Nina Ricci perfumes started as a Paris fashion house in 1932 created by Nina Ricci, in partnership with her son, Robert.

Robert was in charge of the creation of the perfume line.  He worked with the legendary Germaine Cellier to create their first perfume, Coeur Joie, in 1946. Notes include neroli, bergamot, iris, violet, jasmine and rose.

Nina Ricci L’Air du Temps was launched in 1948.  L’Air du Temps, which is French for “air of time” became a classic French perfume created by Francis Fabron, it was soft, feminine, romantic and beautifully made with notes of bergamot, rose, gardenia, jasmine, musk, iris and sandalwood. Lalique created a beautiful bottle for L’Air du Temps with two little doves on the stopper. L’Air du Temps is still one of the best-selling French perfumes today.  In the movie “Silence of the Lambs” Hannibal Lecter detected the smell of L’Air du Temps on Clarice Starling.  L’Air du Temps is one of the perfumes selected for French Perfume Legends as a game-changer in perfumery. Its use of benzyl salicylate makes it luminous – or, rather, made it luminous.  That substance is banned now, so L’Air du Temps changed forever.

Nina Ricci’s other more well-known perfumes were Farouche (aldehydes, galbanum, peach, honeysuckle, carnation, iris, lily, clary sage, jasmine, lily of the valley, rose, geranium, cardamom, amber, musk oakmoss, vetiver), Nina in the 1970s,  Capricci in 1960 (tuberose, gardenia, orris, jasmine, hyacinth, ylang, lily of the valley, geranium, rose, narcissus, musk, benzoin, oakmoss, and vetiver) and Fille d’Eve in 1956. The Nina Ricci perfumes, as well as the bazillion flankers created, today bear almost no resemblance to the vintage versions of these French Perfumes

Nina Ricci stepped down from an active role in the design in the 1950s.  Robert died in 1988, and the Nina Ricci perfume line was acquired by Puig out of Spain.