• About
  • Login to comment
    • Facebook
    • RSS
    • Twitter

Now Smell This

a blog about perfume

Menu ▼
  • Perfume Reviews
  • New Perfumes
  • Perfumers
  • Perfume Houses
  • Shop for perfume
  • Resources

A nasty aftertaste

Posted by Robin on 17 December 2009 33 Comments

They are the fragrance equivalent of fast food: cheap, soulless and with a nasty aftertaste. They smell pretty enough to begin with, but poor construction and cut-price ingredients mean they lack any sort of depth or character.

— On celebrity fragrances, from Perfume: out with the new, in with the old at the UK Times Online.

Filed Under: perfume in the news
Tagged With: celebrity perfumes

Advertisement


33 Comments

Leave a comment, or read more about commenting at Now Smell This. Here's our privacy policy, and a handy emoticon chart.

  1. Absolute Scentualist says:
    17 December 2009 at 9:16 am

    Funny since I’m wearing Halle today, but I think this article hit the nail on the head. The Grossmith line looks fantastic, as does OJ’s Tiare. And really, celebrity fragrances are so formulaic that there isn’t often much point in trying them all out.

    There’s a few I thought were really well done. I liked Danielle, Halle (obviously), and a couple Britney Spears frags. But the oriental-gourmand-twist on gardenia-clean and unoffensive musk/patch drydown gets really tiring after a time.

    I like perfumes that challenge me as well as those that just plain smell like a well made perfume. Hence why I like nearly everything Divine’s done so far. They’re one of the few fragrance lines I wear that the CEO always comments on because they just smell good and of quality ingredients. He also loves No. 5, L’Art di Gucci, Prada, a lot of Annick Goutals and almost all the Guerlains he’s smelled. I can’t come down too hard on every celeb frag, but I do agree with the article for the most part.

    Log in to Reply
    • Robin says:
      17 December 2009 at 9:22 am

      I still say people pick on celeb scents unfairly. Yes, most of them are what the article says, but they’re hardly alone in that…walk around the counters at Macy’s or Kohls, and trust me, you’ll find plenty of cheap soulless dreck from designers, etc — it is not a problem specific to celebrities. And to compare these scents to much more expensive and hard to find brands like Grossmith and Ormonde Jayne is to attack a straw man…

      Log in to Reply
      • Julia says:
        17 December 2009 at 8:39 pm

        So true! And even the most esteemed fragrance houses are capable of putting out soulless dreck aimed directly at the lowest common denominator. My Insolence, anyone? I will take Queen Latifah or a J-Lo over that any day, and I worship at the House of Guerlain.

        Log in to Reply
  2. parfumliefhebber says:
    17 December 2009 at 9:16 am

    The fast food and soulless is a good description, but not for all the celeb scents. I think that a lot of young people wants to identify themselves with their stars and they mostly don’t have much money to spend on perfume and most celeb scents are not so expensive. But I also think that when you are interested in perfume you look in another direction, no matter what your age is and you could wish a good quality perfume for birthday or christmas.

    Log in to Reply
    • Robin says:
      17 December 2009 at 9:22 am

      No, you’re right, some of them are quite good, and esp. for the price.

      Log in to Reply
  3. perfumegeek says:
    17 December 2009 at 9:31 am

    Personally I dislike the celebrity culture in general, which is why I can never wear celeb fragrances. I feel the same way about book covers, I hate it when they make a movie out of a classic and suddenly a treasured gem has a couple of movie stars on the cover.

    Log in to Reply
    • Robin says:
      17 December 2009 at 9:33 am

      Same here — I will not buy a book with a movie picture on the cover unless it’s absolutely the only copy to be had. And luckily it never is.

      Log in to Reply
      • Julia says:
        17 December 2009 at 8:42 pm

        So funny! I thought I was the only person who refused to buy a book with the movie tie-in cover!

        Log in to Reply
        • Daisy says:
          17 December 2009 at 9:45 pm

          we’re forming a club…..

          Log in to Reply
          • TwoPeasInAPod says:
            17 December 2009 at 10:59 pm

            Count me in,. too.

      • parfumliefhebber says:
        18 December 2009 at 1:59 am

        Me too.

        Log in to Reply
      • alltheprettythings says:
        18 December 2009 at 9:35 am

        Me either and if it comes with an Oprah sticker, that sucker gets ripped off immediately.

