I remember meeting my freshman-year roommate on the very first day of college. When our parents had departed and we stood alone in the room, her first full sentence to me was, "Do you have a boyfriend?" What a strange way to begin a conversation and a potential friendship, I thought. I had just finished painstakingly arranging my half of the room. Why didn't she ask me about my books, my posters, my music collection? Why didn't she ask me, better yet, about myself?
My initial reaction to Kate Walsh Boyfriend was similar. Boyfriend, whose tagline is "Wear Him," is intended "to capture the scent of a guy on a girl: a man's cologne mixed with perfume, the smell that lingers on the skin." But why would I want a perfume that makes me smell like some imaginary male companion, particularly in a scenario written like a romance novel? ("She inhales his shirt, taking in the scent of the man she loves. It lingers on her clothes, her sheets, her hair—all over. Imprinted on her body and in her mind, it radiates within her, filling her with feelings of warmth and desire.") And why would I want to own and display a perfume bottle marked with various masculine first names? Are they meant to signify past boyfriends? Or am I supposed to find my real-life companion's name on the list? (My husband's name is there, for the record. But what if it weren't?)
Boyfriend's notes are listed as dark plum, myrrh, night blooming jasmine, benzoin tears, skin musk, golden amber and vanilla woods. That list didn't really raise my expectations — those "ingredients" have all appeared many times before, even in combination — but the fragrance itself did make me sit up and take notice. It's unlike anything else at the feminine end of Sephora's fragrance wall. In fact, it could easily be a masculine fragrance, albeit a warm and slightly fruity one. There's plenty of amber and sweetly resiny woods and hints of patchouli. I have to strain to catch the floral notes, and the plum really is darker than I would have forecast. The base is a smoky-vanilla skin scent. Boyfriend isn't my usual "type," but it's well done, and I can't help admiring it. It has more in common with recent amber-based niche releases than it does with anything else in its own pink-lychee-dominated marketplace.
For Kate Walsh's new release Billionaire Boyfriend — "Let Him Spoil You" — we are now encouraged to "imagine a drive down the Amalfi coast in a vintage Alfa Romeo, dripping in diamonds and radiating pure sensuality and passion." Is the Boyfriend at the wheel? Are we acting as his Bond Girls? (I never coveted their roles.) More confusingly, one accompanying commercial seems to cast us as extras in a hop hop video, instead. Is that commercial tongue-in-cheek? Apparently so. Is the description of this fragrance — as "a lavish, decadent expression of seduction and opulence" that "plunges straight into the heart of its wearer, connecting with their lustful and lavish desires" — similarly parodic? And why does the container, supposedly modeled after a "special reserve vintage champagne bottle," look so cheap in person? (The silver layer appears ready to wrinkle and pucker under its clear topcoat, especially at the corners.)
The listed notes for Billionaire Boyfriend (developed by perfumer Marypierre Julien) are bergamot, tangerine, lush green leaves, black jasmine, velvet orchid, gardenia, patchouli flower and golden amber. There's some overlap with "Everyday" Boyfriend, as I'm now calling him, in the amber base notes. However, the overall experience of the Billionaire is quite a different one. This Boyfriend begins with a citrus-green accord, but its heart brings the real surprise: a raw, gutsy jasmine note that rarely appears in mainstream fragrance. It doesn't have quite the animalic elegance of Serge Lutens A la Nuit or the natural feistiness of Lust from Gorilla Perfume at Lush, but it's there, and it's unexpected. However, it's not allowed to occupy center-stage for long: Billionaire Boyfriend soon loses its nerve and folds the jasmine back into thin layers of sheer amber and even sheerer patchouli, with some lingering traces of sour oranges. This fragrance has less staying power than the "Everyday" Boyfriend.
I had no idea who Kate Walsh was until these fragrances were released, and I'm still puzzled by her fragrance-selling persona. The smooth, semi-masculine feel of Boyfriend and that nearly indolic jasmine in Billionaire Boyfriend make me suspect that Ms. Walsh is a real perfume-lover in her private life. On the other hand, the promotional copy, the visuals, and the "webimercials" are truly puzzling. Why tag a parody onto a relatively serious fragrance (or two), especially when you're selling the fragrances to an audience that probably has nothing against conventional fragrance marketing in the first place? Maybe I'm just missing the point.
In her promotional videos and interviews for the Boyfriend line, Kate Walsh promises more Boyfriends to come, perhaps even a "Boyfriend Store." I can't help but wish that these fragrances were being marketed under another gimmick. I do have my own fragrance-related fantasies, but they don't involve another person's scent dominating my own, or a man showering me with diamonds. I'd rather choose perfumes that enhance my own personality and mood, and I'd rather purchase my own (preferably vintage) jewelry. If a "Bookish Boyfriend" or a "Bohemian Boyfriend" ever appears, maybe I'll give it (him?) a try.
