LUXURIA Cleansing Cream

Harriet Hubbard Ayer (1849–1903) was an American journalist and one of the earliest cosmetics entrepreneurs to frame beauty as both care and culture.

Through her writing on beauty, health, and etiquette, Ayer helped shape how skincare was understood during the Victorian era and beyond. n 1886, she launched Recamier Toilet Preparations, Inc. selling daily skin care creams in a time when visible makeup was often considered improper.

In Victorian society, a pale, clear complexion and a “natural” appearance were prized, and cold creams became an essential part of women’s routines. Behind this modest aesthetic, however, cosmetic research was intense, and often dangerous, with many formulations proving harmful rather than beautifying.

Luxuria Cleansing Cream, produced in the 1930s, reflects a later evolution of these ideas. Although created decades after Ayer’s death, its approach follows principles she helped popularise: cleansing as the foundation of beauty, and creams considered superior to soap and water.

Little information survives about Luxuria Cleasing Cream, and reference imagery is scarce. This project, therefore, is less about historical reconstruction and more about product design > interpreting the object itself.

No gold foils, no embossing, none of the visual noise we associate with modern “luxury.” is found in this vintage label. Yet in recreating it in 3D, its quiet sophistication becomes evident. Made me worder if simple and clean paper and print, more eco-friendly, but refined with good line art artsy, would be accepted as luxury nowadays statement. Should we revisit this?

For this teaser, I chose a monochromatic white palette, allowing the label and the silver cap to stand out. A thick splash of cream reveals a smooth, firm texture, contrasted by floating jars that soften the composition. The product feels light, not grounded revieling the sensations skincare promises: softness, smoothness, ease.

Sound became part of this atmosphere. I wanted something that subtly referenced the past without becoming illustrative. Elgar and Mendelssohn came to mind, but Dôme épais le jasmin by Léo Delibes lingered.

Two feminine voices, named after flowers, felt aligned with the delicacy and intimacy of the piece. A beautiful reproduction of this work is available via Classicals.de.

Behind the scenes

No liquid simulation was used for this animation.
The cream motion was created using morph target animation, with the forms sculpted using cloth simulation brushes in Blender’s sculpting mode.

This approach allowed precise control, prioritising design intent over physical accuracy.

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