Chandler Burr has an article about Aedes, the West Village niche fragrance boutique, in yesterday's New York Times. Thanks to Laura for the link.
And Hannah Betts has an article about the Clive Christian fragrance line (and other things) in the UK Times Online. Thanks to Marcello for that one.
What if you love the perfume, but hate the celebrity who is marketing it? Columnist Jennifer Byrne of the Philadelphia Inquirer can't bring herself to purchase a Celine Dion scent (link to article no longer working, sorry!).
18 Comments
Read more about commenting at Now Smell This.
Hi Robin – Happy Holidays!!!
I found that article to be hilarious. And I frequently find myself making a perfume buying decision based on the name first and then the packaging. If those two things can get me there, I'll then proceed with the sniff. Honestly, there are some perfumes out there that just don't appeal to me because I don't care for who promotes it or it can't be pronounced! How do you ask about something you have no idea how to say? Ha!
But the celebrity promotion article just cracked me up. It's like you can truly detect what the fragrance will smell like before you take the first sniff. So now I'm curious how many people out there are really affected by a celebrity promotion in their sniff-and-buy decision?
How about you R?
btw – I'm going to buy a bottle of Provocative Woman today just because my boyfriend loves the name! HA!
Toodles.
I agree with the writer. I could never wear a fume associated with some “celebrity” that I don't like. Actually, since I don't go to movies, rarely watch TV, I don't “know” many celebrities, but yes, Celine Dion has been burned into my memory banks, and I feel the same about her as the journalist.
I do remember a link to a spoof on Dion selecting the notes for her perfume — something about tossing a liter of neroli, her dressed in a lab coat. Probably salon.com. Very, very funny.
You know, I am just not interested in celebrities in general, that is, I don't care about them personally, outside of whatever they do (act, sing, etc). So the whole celebrity perfume craze is a bit of a mystery to me. But obviously it sells a lot of perfume, so what do I know
Celine Dion in particular means nothing to me since I know almost nothing about her other than that she is another singer whose music I've never heard.
I don't think I care that much about the name either, although a pretty name on the bottle doesn't hurt. But I can get over a really bad name!
A, happily for me, I don't know a darn thing about Celine Dion, or most of the other big celebrities hawking perfume this season. Kimora Lee Simmons, Shania Twain…it is all the same to me. But a good celebrity perfume is rare enough that it isn't worth rushing out to Sephora when a new one appears.
Good morning to all!
If anything, a celebrity's name on a fragrance would be more likely to push me away from a purchase than to attract me to one. Even were there a celebrity I admired enough to wish to emulate, I suspect that the fragrances they market are not the fragrances they actually wear.
I also hereby admit that I have been shallow enough not to purchase a fragrance based upon a cheesy looking bottle/label (Kenneth Cole Black) or a name I wasn't certain how to pronounce (Givenchy Ysatis).
Of course that was in my much younger days….
Loved the article….such a giggle…particularly in re the Michael Jackson fragrance!
LOL! The last article on Celeb perfumes is really funny. I can identify with her which is why I do not want to know about these if I can help it. None – ( I thank the powerful superior forces that protect us) have impressed me enough to even contemplate buying a bottle. Lovely jubbly!
Thanks R! (I double checked to see whether this was your post)
I have way too much fragrance and I am way too snobby to even sniff celebrity perfume, let alone purchase it. The only way you'll get me near one is the scent strips in magazines. I tear these out for bookmarks. My books smell lovely!
Yes, I admit that sometimes I assume a fragrance is bad just because it is a celebrity fragrance. Would love to smell this Michael Jackson though…so funny after all his recent press to imagine him marketing a fragrance!
Dear N, yes, it is mine, and LOL at “the powerful superior forces that protect us” from bad perfumes
I, The SJP Lovely was worth smelling, I think, but it was far & away better than most of the celebrity scents this year. I don't know why, but I just hate scent strips — they never smell good to me, even if they're of a perfume I like.
I agree on scent strips. They always smell horrid, even for good scents. Get rid of the things, and just give us samples in stores, for godsakes!
Hannah Betts's roundabout article on Clive C was interesting. I *do* find X for Men to smell really good, and I *do* like No. 1 for women, but damned if I'm forking out for them.
As for celebrity scents, they're sort of an insane fad, but I'm not going to lie. I've dropped a JLo scent in my online shopping cart a couple of times, but never had the heart to go through with it.
T, Now is it some personal issue with J Lo that is keeping you from hitting “buy”, or just a general thing about not buying a celebrity scent?
Anyway, go ahead & buy it if you want it. I won't tell!
I concur with the journalists opinion on Celine Dion. I feel exactly the same about Shania, Paris Hilton, JLo etc. etc. Funny article!
As other people have mentioned – a celebrity endorsement will most likely drive me away from a fragrance. No matter how beautiful the scent, I would find it embarassing to purchase something embazoned with a celebrity name.
The one exception to this would be Sarah Jessica Parker's fragrance – I thought she did a very nice job with it even though it did not suit my chemistry. From what I've read, it seemed she was heavily involved in creating the composition, and had a genuine interest in perfumery rather than simply stamping her name on on a scent to rake in dollars.
Happily for me, the few celeb scents I have tried have smelled awful. Yay!
Agree on the SJP — and it is far & away the best of the lot this year. Am actually looking forward to seeing what she does next, which is much more than I can say for most of the celebs who have put out scents this year.
It's J-Lo. I just can't. It's…it's Jennifer Lopez. I can't get over it. I'm just too weak to overcome the J-Lo association.
But actually, now that I type that, I don't really think there's a single celebrity whose scent I would gladly wear. Except for Alan Cumming.
Yes — in fact, I don't even think of the Cumming scent as a celebrity fragrance. More like an in-joke, sort of.
Would have loved to have seen Santana release something really cool & unusual instead of the fruity-floral that he did. And named after one of his songs maybe. That, I would have bought.
OK, a “Black Magic Woman” scent I would buy.