It's been a long year for celebrity fragrances, and 2008 looks to be even worse. Or better, depending on your stance. My stance: ok, celebrity fragrances are often amusing. Sometimes, they're wearable. Sometimes, they're wearable and distinctive. But there are far too many of them (especially in the UK, where they're doing a much more thorough job of scraping the bottom of the barrel than we are in the US), and a large percentage work in a very narrow fruity floral genre designed to appeal to the very young. After awhile, they all start to smell the same.
Christina Aguilera joins the fray this year. Her eponymous floriental fragrance, geared towards 15-25 year olds, aims to capture old-style Hollywood glamour, and launched recently under the tag line "sometimes, it's all you need to wear". In some cases, my expectations for a celebrity fragrance are low enough that I'm pleasantly surprised; Christina Aguilera pretty much smells like I imagined it would.
The opening is a sweet (make that double sweet) mass of fruit cut with a tiny little zing of citrus (the notes: tangerine, blackcurrant tea, peony, jasmine, stephanotis, plum, amber, vanilla and musk). The heart is a conventionally feminine blend of clean jasmine-ish florals, lightly fruity, but neither so fruity nor so sweet as the top notes. The base is the same soft, pale wood-amber-musk-vanilla blend that holds up much of the celebrity fragrance genre.
Christina Aguilera is pretty enough — it didn't kill me to test it, and I wasn't tempted to wash it off — but it has a kind of resolutely faceless aspect that seems comically at odds with the ultra-glam advertising. I find it neither memorable nor sexy, although I should perhaps note that the early reviews on MakeupAlley are far more favorable than mine. It isn't quite at the bottom of my list of celebrity fragrances for 2007 (at the moment, that honor still goes to Britney Spears Midnight Fantasy). But there are quite a few celebrity releases from this year that I'd wear before this one: Britney Spears Believe, M by Mariah Carey, L by Gwen Stefani, Sarah Jessica Parker Covet, Sean John Unforgivable Woman.
Christina Aguilera is available in 15, 30, 50 and 75 ml Eau de Parfum and in Body Lotion, Shower Gel and Deodorant. You can request a free sample here.
You really are a much nicer person than me, R. I sniffed this and just thought 'Cheap rubbish'. There was nothing remotely distinctive or sexy about it, and it was VERY sweet. (The sweetest celebriscent of all, for me, was Katie Price (one of our British barrel scrapings), which was like being drowned in melted candy.)
Happily I didn't get to smell the Katie Price. But several of the MUA reviews call CA sexy, so I'm obviously not in the game on what young people today call sexy — and apparently neither are you
I would agree with you: nothing sexy about it at all, and although I don't find it tooo terribly sweet once it dries down, it doesn't get radically more interesting either.
I'm not holding out much hope for the perfume itself, but I'll try anything twice.
I do really love the style of the ads though, beautiful photography.
You know, I don't love the bottle at all, but you're right — that is a great print ad. Love the sepia tones & the design on her back.
Aw, she should have made it Dirrrty
Yep, but she didn't!
Does she have a boyfriend? I wonder what he would smell like.
Or better: what would she have in a man's line?
I like the lace though.
I've no idea, sorry — don't know much about her.
Well, I'll admit to knowing more than I should about the famous.
She is married to a very popular DJ (club, not radio) and is expecting her first baby. He looks fairly clean cut, but stylish. I'm not a fan of her music really, not my style, but she has a technically amazing voice and range!
*Christina Aguilera perfume a few years ago would have been a VERY different animal. With her black roots and bleach blond hair in a tangled mess, torn clothes that were too everything (tight, short,too much!) – it would have been very dirty!
Interesting transformation! Is this her first fragrance?
Maybe someday she will come up with a nice scent for moms.
She had 2 (or more) scents a few years back, under Dana, but never tried them so don't know if they were dirty or not!
I love that photo of Christina. I think the lace on her back looks beautiful.
I haven't smelled this and I probably won't. But on the topic of trends and scents — I smelled the stuff in the gap a couple days ago (they have a lot — 12? more?) and was pleasantly surprised. Okay, I didn't buy any of them, even at those cheap prices. But overall they were less sweet and quirkier than I expected, and I think a number of them are deliberately unisex. They give me hope that younger kids getting into fragrance want something different than Axe and cotton candy.
I really must comment that, unlike so many celebrities hawking perfumes with their name on, I think CA genuinely does have talent. For a person with such a small frame, she has an amazingly powerful voice with an astonishing range, and she can throw her voice around with ease. I saw her sing live near the start of her career, and was amazed at what she could do, even dancing round with boys in singlets! I'm a little disappointed that the perfume is so bland, but then Gwen Stefani's scent showed the same insipidity, disappointing for a 'strong' woman.
You know, I still haven't smelled any of those. Would have been more easily tempted if they hadn't released SO MANY all at once — but ok, will get to the mall and give them a try.
I am really ashamed to say I don't think I've ever heard her singing. Or Gwen Stefani's. I am so out of it! I have heard Britney now though, or at least, seen her on YouTube.
What a dramatic, stylish photograph! Too bad the bottle is tacky and tawdry and the scent sounds completely mass market. I'm disappointed that someone who has matured so much musically and stylistically from her teen pop days has released such a generic, youth market fragrance. I would love to see a celebrity scent with actual personality, but it seems that more time and money are invested in the advertisements than the creation of the fragrance!
It certainly smells mass market, and it will be interesting to see where it launches in the US. I really think the only scent that shows any personality this year is Sarah Jessica Parker's, and even that, I'd sure, is not what she would do if she were given complete freedom.
