Mr Brian Eden. He talks about Picot Perfumes a lot as his best friend (Michael Hibbert) brother Patrick Hibbert worked for Picot. Brian tells a tale of when he and Michael would help pack up the bottles so they could go out and play during the 1930s and early 1940s.
    If anyone knows a Michael or Patrick Hibbert Brian would love to know if they are still alive. Brian will turn 92 this year.


    — —

  • Flora mackinnon, 01/28/2021. Late 50s to early 60s,my sister and I would treat ourself to a small bottle of Pico Fiesta no 5. It was a beautiful scent. In comparison to today's perfume,it lasted for ages. You would open your wardrobe door and be flooded with the scent for a lng time. It's such a shame it's not around anymore. The perfumes today are gone before you are out the door.evokes strong memories,thinking about it

    — —

  • Diane Picot, 01/06/2021. I married Anthony Picot from Jersey and always had a bottle of Pagan by Picot. I still have an empty bottle from the 1960's and it still has that heavenly scent. Miss it still.

    — —

  • Gina Watteau, 01/06/2021. I worked in the Picot lab from 1959 till 1967. First under the owner Patrick Hibbert and then Mr. H. Kobushi. I started as a junior and ended up in charge of the lab. Everything used in the perfumes was of top quality. In 1966-1967 it was taken over by 4711 and was moved to Slough.

    — —

  • Jeffrey hodge, 11/03/2020. My late mums favourite perfume was le train blue by Picot ,she was in the wrens during the war and just after and I think that's when she started using it ,it was here favourite and she was devastated when it was discontinued ,I managed to get her some from a long gone perfumery in Harrogate in the 80,s memories Mmmm!

    — —

  • Liz Hibbert, 08/28/2020. Hi Margaret, i am pat hibberts niece. We lost touch with my aunt Margy and my cousins Trish and Vicki. I believe my aunty margy may have passed on? If facilator of this sight would like me to send photos of uncle pat and letters, one with Picot letter head, i am happy too.


    — —

  • Margaret Leverick (nee Carroll), 07/20/2020. I remember Patrick Hibbert very well. He smoked cigars so we were well aware of his visits to the Lab in Hammersmith road when we smelt his cigars before we heard his voice. He told me that he started the business by selling at outside venues like market stalls. He lived in Hammersmith road before marrying miss Salsby and moving to Spain. I also knew Henry Kobus, the perfumer before Kenneth Burrows took over. I loved working at the Laboratory making up sub compounds and samples for quality control smelling tests.
    I also remember Pat Hibbert, Patrick's daughter.

    — —

  • Elizabeth Hibbert, 06/18/2019. My uncle Patrick, Wallace Patrick Hibbert worked for Picot. For those who worked for picot, do you remember him? thankyou;

    — —

  • Leila Rutter, 06/18/2019. Picot Le Train Bleu.
    I have the remnants of a tiny bottle. Wish I had kept more. My favourite perfume in 70's.
    Anyone know what might have been in it? Quite strong and heady.

    — —

  • Anne-Marie Fishburn , 03/19/2019. My husband Peter bought me pagon picot for his gift to me for our wedding on the 3rd September 1966. I wore it every day until we came to New Zealand in 1972 and I couldn't buy it in here.

    — —

  • Margaret Leverick, 03/19/2019. I believe Steve Dowthwaite took over my job when I left in 1971.
    I knew Brian and Kenneth Burrows, also Henry Kobus and, briefly Patrick Hibbert.

    — —

  • di, 03/18/2019. my favourite was zozotte. we used to sell it in the chemist where i worked.
    they had a shop in auckland but i cannot remember exactly where. maybe on high street.

    — —

  • Jan Henderson, 03/18/2019. Does anyone know if the Pagan perfume by Picot is now sold under a different name by another supplier? I would love to purchase some. I have used other perfumes since it disappeared off the market but I much preferred that fragrance. Any ideas would be appreciated.

    — —

  • Ann sanders, 03/18/2019. I loved le train blue - oh how evocative. The olfactory such a powerful sense. Picot perfume, in my humble opinion, were some of the most feminine perfumes ever created. They would out sell any of the perfumes marketed now. All perfumes now have a weak fixative and smell of vanilla or candy floss, somebody please resurrect these fabulous perfumes. Where has all the finesse and glamour gone?

    — —

  • Marina Willerton, 03/15/2019. In the 1950s Picot made perfume called
    Le Gardenia Blanc
    and it was my favourite one. I wish that a company like that
    one would come into being again. Their perfumes were
    first rate.

    — —

  • Christina E, 03/15/2019. Picot Lily if the Valley is for me so strongly identified with my mother. A tiny little bottle and a beautiful, fine scent. When I was 18 I started to use Pagan as an evening perfume. Picot perfumes were exquisite. I wish I could get a bottle of the Lily of the Valley, to keep in a drawer and to wear just a dab on my wrist to make me feel my mother is beside me. Wonderful.

