Pommade Divine: The 300-year-old beauty secret that has been rescued and brought back to life
From the court of Louis XIV to today’s red carpet, the soothing and smoothing powers of Pommade Divine have stood the test of time. But the future of this centuries-old wonder-balm looked uncertain until two enterprising fans came to its rescue
Princess Elisabeth Charlotte wrote letters from the French court to her friends and familyextolling the virtues of Pommade Divine
There aren’t many beauty products in this world to have survived the French Revolution, several wars (where it was sent to the front as a salve for soldiers) and the decision, back in the early 1980s, by its parent company to ‘kill it off’. However, thanks to the determination of two visionary British women, with a 40-year age gap between them – Ania Macadam, 30, and her business partner Diana Heimann (do the maths!) – Pommade Divine has been ‘saved’ for the nation.
And there is surely no beauty must-have out there with such a fascinating history. ‘The first mention of Pommade Divine is in a letter from Marie-Antoinette’s great-grandmother, Princess Elisabeth Charlotte,’ explains Diana, 1962’s Debutante of the Year and former Vogue journalist. ‘Elisabeth Charlotte wrote thousands of letters to friends and relatives in Germany from the court of the French king Louis XIV – she was his sister-in-law,’ continues Ania.
‘In one, dated 1720, she raved about Pommade Divine. “You won’t believe, dear Louise, what a good thing this Pommade Divine is. I am sending you a box, so that you can carry it with you at all times. Another thing this pommade is good for: if you have burned yourself badly with sealing wax and treat it immediately with the pommade, it reduces the pain. I don’t know how one could not like the smell of Pommade Divine…”’
So you haven’t burned yourself on your sealing wax lately? No matter: Pommade Divine has at least a dozen other uses – as Ania, an ex-Procter & Gamble marketing whiz, realised when she was introduced to the product by Diana’s cousin, with whom she was working in Geneva at the time. ‘Yes, it’s good for bumps, bruises, burns, sunburn, mozzie bites – but it’s the beauty applications that interested me,’ she explains. ‘Lip balm, cuticle softener, flyaway-tamer… It’s great for patches of rough or dry skin. And if I slather it on last thing at night – as a face mask, or as a foot/hand treatment – my skin is baby-soft by morning.’
Diana herself had used and loved Pommade Divine since her three sons were babies. Indeed, it was such a staple of the nursery that Pommade Divine is name-checked in the companion book to the last series of Downton Abbey, where it’s a standby for little Sibby and George. It was so popular in the Edwardian era that it was known as Nanny’s Magic Ointment, with the late Duchess of Devonshire Deborah Mitford once saying that a sniff of Pommade Divine transported her ‘straight back to the nursery’.
Pommade Divine champions Diana Heimann, pictured as a debutante, left, and Ania Macadam, right
An 1867 royal endorsement, and a jar of Pommade Divine
But when her son Charlie was seven, Diana popped to Boots one day to replenish supplies only to discover that Pommade Divine had gone from the shelves as part of a ‘rationalisation’ by its then owners. ‘I was bereft,’ she remembers. So bereft, in fact, that she rang her banker husband David about it. And unbeknown to Diana, David bought the company for her as a gift. Her late husband had form on that front: he’d previously presented her with a boutique in Amersham, Buckinghamshire – ‘so I knew about wholesale retail and distribution’, Diana notes. When they advertised the balm’s revival in The Lady, orders flooded in – and it became quite a ‘cottage industry’.
Pommade Divine fan Sienna Miller
When Ania heard about Pommade Divine via Diana’s cousin, her antennae started twitching. She got on a flight to London and fell so deeply in love with the balm that, in 2013, she ditched her job and put her heart and life savings into this ‘sleeping beauty’ of a product, determined to help Diana restore it to its former glory. And, oh, has it basked in that, over the years – as the historian who Ania commissioned to research its heritage has confirmed. The very first British mention
of Pommade Divine comes from the London Chronicle in 1767. ‘To those who are acquainted with the salutary effects of Pommade Divine, nothing need be said in its recommendation. To those who have never used it…it is a never-failing remedy for a bruise, pinch, swelled face, stiff neck, sore breasts, burns, scalds, sprains, swellings, etc. Its fragrant smell makes it preferable to all other ointments which are offensive to delicate people.’
Pommade Divine devotee Deborah Mitford
And frankly, it’s the smell that hooks you: spicy benzoin, resinous liquidambar, along with clove, nutmeg and cinnamon. Its fans are already legion: Jemma Kidd has used it for years and comments, ‘My hands look younger, hydrated, and my nails have strengthened.’ And Sienna Miller wouldn’t be without the balm: ‘I was brought up with Pommade Divine; now I use it on my daughter. It’s a fantastic product that I always have in the house.’
Celebrity endorsements are one thing, of course – but perhaps the greatest praise comes from Caroline Cassels, matron at King Edward VII’s Hospital in London, who declares: ‘Pommade Divine is magic! In my work I often bump and bruise myself, but rub on the magic balm, and the mark just seems to go, leaving no scar. I wouldn’t be without it.’
There’s also something appealing about the simplicity of a multitasker such as Pommade Divine. Its next adventure has already begun: in its new ‘heritage chic’ packaging, Pommade Divine has just landed at leading department stores and online retailers. Let’s hope it goes on soothing dry skins, frazzled nerves (and the odd sealing wax burn) for another 300 years or more.
- Pommade Divine, £20 for 30ml, from Fenwick stores nationwide and pommadedivine.com
