Pop icon Lady Gaga will launch her debut perfume, Fame, in September. The scent was made under licensing arrangements with Coty, and reportedly is the "first ever black Eau de Parfum that sprays clear and becomes invisible once airborne". Per Lady Gaga, Fame is "a beautiful prospect with a dark heart".
Fame also reportedly features...
..."push-pull technology," where the ingredients interact together to highlight different olfactive aspects of each note at the same time, without any hierarchy. All of the notes were crafted to work together harmoniously thanks to the complimentary properties of each ingredient, which allow for a true metamorphosis of the scent when worn on skin.
The "star ingredient" of the fruity floral fragrance is "Belladonna, the deadly nightshade possessed by haunted beauties since the 18th century"; additional notes include honey, saffron, apricot, tiger orchid and jasmine.
Lady Gaga Fame will be available in 50 ml Eau de Parfum; I will update with additional sizes when I can.
(quotes via media.prnewswire, additional information via moodiereport)
Update: Lady Gaga Fame was developed by perfumers Richard Herpin, Honorine Blanc and Nathalie Lorson. It will be available in the "Ultimate Masterpiece" 100 ml version with metal cap ($79) and in 30 ($42) and 50 ($55) ml Eau de Parfum. There will also be a 10 ml rollerball ($19).
(via wwd)
Another update: see a review of Lady Gaga Fame.
Huh. A black fruity floral? Seems like a mixed message. I guess I should feel grateful that it’s not pink, but I guess I would hope that Gaga would take a few more risks. Not that I’m really a fan–but I recognize that she’s very successful at selling controversy.
It doesn’t sound much like the blood + semen thing she hinted at originally. Then again, risky celebrity fragrances from Coty -> not likely. Sarah Jessica Parker’s Covet is about as risky as they go (and I do believe it bombed).
I have managed to test this – my editor got a bottle in ahead of the release. I can confirm it is very, very “pink” – it may be black in colour with an oily texture when sprayed, but if you tested this in the dark you’d swear it was a Britney Spears or Katy Perry or any generic pop star fragrance. The bottle is brilliant and looks even better in person, but the juice – what a disappointment. It opened with a muddle of general “fruity” scent that reminds me of blackberries, and a sweet caramel undertone. It rapidly dries down, to a generic sticky feel that is indeed a “muddle” of scents I can only describe as “teenage” and “cheap”.
Ha. Figures.
I remember the first time I heard a Lady Gaga song – I was taken aback by how tame and mainstream it was compared to her image. I fear this may be a similar case of a gaga package for something not so unusual… but maybe it will be a surprise!
Belladonna, my butt – The plant itself is supposed to smell pretty sickening, and this sounds firmly ‘inoffensive’. It’s really such a shame, I think her core fan base would have even worn a chypre if she’d put one out. This just sounds like a big marketing sleight of hand trick – Sounds all mysterious and interesting, then *poof* it disappears and all you’re left with is some insipid, florally fruit salad. You end up smelling like everyone else out there, and isn’t that the opposite of her persona’s overall message about celebrating differences?
I don’t pay any attention to her, I’m afraid, so I don’t know enough about what messages she’s promoting. But the celebrity that carries their risky persona into fragrance development is rare indeed.
I agree! I really hope it has some darkness or some edge, it suits her more than any other celeb out there!
cannot wait for this! I love Lady Gaga <3
Hope you will love it!
Well, I for one am glad it’s not about ‘blood & semen’ – that would have scared me off. To this day Ima too skeered to take a whiff of Secretions Magnifique – and I don’t intend to ever do so. LOL The notes here sound interesting and I hope the fragrance isn’t just another run of the mill fruity floral.
SM is not a delicious fragrance, LOL, but it is not as scary as I thought it would be!
I’m not just talking as a Lady Gaga fan, but I really do enjoy every one of those key scent notes. Looking at the bottles of my favourite perfumes, every key scent note in FAME is amongst them at least once. Couple that with the gothic bottle design and black juice and Fame could have been created for my personal tastes.
I would have liked a blood accord, but to be fair she never said that Fame will outright smell of blood, it was only a rumour.
Quite a few of Coty’s ‘celebrity’ ranges are “meh”, and yeah, smell kinda cheap [Kylie’s is a prime example], but to be fair some haven’t been that bad. Whilst I don’t like TRUTH OR DARE, I think it is certainly not the typical mass market, celebrity endorsed release, and neither were Jennifer Lopez’s first few releases [Glow and Still].
If Lady Gaga’s people have really invested into the upcoming release and indeed created their own laboratory [Haus Laboratories], then they must have had plenty of influence and financial backing to help ensure that Fame is more substantial then Coty’s usual output.
Finally; is a perfume categorized as a fruity/floral when it has one fruit note in? Fracas contains peach, but people don’t call it a fruity/floral.