    — —

  • bernard ward, 03/15/2019. I worked for Picot in the late fifties -
    ..the owner and perfumer was Patrick Hibbert.
    His Laboratory was in Hammersmith.
    His assistant was a Miss Soulsby,
    Mr Hibbert ran a successful business on
    an agency basis

    — —

  • Alana, 03/15/2019. OMG, there never was or has been a perfume that matched the original 'Pagan by Picot.' It was an amazing aroma. My opinion of course. It was what I wore the night I met my husband in Christchurch New Zealand, right before he left for Antarctica. That was 48 years ago. All I want is to find a bottle, even half a bottle, from somewhere, from someone who is holding onto one maybe with no strong attachment. If anyone can help me find 'the original' for my upcoming anniversary I would be over the moon. It would be worth every dollar spent to find. I am able to get it from Mayfair, but it doesn't hold a light to the original.

    — —

  • Ella Jones, 03/19/2018. My favourite perfume in the 70's was Pagan by Picot I haven't found anything like it. I now use Liz Earl No 15. Any suggestions of a more modern Pagan would be appreciated.

    — —

  • Ernest field, 03/19/2018. I was the manager of picot when it was sited in Hammersmith.
    It was owned by mr pirreare a son of mrs Scott. Who family was fanouse for Scott's emulsion. The family were French.

    — —

  • Jan P, 03/19/2018. I was given some Picot Pagan perfume at Christmas 1967. I absolutely loved it, and bought more until it was no longer available. I have never found anything similar, how I wish it could be re-created

    — —

  • Elaine Stadly, 03/19/2018. Pagan by Picot was popular perfume in Scotland in 1950's

    — —

  • F. Cavanagh, 03/16/2018. I am a retired perfumer and probably one of a few perfumers to train using the most expensive in the world. I trained at picot laboratories.
    The QC in and out and the systems that were in place were incredible. Every drop of product had to be accounted for.
    In those days, we used animal products as fixatives, as well as synthetic fixatours.
    Musk, civet,ambergris and Castoreum, were used. Thankfully, animal products are no longer used.
    Having spent over half a century in the industry l consider myself extremely fortunate to have had the opportunity to traine in the use of the best fragrance materials in the world.
    It was the beginning of a lifetime of creation.

    — —

  • Marina Willerton, 07/17/2017. In the 1950s Picot made perfume called
    Le Gardenia Blanc
    and it was my favourite one. I wish that a company like that one would come into being again. Their perfumes were first rate.

    — —

  • Olgaholt, 07/17/2017. Picot fiesta perfume was the most beautiful I have ever used and I cannot find another one to equal it , I think if the formula was found
    it would be an instant success.

    — —

  • Barbara - UK, 01/24/2017. I used Picot Fiesta perfume in 1961 it was such a beautiful scent. When it was discontinued it took me a long time to find one to replace it. I did eventually turn to Chanel and discovered No 5 which I still use and love, however I still think Fiesta had the edge.

How to create an international production formula for your homemade perfume
How to create an international production formula for your homemade perfume

Homemade perfumes generally lack commercial value, regardless of how wonderful they may be, because their creators fail to record how their perfumes were made. To profit from a perfume, to sell it, to sell the rights to it, or have somebody sell it for you, you must be able to make more of it. To make more you need the formula, the record of how the perfume was made: what materials were used and how much of each material was used. While the formula is nothing more than a recipe, a simple piece of paper, it is the key to unlocking your perfume's commercial potential. With the formula in your hand you have the ability to make a few dozen bottles more or, like the celebrities, tens of thousands of bottles. How to create an international production formula for your homemade perfume is a guide to getting you started on the right foot, correctly documenting everything you do as you are doing it, and then using these notes with some basic mathematics to write a simple, accurate, universal formula for your perfume. Writing formulas for your perfumes can change the way you think about them. With your formulas in hand your creations are no longer "here today, gone tomorrow." Now, thanks to your library of formulas, your perfumes become immortal!


Making perfume by the quart
Making Perfume By The Quart: A do-it-yourself project book

While much is written about perfume – the beautiful fragrances... the beautiful bottles – little is available on the "mechanics" of perfume production – the steps that take place on the "factory floor" where a beautiful vision is turned into a finished product, a "ready to sell" perfume. Now you can experience all of these steps, hands on, by making just one quart of your own perfume. If you follow each chapter and do what you are instructed to do, you will end up with from 8 to 64 bottles of your own perfume, depending on the capacity of the bottles you select. Along this "insiders journey," each step is profusely illustrated with professional color photographs and you'll learn — • Exactly what alcohol you'll need and where to get it • Why you'll want (just a little!) water in your perfume • What type bottles you'll need and why you cannot use others • Why you will use a spray and not a cap • How to fill and seal your bottles • How to label your bottles with the correct information so they will be legal for sale • How to select a name for your perfume that will allow you to acquire powerful trademark rights free. If you are a developer of scents you are encouraged to use one of your own for this project. If you are not a scent creator yourself you'll learn how to get a fragrance oil that is exactly right for this project. Online sources are given for all required supplies and materials. Nothing can hold you back from starting your project immediately!


