celebrity perfumes: 30 posts

Dia is day in Spanish, and noche is night. Daisy Fuentes’s first fragrance duo, Dianoche, is intended as a layering combination, although each can be worn on its own. “I love scents and I love to layer perfumes,” says Fuentes. “I wanted something that you could wear alone, but layer together as the day goes by.” Fuentes worked with Estee Lauder’s Karyn Khoury and International Flavors and Fragrances perfumers to create a composition with a heart of three tuberose essences. “It’s not hard to find two fragrances that you like, but it is harder to find two that work together and go from day into night,” said Fuentes. “The hearts had to be the same.”

The day fragrance embellishes the tuberose heart with “hydroponic jasmine, mandarin citrus, coriander and basil as top notes and vanilla, moss and tonka bean as the drydown.” The night scent relies on “red rose, radiant lilies, orange blossom and purple freesia in the top accord, and amber and sandalwood as the drydown notes.” The fragrances will debut in July. from WWD.

The rock band KISS joins the world of celebrity fragrances, with a line of makeup and fragrance that is about to debut this year. “It isn’t a fragrance for fans of the band exclusively. It’s about being a free thinker who blazes their own path and lives life according to their own rules realizing that there is no rehearsal for life,” says KISS guitarist Paul Stanley.

KISS Her is described as a lush, “floriental” scent. “I find it a real turn-on — it’s very feminine without being frilly,” said Stanley. “When I smell more women wearing KISS Her, my head will be turning to a point I need a brace. It’s very sexy, flirtatious and very hot. It takes a certain kind of person — one with a little wildness waiting to come out.” The fragrance created by IFF perfumers includes “top notes of apple-tini, wet fig leaves, racy bull accord and red peppercorns; middle notes of red poppy, black orchid, sueded frangipani petals and calla lily, and base notes of amber crystals, musky bare skin accord, patent leather and mahogany.”

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And celebrity fragrance trend continues… Mariah Carey has recently signed a deal with Elizabeth Arden to develop her own line of fragrance products. The company anticipates launching it in spring 2007.

As WWD reports, Mariah Carey is not the first celebrity working with Arden. “Its deal with Britney Spears, signed in March 2004, has yielded two top-five hits: Curious Britney Spears, launched in September 2004, and Fantasy Britney Spears, launched in September 2005. Arden also has Hilary Duff under contract for beauty products since last September (the first fruits of that deal have not yet been released), and signed Catherine Zeta-Jones in February 2002 to be the face of its core Elizabeth Arden brand. In addition, NASCAR star Jeff Gordon has been the face of its Halston Z-14 brand since May 2004 – and the original celebrity fragrance maven, Elizabeth Taylor, is also part of the company family.”

The debut of Sean John Unforgivable, the fragrance from a man known by a variety of nicknames including P. Diddy is a new chapter in the celebrity fragrance trend. Indeed, given the success of Sean Combs’ clothing label, which set the example for other celebrities to follow, it is surprising the fragrance was not released sooner. While my relationship with P. Diddy (or rather with his music) has been problematic, due to the fact my neighbors’ predilection for listening to it at very high volume effectively ensured that I developed none, Mr. Combs’ new fragrance is a completely different story. Created by Dave Apel, Unforgivable is an elegant composition, subtle and sophisticated.

The hesperidic accord has a vivid character conjuring a vision of tangerines and oranges left in the sun. The warmth permeating the fruit underscored by the freshness of the fleshy pulp is laced with the ozonic notes, which persist throughout the composition. Nevertheless, the ozonic element is not the typical sharp and synthetic zing that one tends to associate with the marine themed fragrances. Instead, it lends a bright, cool leitmotif to the sparkling citrus, the warm fruity richness and the green herbs. Apel rendered the sea breeze accord as bound by a sweet warm element, which gives a nice balance to the composition. …

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Walking through the fragrance aisles of Sephora makes me feel as if I am browsing through a Hello magazine with the names like Britney Spears, J.Lo, Paris Hilton, and Kimora Lee Simmons popping before my eyes. However, I am selecting the fragrances labeled with names famous for things that are only tangentially related to fashion and fragrance on purpose. Currently, there is a strong trend for celebrity fragrances, with new offerings coming up what seems like every week. From Celine Dion to Nicole Richie and Maria Sharapova, celebrity status and perfume come hand in hand. From a perfume industry perspective, any brand capable of selling fragrance is welcomed, given the changes in its business model and the high rate of competition. The number of releases is increasing each year, with the consumers exhibiting less and less loyalty to a single scent. While the number of new fragrances in the 1950s were around 10-20 per year, with the average market life of a product around 15-20 years, in the recent decade, there are close to 150-200 launches each year, with the market life averaging 3!

I cannot help but feel a bit of reticence, especially in light of the fact that I have no particularly strong desire for any specific celebrity perfume, simply because it bears a famous name. Should I happen to dislike the celebrity in question, then I might be less eager to try their perfume. However, are such pre-conceived notions justified? In order to answer this question, I stand in front of fragrance shelves in Sephora resolutely glancing past Annick Goutal and Bvlgari to try Alan Cumming The Fragrance and Britney Spears Fantasy. I briefly contemplate a blind testing, however for the sake of preserving a sane appearance, I decide that an open mind shall do. …

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