Transsexual icon Amanda Lepore will launch Amanda next month:
Amanda Lepore is one of today's most recognizable international celebrities and is the reigning doyenne of transsexuality worldwide. Launching for holiday 2008, Amanda is the first fragrance from Ms. Lepore and is custom-designed by Christophe Laudamiel, an award-winning perfumer.
Mr. Laudamiel was inspired to create a fragrance that captured Ms. Lepore's soft elegance, glamour and formidable strength. Her voluptuous and iconic red lips are suggested by notes of red lipstick and succulent strawberry; soft and strong woods capture the grace and ardor of her personality; shiny fruits and yellow mandarin evoke her blonde hair; and a dash of real Cristal® champagne summons the glamour of this nightclub hostess and pop diva.
Amanda is a boutique fragrance limited to only 5,000 bottles with over 1,000 Swarovski® crystals and a blush-colored satin atomizer. A limited edition booklet featuring new photographs by acclaimed photographer Nico Iliev will be signed and numbered by Ms. Lepore and included in each black, custom gift box.
Amanda by Amanda Lepore will be $950 for 125 ml Eau de Parfum, and can be pre-ordered now at Artware Editions. (via artwareeditions)
Red lipstick accord. I know exactly what that smells like.
I won't be spending $950 to experience this, as Ruby Woo lipstick from MAC is way cheaper…
I think that it's ok to go totally luxe, but only for brands that are already recognizable, and have earned some respect in the world of perfumery. It took a good couple of years of earning that respect in the luxury fragrance world, before Bond no.9 started creating their fancy Swarovski crystal bottles for many $$$. There is just too much mess out there, too many people try to find themselves in the high-end, without even gathering any audience. Everything is starting to lose it's appeal to me, it's all messy! I have nothing against transsexuality, and I am happy that Amanda was able to prove anyone that she can do it! But I think that she should first show everyone she can make perfumes in general, and then she could jump into making something fancy. I guess that's just my opinion. Amanda would also look really beautiful with a more natural makeup, she is a very pretty female just because of who she is, she is a beautiful person for changing people's minds. She could just go more natural – also my opinion.
I wouldn't mind smelling what Christophe Laudamiel makes of red lipstick though…
This isn't geared towards the “perfumista” audience, though — not sure she needs to earn any respect in the world of perfumery in order to sell this (and she has a VERY respectable perfumer in Christophe Laudamiel anyway). Not arguing w/ you, mind you — I think the price is silly, but just saying the kind of people who think the price is silly and who is she to launch a $950 perfume anyway aren't the kind of people who are the target audience.
I knew this was coming
When I read Diane Brill's ad copy I was reading it with Amanda's voice
Please excuse me whilst I gag…!!! And who might that target audience be? $950 a bottle??? You've got to be kidding. And a signed one at that…with an album of pictures. Wow. There are some things I just don't get.
I agree Robin, and I am also not trying to argue:)) I am sure she'll have her audience, but again this isn't about the art of perfumery anymore. The audience are not the people that are fascinated by fragrances anymore. I am not a huge perfumista myself, I still have tons and tons and tons to learn (that's why I love Your blog) but I do see fragrances as an art itself. I guess I am not a celebrity-fragrance fan (and I mean it in a lot of cases, not just about Amanda). All I'm trying to say that I guess I buy a perfume because I LOVE the scent, not because it is launched by a certain celebrity.
If I really like the SCENT, I can even spend 200 dollars, even if it's in an ugly bottle. Sometimes it's not about the scent itself anymore, it feels like it's all about the ad campaigns, fancy crystal bottles, celebrity names… I can understand a brand like Creed or even a younger one, Bond no.9, perfumery masters, creating something special, limited edition etc. Also even Bond.9s Crystal bottle will not be anymore than 400 dollars…
Amanda Lepore is just over the top extravagant.
It is ~*who she is*~
I'm not generally a celeb fragrance fan either. Will say that I've got more faith in the likelihood of an expensive fragrance by Christophe Laudamiel being “sniffable” than I do in, say, the latest cheapie from Britney Spears.
You know these people better than I do, obviously!
I don't know a darned thing about Amanda Lepore, but guessing the target audience is rich people who love Amanda Lepore 🙂
No, agree, this isn't about the juice.
She's like a cult celebrity.