Kate Walsh Boyfriend is available in 15 ($35) and 50 ($65) ml Eau de Parfum and Billionaire Boyfriend is available in 15 ($45) and 50 ($75) ml Eau de Parfum. Matching body products are also available. They are offered through HSN and Sephora.
I guess I’m glad to hear that these smell decent, and that there’s a bit of tongue-in-cheek humor in the concept. That being said, I am just so not into the gender politics here — tongue-in-cheek humor notwithstanding, and notwithstanding the fact that countless other marketing campaigns and products are just as reductive and silly in their own ways. (In addition to Jessica’s observations, I find this concept flagrantly heteronormative, though I suppose that, too, is hardly uncommon in perfume marketing — it’s just particularly flagrant with these.) The names on the Everyday Boyfriend bottle creep me out; what if there’s an ex (or worse) on there? Gah.
Anyway. I now feel slightly ridiculous for investing that much energy into complaining about a perfume concept, but I just needed to vent. We now resume our regular programming of being excited about ANY nearly indolic jasmine in mainstream perfume.
Tell us how you really feel. 😉 I love your rant because I was about to have one myself about all the flankers but I would probably not word mine as nicely as you did so I’m refraining from ranting at this moment.
I agree about the jasmine but all I got from my sample was vanilla on me. From start to finish it was vanilla. Not quite cupcake accord but close. There was a tiny hint of jasmine at first but it didn’t last. I never had a boyfriend who smelled like vanilla.
I can’t decide whether I would want a boyfriend that smelled like vanilla. On the one hand, it’s better than other things my past guys have smelled of. On the other, I think it’d be kind of like dating the Pillsbury Doughboy’s dessert-y cousin.
I wonder if the Pillsbury Doughboy smells more like Bois Farine or Jeux de Peau.
Emily, you made me laugh on this dreary Fri end to a long week, thank you!
Haha, glad to help! I hope things get better for you over the weekend.
ha! CB I Hate Perfume should definitely offer a Pillsbury Dough Boy accord!
It should come as a room spray, too (for use in the kitchen when I’m too lazy to bake bread myself).
Made for decanting! Put it into a decent bottle and if anyone asks, just say “Oh, it’s a Kate Walsh.”
I doubt anyone is really paying attention enough to these to automatically make the leap to “oh, she’s wearing Boyfriend.”
Kate, that’s a solution!
“Billionaire Boyfriend” is so clearly marketed to a Nouvou Riche Asian market, that you’d think their audience would find it offensive. I mean, I’d buy it if they somehow appropriated the rights to Wendi Murdoch defending Rupert at the hacking hearing, last year. It would be really offensive, but then, at least, it would enter the “South Park” realm of black comedy and parody.
[Noveau] Riche. Pardon me. See? It makes me want to fight and be rude ;)!
I don’t know whether the Asian market has access to this particular product, or whether K Walsh is even known in that market, but I agree, the “aspirational” angle of Billionaire is a bit silly… maybe it’s meant to poke fun at lines like Baby Phat? Again, though, I’m not quite grasping the humor.
Emily, I’ve obviously invested plenty of my own energy in thinking and writing about this perfume concept, so I’m not about to point the finger! hah. I have nothing against fantasy and romance in fragrance marketing, but this particular “story” just leaves no latitude for my own imagination. It really lost me with the Billionaire angle; I’ve never once dated for money. And, as I’ve commented further down the page, the “tongue in cheek” aspect puzzles me and makes me keep an even further distance. Strange.
If you’re referring to your comment later on to Nlb, I think that’s spot on. I think if you’re going for tongue-in-cheek humor, you need to commit to that — the Billionaire concept seems confused about its own purposes. And after reading other comments, I do see how the original concept could be kind of sweet; just not my thing, I guess.
I was incredibly taken with the original Boyfriend, but unfortunately it had no lasting power on me (2 hours max) and dried down to that very generic sweet perfume base ubiquitous in many designer perfume offerings. I wish I could get a version of that actually worked on my skin. : (
I think Sephora also has it in a perfume-oil format — maybe try that, if it’s available where you are?
That’s a good idea…or the lotion, maybe.
The patchouli totally overwhelmed me in Boyfriend, and I’m not a patchophobe. I sampled it at Sephora while I was at the mall with my husband, and he sniffed my arm later, recoiled in horror and said, “Uh, that’s not a perfume you’re thinking about buying, is it?” His name isn’t on the bottle, so I guess it’s good that Boyfriend from Woodstock didn’t work out for me.
Snorted water out my nose at “Boyfriend from Woodstock.” I should refrain from beverage consumption when reading NST comments.
Same here!!
One of my coworkers wears Boyfriend, and I am very impressed by its rich ambery sillage. But, like you, I am not so fond of the concept. Not that I would mind a drive along the Amalfi coast: I would just rather do it on my own terms, not at the bidding of some billionaire.
