Fragrance houses know that a great bottle can outlive the scent inside, but few understand this better than Guerlain. “Pierre-François-Pascal Guerlain, the founder, understood from the very beginning that the bottle is just as important as the fragrance itself,” says Prazan. In 1853, the French beauty house created Eau de Cologne Impériale for Empress Eugénie de Montijo’s wedding to Napoleon III. Its flacon, adorned with 69 gilded bees (an emblem of the Empire), became known as the Bee Bottle. “For over 170 years, it has been crafted in the same way and by the same factory,” says Prazan. “It remains the oldest perfume bottle in the world still in production today.”

— Read more in These Artistic Perfume Bottles Give Scent a New Shape at Fashion.