You can tell the potential of a celebrity fragrance brand in its first few days in store. This is off-the-chart.
That’s Terry Lundgren, CEO of Macy’s, noting that Beyoncé’s debut fragrance, Heat, is already flying off the shelves.1 Coty, who hopes that Heat will “re-energize the celebrity category”, must be thrilled.2
Heat is a warm fruity musk; it opens on lots of peach-flavored hard candy over midding-dark, nondescript florals, and is a little loud for a few minutes3 (the notes: red vanilla orchid, magnolia, neroli, blush peach, honeysuckle nectar, almond macaroon, crème de musk, sequoia milkwood, tonka bean and amber). After that, it’s softer, easier to wear, although the sweetness never dissipates more than slightly. The dry down is a lightly spiced amber-y/woody musk, still quite fruity. It isn’t really creamy, nor is it as edible as it sounds (the almond macaroon is pretty subtle, or else it got beaten into submission by the peach candy). Perhaps there are some natural materials in there, but as is so often the case with mid-tier celebrity fragrances — and for that matter, with mid-tier designer fragrances — it doesn’t much smell like it.
Heat is warmer than your average celebrity fruit-fest, but it never crosses into floriental territory — someone on MakeupAlley described it as Queen by Queen Latifah’s little sister, and that’s apt. I don’t find it even slightly sexy, and it isn’t what I’d call memorable, but it doesn’t much matter: it’s by Beyoncé and it isn’t a complete mess. People will buy it.
Beyoncé Heat was developed by perfumers Claude Dir and Olivier Gillotin. It’s available in 30, 50 and 100 ml Eau de Parfum ($39-$59) and in matching body products.
1. Via Women’s Wear Daily, 2/4/2010.
2. Women’s Wear Daily, 12/18/2009.
3. I have a feeling that I would like Heat a lot less if I’d sprayed it on, but I’m dabbing. And while we’re on that subject, I’ll add that I’m enchanted by the sample packaging. It’s a glass vial with a cap. Remove the cap, and there’s an applicator with four little teensy holes so that you can rub a small amount on your skin. Very clever.
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Peach candy? Not my thing, but I suppose I will still try it just to keep an open mind. Those notes remind me that I haven’t had breakfast yet…off to the cafeteria to load up on carbs!
Might as well give it a shot!
I think I’d wind up comparing it to Mitsouko!
One of the MUA reviews compared Heat to Live Luxe in that both smell like a slightly higher end Escada offering. I do like LL and don’t mind fruit, so I wouldn’t be opposed to giving this a try. Though it sounds as if it might be a bit too heavy for warmer weather.
To me, this is much warmer than Live Luxe, which is pretty much a straight up fruity floral IIRC…I do find Heat more of a cold weather scent.
Peach is bad, fake peach candy intolerable. Big, HUGE pass from me.
I don’t think you’ll love it.
Well, I’m glad someone is trying to re-energize the celebrity fragrance category. That’s a relief.
Makes me sleep better at night.
Yep, makes you know what to avoid when there’s that whole category! A bit like knowing you’re not a leather or incense gal…yeah, I’m just not a celeb frag gal!
How about those notes!!! Is that what comes from the chemaromas companies, or the publicity dept., or some sort of alliance amongst them???
Its sort of ‘brave new world-ish’ eh? Very sci-fi to go with all the virtual reality out there…
The PR people, probably. Creme de musk is funny all by itself.
Sure is, considering where musk used to come from. ‘Sequoia milkwood’ was my personal favorite.
“It’s available in 30, 50 and 100 ml Eau de Parfum ($39-$59) and in matching body products.”
I would love it if all the perfume house followed suit and take note of this nice range of size offerings and if a perfume proves popular enough, they should offer matching body products too!
You know, 30 ml bottles are becoming nearly standard…but they never seem to launch until later. Right now Macy’s has 50 & 100. Sometimes I never see the 30 ml at all except in Sephora.
Sephora has a lot of exclusive contracts to sell mini bottles of fragrance.
If more houses offered 30 ml sizes, I would be completely broke, but very very happy! I would probably buy the whole Chanel Les Exclusifs collection!