I didn't even know they existed, I was in there looking for sweaters — they're my go-to source for cheap wool/cashmere … anyhoo, some of them were completely forgettable, and I didn't try them all. In the Individuals line (hah!) I liked the one with leather, woods and plum, and it lasted a long time on me. Lots of “fresh,” naturally, but still — there's another with mint in it that's kind of cool. And the gapbody ones were better than expected — I really liked the Peace Train one, with chamomile of all things! Really, I would have taken any of the ones I smelled over the gourmand section in Sephora… okay, I'll stop nattering on. You don't even need to smell them, I was chiming in as part of our ongoing discussion, subtopic: are the days of insipid frooty florals numbered…
I am in agreement with you regarding Sarah Jessica Parker… Both of her scents really stand out from the pack and match nicely with her image and style, and I thought the advertising for Covet was very quirky and creative as well. Hopefully the first two sell well enough to allow her more freedom in the creation of her next scent!
You know, everybody always loved Gap Grass, so somebody over at Gap must have good taste. Will check them out next time I'm in there, might as well! And I do think after smelling the latest crop of fall stuff that maybe we're seeing fewer & fewer true fruity florals, or at least, everyone is switching to this darker, more oriental base. Now I'm wondering how long until we're all complaining about that
You know, I had greater hopes for Covet. Do think it's nice, but not so edgy as I thought it might be. I've sort of given up. Don't think she'll be able to do what she wants w/ Coty, or maybe she wants/needs something that sells too. Will be interesting to read Chandler Burr's upcoming book on that subject!
Grass was spectacular, wasn't it? The Gap folks bought Grass from a company called Mottura, along with three others–Earth (which was sublime), Day (a brilliant citrus), and a floral, either Heaven or Dream. (There were two other Mottura scents, Ice and Night, which I was desperately hoping Gap would also launch, but they never did.) Nothing they've done since (at least nothing I've smelled of theirs) has ever reached those dazzling heights, probably because, instead of inheriting some niche scents, they launched only things they'd focus-grouped into mundanity.
I never got to try it! Or any of them. I did read recently that Grass has been showing up at some of the Gap outlets, but unfortunately don't have one near me.
Make Up Ally & women’s magazines tell me one thing, but my nose tells me another. My body chemistry must be messed up.
CA doesn’t smell sweet to me; at first spray it’s quite tart, and within the hour I can barely smell anything at all. I can’t get any individual notes out of the ‘mess’, nor can I tell any difference between the top, middle or base stages.
The print and television ads are nice, people keep telling me that the bottle is feminine and pretty, but I think it’s cheap and tacky.
This year it’s M by Mariah Carey and Can Can by Paris Hilton in the lead of celebrity scents for me. I WILL have Believe by Britter's in 12 days (not that I'm counting or anything).
– I liked Heaven by the GAP. It had a pleasant (surprisingly) plastic element, not unlike new toys. Very soft and wearable.
– I'm the only person who thinks this I'm sure, but I thought Covet had a distinct medicinal mouthwash note in it that would just not die down on me. It wasn't a scrubber, but I don't covet it either!
– I like the *shape* of the Christina Aguilera bottle (it is pretty and very feminine) but the lace and being able to see the spray top through the lid ruin it. And the color of the juice is nice (evokes skin, don't you think?).
I am very surprised it doesn't last more than an hour on you — I didn't find it a powerhouse, but still, way more than an hour. Ah well, sounds like you have enough celebrity scents for the year!
I can see the reference to something medicinal in Covet. I just like it!
Haven't yet seen the CA packaging in person, but I don't think I'll like it nearly as well as the ad.
That's it. It certainly has no lasting power. I found it, however, to be a pleasing scent which in no way is “sweet” as I classify sweet, and one that I enjoy.
But memorable…appropriate for this talented singer to have her name on it, distinctive among celebrity scents? No.
Sounds like you liked it better than I did. Wonder if it will sell when it hits the US? I don't even really know how popular CA is here, but assume she doesn't have the selling power of say, Mariah Carey? Or Gwen Stefani?
So Robin, it is confirmed that CA's fragrance will come out in the US next year??
The latest is that no, it won't, that they're doing a completely new fragrance for the US market, and it will launch next year. Don't know that it is true though.
I've just been shopping. Passing a discount store I noticed one of the perfume boxes on display; “X-Pose by Christina Aguilera”.
I'm now satisfied that this was a real fragrance & not a big hoax.
After some more digging around on Ebay UK I've found that there were three different “Xpose” fragrances; Glamour, Desire & Passion.
Plus Christina also made a self-titled perfume with a German company a few years ago (It was in a green bottle).
And there is the ongoing mystery of the “Fetish” fragrance. (I remember the bottle from my younger years, it's unlikely Christina had anything to do with this one.
“Fetish” is by Dana (?).
There's been loads of people who said Christina was behind this one too. Maybe she was the campaign model?
(It's painfully obvious I'm not at work today)
Yes, I knew about those Xpose scents, but apparently they were never in wide distribution and most articles about the new CA scent don't even mention them. Don't know anything about Fetish though!
I like it. Its not the fruity/floral pink smelling fizzy canned fruit smell you usually get from celeb fragrances. (Someone earlier mentioned Katie Price…which even I, as a fan of celeb perfumes, and as someone who doesnt even hate katie…I couldnt stand one bit! The worst celeb fragrance ever!)
This smells sweet in a darker creamy way. Its almost unisex Id say…a man could get away with wearing it! Plus the bottle looks nice and you wouldnt be embarrassed to have it on show on your dresser cabinet.
Glad you like it!