celebrity perfumes: 30 posts

Madonna has just launched her first fragrance Madonna Truth or Dare, but she is already planning ahead for more perfume releases. A second fragrance, a follow up to Truth or Dare, is already under development; as WWD reports, “it is due out ‘sometime next year.’ ” Also, the pop star would like to create a men’s fragrance, since her daughter Lourdes likes to wear cologne.

“She likes to wear cologne — don’t ask me why,” the star explained at the New York launch of her first perfume. “I love musk and amber and woody kind of fragrances on men. I love the smell of whiskey — we should make a men’s cologne that smells like whiskey. I can’t drink it, it’s too strong, but it smells amazing — a really good old whiskey.”

Via WWD and Jezebel

Star rating: 5 stars–outstanding/potential classic, 4 stars–very good, 3 stars–adequate, 2 stars–disappointing, 1 star–poor.

Truth or Dare? Tame or dramatic? Cheerleader or femme fatale? As I reached for the slim white bottle of Madonna’s Truth or Dare perfume at the Macy’s counter, I felt reluctant to shatter my dream of a Bandit like blend. Of course, since Coty, a company renowned for its commercial blockbusters, backed Madonna, it would be naïve to expect leather and incense. However I tried to reason with myself, I just didn’t want Madonna’s first perfume to be a cheap cotton candy blend. I spray the liquid on my skin, wait for the alcohol to evaporate and bring the wrist to my nose for the moment of truth.

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“Gorgeous and incredibly cute” is how the pop singer Katy Perry describes her line of fragrances Purr and Meow. Incredibly cute is right on the mark when it comes to the packaging. Maybe I did not get my share of Barbies as a child, but I love the cat bottles, especially the amethyst tinted Purr.

I wish I could be equally excited about the fragrances. They are not badly done, far from it, but they replay the same fruit and cotton candy theme of other celebrity fragrances. I am not the target audience, but since I spend a lot of time around teens in my dance studio, my tolerance for the cloying blandness is sometimes strained to the maximum.

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When every other celebrity or celebrity wannabe has a perfume, it was surprising that Madonna still did not launch one. This will change in spring of 2012, when Truth or Dare by Madonna will be released. Created by Givaudan perfumer Stephen Nilsen in collaboration with Madonna and Coty, the fragrance will be a white floral with gourmand accents.  Truth or Dare by Madonna will aim at an older demographic than most celebrity scents, women aged 27 to 50.

As Madonna said to WWD, “My oldest memory of my mother is her perfume, I carry it with me everywhere. She always smelled like gardenias and tuberose, an intoxicating mixture [that was] feminine and mysterious. I wanted to re-create this scent, but with something fresh and new about it as well.”

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Star rating: 5 stars–outstanding/potential classic, 4 stars–very good, 3 stars–adequate, 2 stars–disappointing, 1 star–poor.

Recently I found myself wishing for a woody oriental fragrance, where woods take the center stage, as opposed to the gourmand effects. While I love a mouthwatering dessert of a fragrance a la Lolita Lempicka or Prada Candy, I am even more partial to dark, rich blends with dry woody and incense accents. One such favorite is Etat Libre d’Orange Like This. Created in collaboration with the actress Tilda Swinton, Like This is a strange and unconventional blend. It is a cross between the woody richness of Serge Lutens Douce Amère and the smoldering darkness of Donna Karan Chaos, with plenty of its own surprising elements.

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