I’d come close…and at that rate, might decide what the heck.
It must be the way they market to get as much bang for the consumer dollar as possible…my daughter has been to the city a few times in the last couple of months and I am really keen for a SMALL bottle of Cristalle verte but so far its only in Australia in the 100ml. But we collectors must be such a tiny minority….
Exactly what I want! 30 ml of Chanel Exclusifs and even No 5 Eau Premiere! That would be perfect!
Loved the sample applicator, was not even remotely impressed by the fragrance. I am actually much more impressed by your ability to actually distinguish the notes. Did you notice that they seemed to be ripping off the Bond No 9 candy-style wrapping??
You’re kidding, right? I mean, the only note I picked out on my own was the peach. The almond I probably wouldn’t have noticed if it hadn’t been in the list of notes.
Not sure if they stole that from Bond because I’m not sure Bond was the first to do it. Anyone else know?
Thierry Mugler has also candy-style wrapped samples (Angel Innocent), but I don’t know if Bond was first or Mugler…
is kiehls worth visiting for perfume? have heard it mentioned on here and got a holiday in a couple of months!! x
I don’t know that I’d make a special trip for it just for fragrance, but lots of people do like Kiehl’s Musk and they’ve got some essence oils that are sort of fun.
Funny, I was just in Kiehl’s tonight, on 3rd avenue, and picked up a Musk oil, which I was considering layering with the Grapefruit or Vanilla I already own. (Yeah, I’m a party animal.) It’s lovely, but no, I wouldn’t go there just for the fragrance. (I was in there for a lip gloss, in fact.)
For a fun selection of fragrances I’d go to the C.O. Bigelow over on 6th avenue (http://www.bigelowchemists.com/). They’ve caused me to fall in love with many fragrances I didn’t expect to love, including Lady Vengeance which I’m still plotting to buy. I also dropped in there tonight for some Zents lotion (I love the Sun fragrance) and to test out the Ore. (I got some soap.) I could spend all day in there.
Oh, the original Bigelow in NYC is wonderful.
Today seems to be the day for peachy fragrances. I can’t say peach & I get along well. It sounds like a sugary mess, but I’m sure it will, indeed, sell. Though, I can’t say that I know anyone who wears celebrity perfumes. For me it’s a type of fragrance faux pas.
Sephora sent me a sample of Kim Kardashian the other day … even if I did like it, I wouldn’t wear it on principal.
I wear Covet every so often. I don’t care who fronts something if I like it….they’re all made by the same handful of companies anyway.
I think I can deal with Carrie Bradshaw trying to sell me perfume. SJP seems to actually know a thing or two about fragrances as it is. But it seems like there’s a new celebrity backed perfume coming out every week.
I don’t care even then, as long as it’s a VALID celebrity. I still have no clue who this woman is or why other people know who she is, nor do I care. I could do without the whole celebutante/reality tv group altogether…and guessing she’s one of those, or similar.
Uh…to clarify…was referring to KK, not B.
Hey, I don’t care who KK is or how big her hind end is, if it’s a nice fragrance, I’ll buy a discounted teensy bottle on ebay and wear the hell out of it.
Joe, same here.
Your so right Robin.If I like a perfume I will wear it I don’t care who makes it.They are not even made by that celebrity they are made by perfumers.LOL Its just the celebrity face on it basically.I have and love the Kim Kardashian fragrance its my favorite out of all my perfumes.Robin I think Covet is going to be discontinued I see it sold so cheap now its a great time to stock up on it.Its a great unique fragrance.It was not appreciated the way it really should of been.
Yeah Im not in luv w/ Heat at all. It doesnt seem like alot of time was invested in it. Its dull and just another sweet candy fragrance. I was expecting much more from Beyonce. She said it was something she really worked on and wasnt like anything else. That it was something she saw lasting forever. Sorry sweetie but I dont think thats gonna happen w/ this. I prefer lots more celeb scents over it. Fantasy, With Love, Fancy, Halle, Queen, Live, Deseo, and so much more are way better then Heat to me. Its a mess. LOL! Maybe nxt time B. : )
It is not as well made as many others…yes, I like everything on your list better than Heat. If it reinvigorates the category (and I kind of doubt it will) it is only because people are always wanting something new, and Beyonce is a big name.