No, fragrances are classified into the fragrance families by smell – someone smells a scent and makes a classification based on predominant characteristics. More here:
https://nstperfume.com/2010/03/09/perfumista-tip-on-fragrance-families/
And adding, I would not assume that Haus Laboratories is a separate entity/laboratory in the sense in which you are using the word. Way more likely that Fame was produced by one of the big five fragrance & flavor companies (IFF, Firmenich, Givaudan, etc), just like the vast majority of fragrances in the world.
Oh! I know the answer to that one. đ
“Haus of Gaga” is just Lady Gaga’s tongue-in-cheek term for the loose collective of stylists/artists/dancers/photographers etc. who work with her on various projects. Her creative team, in other words. So I suppose the “Lab” is just anyone who worked with her on the scent, in any capacity, not an actual laboratory.
That sounds likely.
Interesting article. I think I’ll just use my two-family system of Good Smell and Bad Smell.
The bottle is fab! I hope the juice is halfway decent because would look lovely in my room đ
Hope it doesn’t end up being as boring as Illamasqua Freak. Everything about this is reminding me of Freak — and Freak was terribly disappointing — I loved the bottle but the scent was beyond forgettable.
(I was thinking the same thing… hope it’s not another Freak. Even the “dark” notes sound similar.)
I love the bottle too , and I think Ga Ga is a great entertainer. I was a little disappointed when I read fruity floral, I thought she may do something uni sex as this would be more appropriate for her image and fan base !!! The black perfume is really bold ! Can wait to smell it ! I’m seeing Ga Ga in concert this week in Sydney ! Very excited:)
Just because it has APRICOT in it does not mean it’s going to be a “FRUITY-FLORAL” In the Perjorative way… My Word. Mitsouko has a Dominant PEACH accord yet I think not a one of us would use the Damn with faint praise phrase “FRUITY-FLORAL” to describe it, now would you? this in fact doesn’t sound like a Fruity Floral at all… sounds like a Spicy Floral with an Apricot note in it… Just Saying!
Anyway, Am ON FIRE About this! want to smell it SO BADLY! that and Madonna’s Fragrance… haven’t smelled it yet But am hoping good things when i do!
I use the term fruity floral because that is how the press materials classify it. Mitsouko is not a fruity floral, but it is not a pejorative term in any case.
Oh No, Robin, I wasn’t aiming that at you at all… there was some kinda of acerbic feeling going on with the term “Fruity-Floral” which you even yourself have got to admit has become something of a slam to a fragrance, because of it’s ubiquity in fragrance as of late… just saying this sounds like a rather NON-FRUITY Fruity-Floral… I mean Gaga’s press people Describe it as A FRUITY-FLORAL!!!! not you… so was just saying that’s not exactly a bad thing if it is done well… Like Mitsouko! đ
Gotcha. Many people, myself included, are tired of the # of fruity florals the industry is putting out. That doesn’t mean I will necessarily hate it — there are some fruity florals I adore — but I’m less excited when I read about another one coming out.
And Mitsouko, really, is not a fruity floral, even though it’s fruity! It’s a fruity chypre.
To-May-Toe. To-MA-Toe! LMAO! đ you are actually Correct… but there are a great wealth of Flowers In Mitsouko! đ
P.S. Very Mugler-Licious Looking Bottle Too! LOVE!
So her blood and sweat smells like apricots and honey? Sure, mine too.
I have a feeling this won’t be anything special. I hope it smells good for the sake of possibly having another decent mainstream scent. I was really hoping she might pave the way for some new fragrances and get people away from the fruit syrups. I’m not a Gaga fan at all. Can not stand her actually. I can’t imagine this will smell much different form other popular releases because her demographic is young and if you want that age group to buy it you can’t stray too far from the norm. I’ll bet there’s more fruit than just apricot in it too. I do like the black color though and look forward to seeing it in person.
You crack me up, Poodle.
I’m kind of curious to see this in person, too, but mostly to see if the perfume really changes from black to clear when it’s sprayed. Will definitely be trying that on paper first.
I want to see that color change thing too. I am also curious if it does that on fabric. I’m totally expecting to hear that Fame ruined somebody’s favorite outfit somewhere. Even if it doesn’t smell good that bottle and the color is pretty cool looking.
I cannot believe I am saying this, but I am kind of curious about Fame. As a general rule, I tend to hate the idea of celebrity perfumes, and refuse to even smell them.
The juice being the color black, and not just the bottle, sounds so cool, and totally Lady Gaga. The bottle design is eye-catching, and very Thierry Mugler. The notes seem pretty nice…. nothing special, but non the less nice. Fame may turn out to be pretty decent, for all we know. Only time will tell.