        Log in to Reply
    • Absolute Scentualist says:
      17 December 2009 at 9:47 am

      Agreed. Really, I haven’t any idea who half these “celebrities” are in the first place. When I think celebrity-fronted or inspired perfume, I think L’Interdit, Nahema or the No. 5 ads. And yes, there certainly are a lot of blah and dull frags being releaced by many fragrance manufacturers. It just seems like the celebrity frags are far less willing to be bold and take a chance by going in a new direction. I suppose no one wants their name on the line if something doesn’t sell, but if a celebrity truly has a passion for fragrance, they could quite likely start a seachange in the trend by coming out with a well done chypre or something similar and equally as interesting, imho.

      Log in to Reply
    • bergere says:
      17 December 2009 at 10:41 am

      Absolutely agree. Celebrity fragrances are part of a larger phenomenon with a lot of distasteful elements.

      Log in to Reply
  4. Joe says:
    17 December 2009 at 10:12 am

    Totally agree that (a) it’s not true of all celeb scents and (b) it’s unfortunately true for SO many designer scents as well.

    I also am one of those who thinks that every once in a great while, certain fast food really hits the spot.

    Log in to Reply
    • Minnie says:
      17 December 2009 at 10:42 am

      I agree, the celebrity scents are not better or worse than most other fragrances to be found at a department store like Macys. And sometimes what you want is a simple inoffensive fragrance. Fantasy is one of the only fragrances I’ve ever been complimented on by a passerby.

      Log in to Reply
    • Robin says:
      17 December 2009 at 11:23 am

      When you think about it, it’s just as hard to understand why Calvin Klein should have a fragrance as Jennifer Lopez…what’s the difference? It’s almost an accident of history that designers ever got into the perfume business at all, but once they did, they discovered just what celebrities did later: perfumes are cash cows that can fund other projects. And as I keep saying, they’re all made by the same few fragrance & flavor companies.

      To me, the only reasons brands matter at all is that some of them have hired staff that are better than others at creative direction and are willing to make a greater investment in the juice: for that reason, I’m more likely to like a new Kenzo than a new Paris Hilton.

      If you want to make an educated guess about how good a celebrity fragrance is going to be, it’s way more important to know who holds the license (and how they’re going to position the fragrance: mass vs prestige) than to consider how much you like the celebrity in question.

      Log in to Reply
    • Tama says:
      17 December 2009 at 10:43 pm

      Very true. My belly really wanted Mickey D’s today and I was a very happy girl.

      I will give celeb frags a shot – I love Covet, and wear Midnight Fantasy to bed. I have had horrible chemical-spill results from award-winning designer fragrances – I think it is all a crapshoot.

      Log in to Reply
    • alltheprettythings says:
      18 December 2009 at 9:35 am

      Well said, Joe. :)

      Log in to Reply
  5. platinum14 says:
    17 December 2009 at 3:36 pm

    I think that for some people, celebrity frags are an entry door into the wider world of fragrance in general. The same way that a few years back, Avon was, for a lot of people, (still is in a way) a first introduction.
    We here at NST are the privileged few and celebrity frags are not necessarely aimed at us. But we all have among our friends and families, people who would never wear perfume on a regular basis, let alone spend $100+ on a bottle for themselves. But they might be persuaded to buy something by their favorite celebrity. Hopefully it will lead them to better things down the line.

    Log in to Reply
    • Robin says:
      17 December 2009 at 11:01 pm

      Nice way to look at it!

      Log in to Reply
  6. annemarie says:
    17 December 2009 at 5:19 pm

    After making a few useful observations, I thought the original Times article petered out into an unpaid ad for the new Grossmith line.

    Log in to Reply
    • Robin says:
      17 December 2009 at 11:01 pm

      Seemed that way!

      Log in to Reply
  7. PerfumedChicken says:
    17 December 2009 at 6:44 pm

    I find myself wanting to analyze my thoughts, the ones that go into assuming that a celebrity fragrance is extra likely to be Not Much Good. They are:

    – A celebrity scent is likely to be marketed to the masses.
    – That means that it’s unlikely to take any substantial risks. It’s not likely to demonstrate daring or originality.
    – All that’s left to possibly distinguish the fragrance is quality and good design. (Do you call it “design” or is there another word? I mean the actual composition of the fragrance.)
    – Quality and good design cost money.
    – The celebrity costs money.
    – Quality and good design probably take some serious fighting for.
    – That fight’s going to be more difficult with a bunch of money going to the celebrity.
    – That fight’s going to be more difficult with the likely perception, in some quarters, that the celebrity name alone should be enough to make sales. There’s always an assumption that advertising and image will sell the thing, but the celebrity name is just one more thing on the scales, to give the illusion that the actual juice doesn’t matter much.