I love it! The bottle is so beautiful to me. It’s actually better dabbed on to me. I loooooove the sample thingy!
So glad you like it! We agree on the sample…hope lots of companies start using that packaging.
has anyone else tried kim kardashian? I’m madly curious because I heard it was like Michael Kors, and I dont mind Michael Kors..
Yes, I’ll probably review it tomorrow or early next week.
Parul, Kim K’s scent IS Michael Korrs! I’ve read a couple of places and they say MK is her favorite scent
Oh, and might I add that HEAT is the #1 fragrance in the country????? Wow! I can’t believe it.
Well, for 2 days maybe! I mean, it’s way too early to tell if it will be a big seller this year.
If it’s doing THIS well with no ads playing and Jan was the soft launch and the official launch was Feb I have faith it will do very well! Hahaha, it feels like it’s MY fragrance, I’m so happy!
Don’t want to argue, but will just say that a soft launch today is not the same as a soft launch 5 years ago. 5 years ago, a soft launch meant virtually no media exposure. This scent has already had TONS of exposure on the internet, plus she’s held several large scale events in NYC, all of which have had lots of press. So the fact that it hasn’t officially launched yet isn’t all that meaningful.
Yeah last wk my Macys was all Heated out. It was everywhere. 2 big displays and posters everywhere. Every SA wanted to show me heat and push it on me and my fam. They had tons of bottles. I dont think people where buyin. I sure wish I had waited till I smelled it. : (
In all truth, when you look at who these types of scents are marketing to (in other words, the young), the TV advertising is not nearly as important as the online social media marketing. So again, I really do think the official launch date is meaningless.
Oh, I wouldn’t dare argue with you on fragrances. You’re like the Wizard of Oz of fragrances!
What I meant by soft launch was that the online promotion was all it’s had. I remember when Christina A’s fragrance came out I didn’t see her fragrance start doing well until they started playing her commercial every 5 seconds on MTV. Queen Latifah, Paris Hilton, etc have had online promo as well, but I haven’t heard of them having the #1 scent. That’s what I meant. Haha, I wouldn’t dare argue with you about scents!
Hey, you can always argue with me! I *am* like the Wizard of Oz — just the little guy behind the curtain that doesn’t really know how to do anything
Anyway, I do think Coty got Beyonce WAY more advance press than P&G managed for Christina Aguilera. And she’s a bigger name, with more widespread appeal, don’t you think? They didn’t even do a real commercial for Queen Latifah (or did they and I missed it? I only saw a making of for the print shoot), and they don’t do them for Paris Hilton either. A better comparison is the early Britney scents, which also got lots of advance press & lots of online marketing, and those also were best sellers pretty darned quickly.
“Queen’s little sister” makes it sound decent — I like Queen (my mom has it and it smells great on her). But I think I’ll pass on this — warm and fruity just doesn’t call to me, and there’s so much else to try … Thanks for the review!
I do think that statement is meaningful because neither of them are the bright, perky fruity florals we generally get from celebs, but this one is not as well-done as Queen, IMHO…
I do like Beyonce because I think she’s talented and beautiful in a way that it is not the standard and conventional Hollywood look… but ugh! No interest in smelling this one. Don’t like the ad either— looks like a clothed centerfold with nothing special added and they made her legs (which are normally super Tina Turner style hot) look stumpy and weird. I do like the bottle though, so I guess there’s *something* redeeming.
As is the case w/ many celebrities, my only exposure to her is via perfume: I’ve heard her sing twice, once in the Armani commercial & once in the Heat commercial. So have no feelings about her either way except that I’m not overly impressed with her perfume.
oh, didnt beyonce do something with tommy hilfiger before? or i think maybe it was armani? i recall something about diamonds…
She fronted Armani Diamonds.
She was the face for Tommy Hilfiger’s True Star.