Creating your own perfume with a 1700 percent markup
Creating Your Own Perfume With A 1700 Percent Markup! (3rd edition)

Perfume is famous for the markup it can achieve, even for a middle market fragrance. While "everybody knows" that perfume costs next to nothing to make (not completely true) the making of it is often considered an esoteric secret. "Creating Your Own Perfume With A 1700 Percent Markup!" details how a 3-person company with no experience created their own fragrance in response to a marketing opportunity that was too good to pass up. The book explains exactly what was done to create a fragrance for that opportunity but it is far more than a history of the author's project. "Creating Your Own Perfume With A 1700 Percent Markup!" lays out every step in the process of creating your own perfume, either as a do-it-yourself project – and without the benefit of automated equipment some compromises and workarounds are required – or full bore professional production under your supervision. Either way you will be producing a quality fragrance at a remarkably low cost. Do you have a marketing opportunity that would be wildly profitable if only you could obtain your fragrance at a ridiculously low cost? "Creating Your Own Perfume With A 1700 Percent Markup!" is the guide you need to do it.


Creating your own perfume from dropper bottles
Creating your own perfume from dropper bottles: Methods, mechanics, and mathematics

Now when you make your own perfume you can make it fully "commercial" meaning you will be creating a product ready for regular, continuous sales to friends, relatives, and the public! If the fragrance you've made has already won praise, why not share it with others? Some might pay you for it and want it for their web stores or retail boutiques! Creating your own perfume from dropper bottles: Methods, mechanics, and mathematics guides you through steps that can turn your hobby project into a perfume business. Discover how close you are now and how little more you must do to take what you made with essential oils and dropper bottles into a business of your own! For an introduction to this book, watch this video.


How to launch your own business
How To Launch Your Own Perfume Company: A Simple Business Plan

You can build a perfume business of your own using this business plan as a guide. By following its detailed strategy you learn to identify motivated groups of potential perfume buyers. Members of these groups are near the tipping point of desire for a new perfume. You don't know these people and they don't know you but you know a marketer they trust, one who does not currently sell perfume and might never think of selling perfume were it not for your approach. Here is where you step in with a professional plan, promotion, and perfume to take advantage of this ripe opportunity for mutual profit. Before your first promotion has peaked, you will already be developing a relationship with your next marketing partner. Following this plan, you will gain more and more profit with each new marketing partnership.


naming your perfume and protecting your name
Naming Your Perfume And Protecting Your Name

A really great name, a special name that is just right for a particular perfume or perfume marketer (or entrepreneur with money to invest!) can be worth a ton of money. But few individuals with great ideas ever manage to cash in on those brilliant ideas. Instead they wait while others "discover" their idea, acquire legal rights to it and make all the money while they are left out in the cold without a penny having been earned for what was once THEIR idea.

If you are struggling to name your perfume and are looking for a name that will have real value, "Naming Your Perfume And Protecting Your Name" will help you weed out low value names and point you to names that have better marketing value plus the potential to become valuable assets in themselves.

If you have a great name you want to protect but no fragrance, "Naming Your Perfume And Protecting Your Name" will guide you through the simple steps you must take to acquire a legal right to that name before someone else grabs it! Best of all, "Naming Your Perfume And Protecting Your Name" shows you how to gain strong legal protection for your name without a lawyer and without spending more than pocket change.

Never had an idea for a product name? Never thought much about perfume? "Naming Your Perfume And Protecting Your Name" may stimulate your interest in a whole new game that, when played well, can make you lots of money without your having to leave the comfort of your home office.


creating a more valuable name
How To Create A More Valuable Name For Your Perfume

When you name a perfume you create a valuable asset – the name itself. To sell your perfume you want the most effective name possible. But a good name can have value beyond the edge it gives your sales. In naming your fragrance you are creating a trademark and a trademark can have value independent of the product. The value of that trademark can vary. Much depends on how well, in naming your perfume, you follow the trademark "rules." How To Create A More Valuable Name For Your Perfume first helps you develop a name that will be effective in selling your perfume. It then prods you to make use of certain techniques that can turn a good name into a great trademark, strong and valuable. If you have questions about how to protect a name, How To Create A More Valuable Name For Your Perfume will answer many such as:

  • Can you protect your name yourself or do you need a lawyer?
  • Can you register a trademark without a lawyer?
  • What does it cost to register a trademark?
  • How do I enforce the rights I have established?

How To Create A More Valuable Name For Your Perfume covers both state, federal, and international protection.


For article updates, etc., add your name to Phil's mailing list.

Photo of Phil Goutell
Philip Goutell's Signature

Philip Goutell
Lightyears, Inc.