Cosmetics history preserved in new 'warehouse of wonders'

The world's first lipstick. The first modern perfume. A pivoting toothbrush. The original Nivea cream and serum. Not to mention the intimate secrets of Queen Elizabeth II. These are some of the treasures held in Guerlain's first archive, which brings stories from the iconic French cosmetic company's sensational past to life.

Guerlain gave The Associated Press exclusive international media access to its newly opened collection, a warehouse of wonders shrouded in secrecy and hidden from public view by Paris' Seine River. It's a gem of documents and mysterious objects spanning three centuries, each with a unique history of its own.

Yet what is perhaps most remarkable about the collection is that the company founded in 1828 that invented modern perfumery hadn't assembled it before.

"It's what we call our little secret," said Guerlain heritage director Ann Caroline Prazan, who sifted through a mine of artifacts to compile it in a years-long labor of love. "It was hard to whittle down 18,000 pieces to just 400 from so many years, but we did it ... Some of the pieces are so fragile, I'm scared to touch them."

The ambitious project exists thanks to Prazan's passion and patience. Through a mist of perfume, she reels off vignettes about Guerlain's innovations and famous patrons, including French Empress Eugenie, Josephine Baker, Grace Kelly, Jacqueline Kennedy, Barbra Streisand, Margaret Thatcher and the late U.K. queen.

As Prazan turned to handle the collection's most prized object, a lipstick created in 1870 and housed in a contemporary looking gold bullet, she carefully took off her white gloves as if she were performing a sacred ritual.

"It's so modern," she whispered, her finger carefully operating a push-up mechanism to reveal...