The bottle is indeed very Mugler. I’m interested to see about the honey note. The push-pull hierarchy metamorphosis stuff is such BS. I usually do not like static perfumes. I prefer ones that develop and change. I don’t think this could ever be better than Angel, though I’m sure that’s what they were trying for.
Something tells me this is a cheaper/ easier version of Kingdom by Mcqueen
On the bottle, I like Gaga better when she acts as muse (as w/her collabs with McQueen, Mugler) versus her own aesthetic. Even tho I see the connection to Born this Way with the space egg thing going on, putting this up against Alien or Womanity you see how little $$$ was put into bottle design and production, just that cute claw cap. Maybe thatâs not fair because Mugler bottles are ace, but agree w/commenters above the bottle just asks for a Mugler comparison. Maybe Iâll see this in person and take it all back, and sometimes a bottle just feels good to hold so who knows. Also this runs rings around the Selena Gomez. And maybe you can flip the claw and stand the egg in the claw. đ
âPush-pullâ technology? Thatâs like a structure like Roucelâs Missoni, right? I do still want this to be a good perfume and I bet if you rolled out a poll daddy a majority of NSTers would agree. But Gagaâs statements during development read like the Etat Libre dâOrange catalog â wasnât the most recent that Gaga wanted this to be a Hotel Whore perfume? Clearly someone just needs to get ELdO and LG together and let the Gaga-muse magic resume.
“…the ingredients interact together to highlight different olfactive aspects of each note at the same time, without any hierarchy”? Is that a fancy way of saying it’s a linear fragrance?
Although the description “fruity floral” is not encouraging, notes like honey, saffron, apricot, tiger orchid and jasmine sound good to me. I have no idea what belladonna would smell like. Cool bottle & cap.
That is exactly how I took it — it’s linear.
Very cool. I can’t wait to try this! I hope it doesn’t take too long to come out in Australia.
September is the worldwide release xx
I do like that bottle. But I will never again expect to like a Coty celebrity fragrance after the disaster that was Truth or Dare. All of them smell like sugar to me. Now i know why i’m a proud ‘niche snob’ !
A fruity floral?! From Gaga?! Oh no! Haha. I love me some fruity florals but what MORE can they do with them?! I guess add saffron and honey to one and put it in a dark bottle with a dark campaign. Haha. I want to LOVE it. The bottle is COOL and the black liquid is a plus in my book. Haha. Belladonna is a flower right? Never experienced it. She described it as “juicy” in a video so I’m sure the apricot is the star. Oh well. I’m still expecting to be wowed for some reason. : )
Apparently Fame was being illegally sold in Spain [where it’s being made] and people who have tried it say that is similar to Paco Rabanne Black XS. There are pictures floating around of someone on Skype showing of his bottle, so it does look true.
Another rumour from Spain is that there will be another version of Fame – with red juice. Don’t know how true that rumour is though.
So pretty much a unisex oriental fragrance then? It sounds more like what I’d expect someone like Lady Gaga to come out with, anyway.
Here’s more info from WWD! : )
“Eaux de parfum in three sizes will be offered. The 100-ml. â which Gaga refers to as the Ultimate Masterpiece (these words are also printed on the bottle) â retails for $79, while the 50-ml. is priced at $55 and the 30-ml. will cost $42. A 10-ml. rollerball version will sell for $19. The collection will also include three ancillaries. Black Soap, $15, will be out in August in limited distribution, while a black shower gel, $25 for 200 ml., and a black body lotion, $30 for 200 ml., will be on counter in November.”
I was surprised to hear Nordstrom was getting this! My friend there said it reminded her of the original Hot Couture and Hypnotic Poison. I didn’t get the chance to ever try the original Hot Couture so I can’t compare it to Hypnotic. I guess we’ll see. : )
Hey, Nordstrom even picked up JB Girlfriend — they want their slice of the pie too đ
Ick! Don’t remind me that they carry Beaver! Haha!
Here’s the trailer for the commercial. EXCITING! : )
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwGE-mhfigA&feature=youtube_gdata_player
Saw that it was on YouTube this morning, but didn’t have time to watch so Julia Roberts got posted instead. Will do this one tomorrow!
I like the teaser for Fame more than I do the commercial for Julia’s. Haha : )
Fame smells like grape kool-aid! Is she serious?! Oh well. : )
I smelled Fame a few days ago at Sephora, and while the black juice that goes clear is a neat trick, the scent itself is just ok. I mean, it’s not bad.. it’s just.. meh. It’s floral and it’s not offensively sweet .. but I didn’t find anything particularly intriguing in it. It’s a dark package with disappointingly mainstream contents, kind of like LG’s music.
Tried it today at the drugstore….
It’s starts out sweet and reminds me of D&G L’Imperatrice. After 20-30 minutes at the most, it dies down to just a soft subtle apricot.
That’s all!
Warhol spoke of the 15 minutes of fame, he might have been talking about LG Fame!