    So I see all these factors drowning out any small struggling voices arguing for a quality scent. So while it’s not impossible for a celebrity fragrance to be fabulous, it just seems to go against the odds.

    Log in to Reply
    • Robin says:
      17 December 2009 at 11:06 pm

      All true, but I’d say that many of those things are also true of at least some of the designer brands. Many of them pay for celebrities to front the perfumes anyway….many of them rely on the designer name to sell the scent, and don’t take any risks, and don’t pay any more than they absolutely have to for the juice. My point is not at all that celebrity scents are likely to be excellent, but that most fragrances are not likely to be excellent — there is relatively little excellence out there, period. If you go into Kohls, where they’re now carrying lots of the lower end celebrity scents, you’ll smell lots of dreck and not all of it will be from celebrities.

      Log in to Reply
      • PerfumedChicken says:
        18 December 2009 at 8:27 pm

        This is quite true. I could respond that I have limited sampling financing, but one of the good things about the celebrity fragrances is that they tend to be very available for at least a quick spray – it’s not as if I have to send off to the Perfumed Court to get my hands on them. Maybe I should stop ignoring so many testers.

        Log in to Reply
        • Robin says:
          19 December 2009 at 11:46 am

          It’s true…the ability to find in-store testers is a huge plus.

          Log in to Reply
  8. RossM says:
    18 December 2009 at 12:50 am

    What an interesting article and discussion, I like a good, friendly debate!
    But I’m thinking that maybe celebrity scents and designer shouldn’t be considered equal. Maybe designers have more to lose if they keep releasing dreck out. I would think the Armanis, CKs, Gucci, etc. companies may just care that little bit more about the quality, standard and originality of their scent lines considering that they’re well known for their
    scents (as well as the fashion stuff of course).
    I wouldn’t imagine Gucci would be happy to release a scent like Paris Hilton Fairy Dust or whatever it’s called as they would have SOME standards.
    Celebrities wouldn’t have a reputation to uphold in the fragrance world – they just want to trade off their name and sell product. They don’t have to prove anything to anyone. If it’s crap and no-one buys it, they’ll just move on to something else, maybe appear on TV spruiking proactive acne cream!
    But some celebrity scents are pretty good and I’ve bought a few for family and friends but I’m not sure they should be considered in the same class as designer scents.

    Log in to Reply
    • Robin says:
      18 December 2009 at 9:23 am

      But you’re taking some higher end designers and comparing them to Paris Hilton…not a fair standard. Parlux, wisely I think, does not invest undue sums on Paris Hilton’s fragrances — why would they? They’re geared towards an entirely different slice of the market than Armani & Gucci.

      But take, say, Calvin Klein Free next to Sean John Unforgivable, and I think you can make a reasonable comparison, and the celebrity scent holds its own quite well (actually, in that case I like the Sean John better). Coty also made a big investment in Sarah Jessica Parker’s first scent, and I think in terms of quality it could play with the big guys. Meanwhile, Christian Lacroix is putting out low end stuff for Avon. So I dont’ think it’s an issue of “designer vs celebrity” at all…it’s more a matter of who holds your license.

      And when you say “If it’s crap and no-one buys it, they’ll just move on to something else, maybe appear on TV spruiking proactive acne cream!” — that ignores that the celebrities aren’t the license holders for these scents, any more than the designers are for their own scents. Coty is not going to invest in a product that it doesn’t think will sell, whether it’s for Calvin Klein or Jennifer Lopez.

      Log in to Reply
  9. RossM says:
    18 December 2009 at 4:23 pm

    Hmmm…interesting point and it all definetely makes sense.
    But it still doesn’t explain why most celebrity scents smell terrible to me? Maybe it’s all in my head and I just THINK they smell bad because they’re celebrity fronted. Who knows? I’ll just keep testing things and try and stay objective.

    Log in to Reply
    • Robin says:
      18 December 2009 at 5:47 pm

      Well, part of it is that most of them are geared towards young people, and most of them are on the lower end of the price scale. So, not claiming they’re fabulous as a group, just saying that most scents geared towards young people at the lower end of the price scale — celebrity or not — aren’t great, you know?