And she has this song that's like “I drink champagne in the morning/I drink champagne in the afternoon/I drink champagne in the bubble bath/I drink champagne in my dressing room
chaaaaaaaammmpppaaagggnnneee chaaaaaammmpppaaagggnnnee”
Its a really good song…
Chhaaaammmppagggneeee. Chhaaammmppaagggnee…
yes, lets all sing it together
Chaaaaaaammmpaaagggnnneee chaaaaammppaaagggnnee
I don't know much about clothes but my hair looks fierce
fierce!
but wouldn't the bottle be really cute if it was a little disco ball?
It's almost a little disco ball but not quite 🙁
Frederic Malle's Lipstick Rose is €130 for a 50ml spray–not cheap, but significantly less than $950 if you're looking for a perfume with a lipstick accord. Admittedly, it doesn't have the imprimatur of the self-proclaimed “reigning doyenne of transexuality,” or a bottle covered with Swarovski® crystals, but you can't have everything.
Is this the most expensive celebrity fragrance ever brought to market?
Correction–Lipstick Rose is €130 for a 100ml spray.
Amanda Lepore sings and models and all that, but she's mostly a famous *personality*.
That is why she is releasing a $950 perfume with red lipstick and Cristal notes in a Swarovski crystal covered bottle with a pink atomizer.
This isn't for someone who wants a perfume with a lipstick accord, its for someone who wants an Amanda Lepore perfume, which are the same people who wanted the Amanda Lepore doll and Amanda Lepore Swatch watch.
Yes, I know. I just find it rather amusing that anyone would willingly pay almost a grand for a perfume simply because it was blessed by a “personality.”
There was a disco ball bottle this year. One of the Cathy Guetta Ibiza scents, I think?
There's only two S's in “transsexual” – minor typo in the first word of the post. 🙂
The bottle for Ibiza for Women was actually packaged inside a disco ball. So was the bottle for Ibiza for Men, but that disco ball was black, which looks way cool but probably wouldn't work in the real world.
I find it hilarious that Amanda Lepore is described as having “soft elegance”. She may be soft thanks to modern medical technology, but she's about as elegant as a whore-shaped piñata.
This actually has been cracking me up all day (even though I don't “get” her… and don't need to…).
To me, someone of this level of celebrity makes Paris Hilton look like a hardworking Fortune-50 CEO. Which is not to say I don't think it's all ok…
I think the whole thing is an exercise in irony. Irony about money, femininity as an iconic symbol, disco, being a star, being gay, etc. I think that is why so many clever people got involved in it. Poking fun at the same time really enjoying all of the above.
Ah, you're right — good memory!
HUGE thanks — I hate typos. And we've lots of them.
Joe, LOL at poor PH as a “hardworking Fortune-50 CEO”!
Red Lipstick….. shiver
It brings to mind the smell on my grandmother's 30 yrs old+ tube of lipstick that she used on “special occasions”!
That thing was so rancid I don't know how she could even wear it!
YUK
It's expensice 'cuz it's beeing sold as Art. Who knows, it may even appreciate in value like the goofy Jeff Koons Flower Puppy Planter and collectable plates. It may not. But I'm curious to smell it because it may not actually need to be wearable – a lot of leeway that art stuff gets.
Actually, that was a little mean of me… as a native middle-class New Jerseyan, Lepore has doubtless had to work *really* hard (not to mention endure a *lot* of painful surgery! ouch!) to attain her level of celebrity. I think it's interesting that one site mentions her age being anywhere from 30s to 50s since no one's been able to ascertain her true birthdate.
Wikipedia says she was born in 1967 – I checked out of curiousity:))
Oh dear!
I'd like to smell it too. But probably won't get the chance.
Joe, she's worked way harder than PH, that's for darned sure.
I don't know, I think it's interesting with a celebrity fragrance that is sold in a limited number of bottles and for a crazy price – refreshing and original considering how common the rest of them tend to be, in every sense of the word. It just might be a really great idea for a non-mainstream celeb like Amanda Lepore.
The notes sounds pretty horrible, though, apart from the lipstick accord.
Gosh, but 5000 bottles really stretches the definition of “limited” — that's an awful lot of bottles.
That adds up to $4.75 million.
Not too shabby — if she can sell them all!
Gee, only $950??
You can't afford not to buy it!