Wow, so fast – I thought the fragrance just came out, and here’s Robin reviewing it. Really seems like you have the most fun reviewing celebrity scents, and I have a lot of fun reading about them! Thanks.
It’s faster than my usual speed! I’m trying to catch up, I’m quite behind on testing already this year.
Although I don’t comment much I read and look forward to entries on this site. I know this is off topic but at Luckyscent the Jalaine patchouli in the beautiful crystal bottle is on sale and I mean ON SALE (reg. $150.00) now $6 dollars!, just for the bottle alone is a great deal. Can be back ordered and will ship on Feb 13th. For anyone who loves Patch this is a great scent.
Wow. Have a feeling that’s a mistake.
$6 is the price for a sample.
No, really, an hour ago it was showing $6 for a bottle. But it’s fixed now, so it was obviously a mistake.
Gak – somebody got a talking-to.
I wonder if anyone tried to order it?!? That’s quite a savings!
That would have been a helluva closeout.
If she meant it, then she should have put some ‘zing’ in it… Oh oh oh.
hee hee hee
Ok, over my head. No need to explain.
LOL. A play on lyrics, and I’ll stop there.
I really don’t like how this sounds but I applaud your bravery at subjecting your skin and nose to this much peachy aggression
We’ll try anything.
Robin, you didn’t get any civet in Heat? March was all, “Heat smells like a thin veneer of canned peaches in syrup over the most powerful, intensely animalic stank of unwashed ladyparts that I have ever smelled in a perfume, and I don’t mean that in a good way” in her review, which made me run the other way when I saw Heat.
Yeah, but 2 days later she took it back — she said she must have had something else on her skin that she didn’t know about. This is not nearly so skanky as that, in fact, it’s pretty tame. For sweet peach, that is.
Yeah, she recanted, saying:
“…as we all suspected, I am an idiot about Beyonce’s Heat fragrance. It is, indeed, a fruity, insipid musk; I must have had something (God knows what) on my hands that gave it that skank, and don’t you dare start typing nasty things into comments. The musk in the drydown is that same sour-fresh musk that I hate in large quantities.”
March always makes me giggle a bit.
lol!!
I’ll save myself the trouble and just eat some of these gummy fuzzy peaches I have here
Save $ too.
I do really like Beyonce, but I couldn’t get into this- to me it smells like Bath & Body Works Black Amethyst, which I can’t wear. As far as peach fragrances, I may be made fun of for this, but I really like Victoria’s Secret Supermodel- it is really simple, just smells like peach and sandalwood, but it’s fairly dry and not too sweet.
Oh, I won’t make fun of you — there are peach fragrances I like too! So long as they aren’t candied.
When I read the notes I was thinking this sounds like a lighter version of Queen by Queen Latifah.This was a great review I am really impressed with what you said about the sample.I don’t know why but the presentation that attention to those small details is very impressive to me.I know this is flying off the shelves.This will be a best seller Beyonce is hot right now.
It’s a less sophisticated scent than Queen, so not quite as simple as a lighter version, but otherwise, yes, and sure it will sell fine.
Mmm, peach. It reminded me of the much loved (by me at least) Mira Bai by Cacharel. Sadly, it was discontinued.
I’ll give it a sniff, but not much expectation here. I am now busy being disappointed in Encre Noire Pour Elle, and looking for a nice early spring fragrance.
I have not tried the EN pour elle but haven’t heard any raves either. Too bad!
Warm fruity musk, peach flavours… sounds like a string extracted from my “not like” lists of notes.
!!
From the video commercial (which I’ll bravely say I quite liked) I thought it could be right up my alley: I was expecting something spicy and creamy….A fire and cream for mass market.
So, it seems I was wrong
(but the list of notes doesn’t sound too coherent with all those red hues, languid stares and burning flames)
It is a wee bit spicy, but not very, and I didn’t find it creamy at all. Yeah — a spicy creamy woods would have been great!
I have a fairly sophisticated nose, being, ahem, a rabbit, and I must say this fragrance is utter bilge. What a waste of a great name. I mean, if you had the name Heat, what would you put in it?