      I mean, to give another example, the Britney Spears line is quite comparable to, say, the Vera Wang Princess line (in fact, I’d take Fantasy over Princess) or the Ralph by Ralph Lauren (Ralph Hot, Ralph Wild, etc) line.

      Gwen Stefani’s L, which was geared slightly older, was a well-made but basically boring scent that you can compare to many similar designer scents (Vera Wang Look springs to mind). I’m sure her youth-oriented Harajuku Lovers have outsold L by the bucketload — and that’s the thing about the celebrity market: it does better with the young.

      Log in to Reply
      • RossM says:
        19 December 2009 at 4:24 pm

        That does seem true – many celebrity scents do seem geared towards the young which would explain the plethora of fruity florals or fruity lolly which I tend to predominately smell. So yes maybe that’s why I have such a dim view of celebrity scents as a whole (with a few exceptions of course). Ah, fragrance is WASTED on the young!

        Log in to Reply
        • Robin says:
          19 December 2009 at 8:35 pm

          It is too bad that such a huge proportion of new scents are geared towards young people….wish it was an even spread.

          Log in to Reply

Leave a reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Advertisement

Search

From NST at Twitter

  • "ernesto neto highlights the cycles of nature in latest installation at tanya bonakdar gallery" (scented exhibit in… https://t.co/qp81Uglhsx, 16 hours ago
  • @ChemistBottle Can't disagree...always liked that bottle shape but the colors aren't appealing, 16 hours ago
  • Updated info on Guerlain Habit Rouge L'Instinct https://t.co/LwuZCy3gtq https://t.co/exoPnjgQId,
  • Amouage has streamlined and repackaged the Libray (Opus) collection. 2 remain: Opus V and Opus VII. Rose Incense fr… https://t.co/D1pIB4gZzW,
  • "Blossom season takes over! Saudi's Taif Rose Festival delights one and all" (mashable middle east) https://t.co/bSvUUGZeJz,

Browse by…

Topic

Perfume talk New fragrances
Shopping Books :: News
Body products Home fragrance
Polls Another subject

Date

April 2022
March 2022
February 2022
January 2022
December 2021
November 2021
Prior months

Author

Robin Jessica
Angela Kevin
Erin Guest Author

Tag

Celebrity perfumes
Cheap thrills
Collector bottles
Perfumista tip series
Video
The complete tag index

Recent reviews

Atelier Cologne Love Osmanthus
Moschino Toy Boy
Arquiste Misfit
Diptyque Eau Capitale
Zoologist Bee
Parfum d’Empire Immortelle Corse
Comme des Garcons Series 10 Clash
Frédéric Malle Rose & Cuir
L’Artisan Parfumeur Le Chant de Camargue
Yves Saint Laurent Grain de Poudre
Régime des Fleurs Chloë Sevigny Little Flower
Chanel 1957
Gallivant Los Angeles
Amouage Portrayal Woman

Blogroll

Bois de Jasmin
Grain de Musc
Perfume Posse
The Non-Blonde
More blogs...

Perfumista lists

100 fragrances every perfumista should try
And 25 more fragrances every perfumista should smell
50 masculine fragrances every perfumista should try
26 vintage fragrances every perfumista should try
25 rose fragrances every perfumista should try
11 Cheap Perfumes Beauty Outsiders Love

Favorite posts

The Great Perfume Reduction Plan
Why I Love Old School Chypres
New to perfume and want to learn more?
How to make fragrance last through the day
Fragrance concentrations: sorting it all out
On reformulations, or why your favorite perfume doesn’t smell like it used to
How to get fragrance samples
Perfume for Life: How Long Will Your Fragrance Collection Last?

Upcoming

List of upcoming Friday projects

Back to Top

Home
About Now Smell This :: Privacy Policy

Shop for Perfume Online
Perfume Shopping in New York
Perfume Shopping in London
Perfume Reviews
New Perfumes
General Perfume Articles
The Monday Mail

Glossary of Perfume Terms
Perfume FAQ
Perfume Links
Perfume Books
Fragrance Awards

Noses ~ Perfumers A-E :: F-K :: L-S :: T-Z

Perfume Houses A-B :: C :: D-E :: F-G
H-J :: K-L :: M :: N-O :: P :: Q-R :: S
T :: U-Z

Copyright © 2005-2022 Now Smell This. All rights reserved.