The Perfume Puff Ponies were released in 1989, as a complementary
set to the Perfume Puff Palace, which also reached the UK in the
same year. They were scented ponies, albeit not fruit or ice cream
(or something terrifying and sickly) like the other scented sets.
These had floral type perfumes, which honestly, I find a lot less
noxious. (Other people do not agree, but I never had one brand new
so mine have maybe faded out with time).
There were six characters in the set, although there is a known
variation on Daisy Sweet, making seven ponies overall. They were
each sold with a comb, hair clip and standard ribbon.
The most distinctive feature of this set was the puffy hair, which
is unique to this release. The set included one unicorn, one
pegasus and four earth ponies, all in standard existing earlier
poses.
In North America, they were sometimes sold with make-up as part of
an offer.
Daisy Sweet Mint in Box with make up North America, 1989 (USA Box)
Perfume Puff Ponies were the second release of scented ponies in
the UK, although their issue here is a bit unconventional. In
fact, they do not appear on the insert for 1989, and there has
been some discussion about whether Hasbro ever released them in
this country.
According to the list sent to me by Hasbro UK in 1995, Perfume
Puff Ponies were part of the 1989 line. But, even Hasbro
themselves seemed to have little information on this release, as
the list says "Names Not Known."
Perfume Puff Ponies (1989) Hasbro UK's list, 1995
The list is not entirely complete - some sets are missing where we
know they were sold - but this is the only set which Hasbro knew
they released but didn't have records about who or what they were
releasing.
The answer to this conundrum seems to be some kind of import. I
imagine that they decided to sell these ponies here given the
release of the Perfume Puff Palace, but there does not seem to be
a UK box for this set. Those that have been found here with
packaging have American boxes. I am not sure about their release
in other places, but it seems likely these would also be in the
same style of box, perhaps with import labels.
During my teen years carbooting I found all of this set more than
once, including one Mint in Box. This shows that even in an area
like the one I grew up, which was far from a big city, these were
on sale and thus must have been part of the release. Whether they
were exclusive to a particular store (eg Woolworths) is not clear.
It is likely that at some point, Hasbro DID know what ponies they
were going to release, as the Perfume Puff Ponies featured
extensively in the My Little Pony comics in 1989. Although some
early ponies appeared in comics despite not having a UK release,
by 1989, this did not happen. Daisy Sweet and Lavender Lace are
also both pictured and mentioned by name in the photo
advertisement for the Perfume Puff Palace, which appeared in the
pony comic during 1989. Here their recommended price was £6.49,
and the advert makes it clear that there are six in total to
collect - indicating the whole set was on release here.
Perfume Puff Palace Advert Text including Perfume Puff Ponies
All these small details indicate that the Perfume Puff Ponies did
definitely have a UK release, around the same time as the Perfume
Puff Palace, in 1989 - but they were probably sold in US-style
boxes.
Ponies in this Set: North America, UK (1989). Possibly other
places, timescale unknown.