LOL!!
Yes, it isn’t what I’d call Heat either. Actually, Organza Indecence ought to be called Heat.
Great question, monstabunny! Well, there is that L’Artisan fragrance, Piment Brulant, that actually smells like chili peppers – very interesting. But I think I’d want hot skin. There are lovely skin notes in Dzing and the original Shiseido Zen. There might be a hotter way to complement that than the wood and rose notes in those fragrances.
Yeah, I’d go with spice, sweat and beer.
But seriously, it’s like Notorious – great name, but the scent was so safe.
Huh, the notes are frightening. I would not smell on that perfume even if it were the last one in the world.
I think this plastic fruit stuff can be fun – I had a sample of Britnes Spears Curious (not sure if Curious?!) and it was fun. It incorporates the scent of a happy american teenager for me. I mean – what I imagine (as a European) under an american teenager, mostly through Hollywood movies
Btw: The bottle totally looks like Salvador Dali perfume.
The end result is not frightening at all!
Why do they call this scent an Oriental Vanilla? Is it the red vanilla orchids, Robin? Are those the same thing?
Well, personally I would not call it an Oriental Vanilla — and Michael Edwards has classified it as Fruity – Crisp – Gourmand, which seems closer to the mark (I’d call it a fruity musk). But there is more than one classification system in use, so perhaps somebody is calling it an Oriental Vanilla.
But fragrances are classified by how they smell, not by what notes are used, so no, it would not have anything to do with the “red vanilla orchid” (which may or may not be in the perfume anyway).
The recent celeb fragrances have been kinda downers. Heat just didnt work for me. Pure Orchid was just bad. Kim K was just another tuberose. SJP NYC was just another strawberry. I think my love for them is slippin. Theyve gotten to be one bore after another. Queen was the last launch I really enjoyed. I sure hope her nxt one isnt a scary PURPLE concoction. Purple is like the sign of death for me. Im talking to u Pure Bloom. And the new Hanae Mori. Oh and the new Prada. Well that one has tuberose in it so it kills me already. : )
I agree…we certainly haven’t yet seen anything fabulous on the celeb front this year. And yes -> do hope Queen Latifah does not stoop to that level!
I sure hope they dont make her stoop to that level by making her come out w/ a dull crowd pleaser. Im wondering how well Queen sold? It wasnt exactly youth oriented. : (
It wasn’t. No idea how it did.
Don’t know how well Queen sold, but she will have a new one out in June. Parlux told me
I went to my Macy’s 2 days ago and HEAT WAS SOLD OUT! Only thing they had were 2 testers!!!!! Yayyyyy! I can’t waaait for Beyonce’s next one!!!!!
Good. Wonder if it’s a flanker or something new?
They told me the name, but I’m afraid to say it. I don’t know if I should say it this early, but it’s the new name by Queen Latifah. Seems like a new one. Do you think Mariah Carey will be making a new scent?
Sure, why not?
I smelled Heat on someone 2day and it didnt smell bad at all. Maybe its just awful on me? O well. I hope her nxt ones better. : )
I hope so too…
I want Brit to come out w/ a new one this yr. I heard her say she wanted her nxt one to be fresh like lemon and mint. That would be nice! : )
In case you haven’t seen or heard Robin & everyone else, Beyonce Heat Ultimate Elixir is coming. http://talkingmakeup.com/celebrity-beauty-style/beyonce-heat-ultimate-elixir/
Saw it, but thanks!!
i was really excited for this perfume because i adore beyonce but no matter how many times im sampling it i just cant take to it, its very heavy and almost to me smells of alcohol and for the more mature lady, not really for young women like me who is 20. very heavy indeed
Personally I prefer Beyonce Heat Rush over the original. It has such a lovely summer scent to it. This is coming from someone that really loves the citrus and fruit fragrances though.
Loved the scent went it first went on. no staying power, fades within10 minutes. My date didn’t know I was wearing perfume when he arrived. I have simular experiences with Kat Von D’s Adora and Sinner, Estee Lauder’s Tuscany. I’m a huge perfume fan and demand staying power.