Elizabeth, my sentiments exactly! I guess neither of us is a likely candidate to be a ‘kept woman’. 😉
Hmmm … I have enough books of my own, so I’d skip Bookish Boyfriend and go for Handyman Boyfriend. My fantasies dwell merely on someone who could come to my place, fix the fly screens and the sliding doors, mow the lawn, have a beer and then go again. He’d smell nice in that ‘cut grass, soil and sweat’ sort of way.
I spent the first half of your review assuming that the girlfriend is meant to hint to the boyfriend to buy her the perfume. But what if his name is not on the perfume? That name thing is rather weird.
And likewise the ‘let him spoil you’ tag on Billionaire Boyfriend suggest that we are back to the bad old days of waiting for a man to buy us perfume. And yet this one has to be tongue in cheek surely, a purchase for our girlfriend and boyfriend to chuckle over.
And what happens when girlfriend breaks up with boyfriend? Perfume goes in the bin I guess.
LOL at “Handyman Boyfriend”…I am waiting for “Future Ex Husband Boyfriend” (inspired by Jeff Goldblum in Jurassic Park).
Handyman Boyfriend would be great! And Robin knows that I’ve been trying all week to appreciate the tongue in cheek aspect, but… Let Him Spoil You?! Ugh.
I need that Handyman Boyfriend, stat. 😛
Me, too. I have Musician Lawyer Husband but I’m willing to try polyamory if I could find Handyman Boyfriend.
Hey, I’m all for Handyman Boyfriend. How about Big Strong Calloused-Hands Boyfriend? Lumberjack Boyfriend? If I want to smell like the best $#/ I ever had, it would be two dabs of machine oil behind the ears with a lingering hint of Tide and Bounce from the big man who can still do his own laundry.
I also don’t find the concept appealing at all. I don’t even know where to begin…
But I completely agree with you, the fragrances are very nice and well-made.
V, I didn’t want to like anything about them, after I heard the names and read the concepts… however, as fragrances, they *are* nicely done!
I liked the original Boyfriend just fine. Not enough to buy it, but I thought it was decent and appreciated the lack of “foofiness” – yes it’s a technical term. Billionaire Boyfriend, on the other hand? Scary scrubber. I’m not sure which note(s) were the problem, but I could not get my wrist to the sink fast enough.
Uh oh! Maybe the jasmine didn’t agree with you… or the musk.
The Boyfriend scent is good, the marketing stinks and I won’t but it for that reason. Kate Whosis will probably come up with another line called “Sugar Daddy.”
It’s crazy the amount of money that is spent to convince women it’s ok to prostitute yourself as long as the money is good.
I’m working from a Sephora sample, but yes, even if I’d fallen head over heels with the fragrance, I’d have a hard time buying it. I suppose a Boyfriend by any other name would smell as sweet, but marketing is such a big element here that it’s impossible to ignore.
I think that Michael Germain beat her to the Sugar Daddy scent title. Remember?Sugar Daddy Sexual or something like that anyway .
I wouldn’t have a problem at all with buying a truly tongue in cheek scent with that name, A Scent Of Scandal, for instance does have a Sugar Daddy candle that’s…well, a bit too sweet but in the right ways. I don’t mind it from them at all, because I know they are joking. But Boyfriend hits all the wrong notes marketing-wise. There’s no indication that they aren’t serious that I’ve seen, and I doubt the majority of “average” Sephora perfume shoppers have seen much more marketing for it than I have. If it was supposed to be a joke or a parody, it’s been an extremely badly executed one, and it’s one that kept me away from even trying it. The review, might have encouraged me to try it though, if both Sephoras I have access to didn’t have such a light/heat problem in thier perfume area.
Yeah, why does Sephora insist on frying their perfumes under mirrors and lights? The perfume section in the downtown SF store has been redone and toned down a bit, but it’s still vastly suboptimal. It seems the stores are all about presentation, and who cares what it does to the product.
In one of the two here, it’s a problem with the makeup too, particularly the lipsticks. It psobably doesn’t affect products like glosses as much, and colors with a higher turnover than the colors I tend to wear may not be as affected, but spending $22 on a lipstick that’s bleeding beads of oil because it’s been stored under hot lighting for a long period of time really bugs me. Not as much as fried perfumes and fried testers for some reason, but well…just one of many many things about Sephora that really makes me wish for another major retailer to come onto the scene.
I agree with the questionable execution of the concept/”joke,” and with the problem of perfumes bubbling and boiling under the lights at Sephora!!
I loved the room-mate anecdote: it captured the whole horror of the age!
Merlin, how strange that it still bothers me after all these years, right?! I wonder where she is now…and what perfume she is wearing. 😉
And how many boyfriends she has had.
Ooops … that was catty, sorry!
No need to apologize! One of the next things she said was that my scented drawer liner papers (Crabtree & Evelyn Spring Rain, iirc) were triggering her allergies. So we never had much in common. 😉
It bothers me after all this time too – and it didn’t even happen to me! (of course I had similar experiences).
I recently acquired a sample of this from Sephora, and was pleasantly surprised to find something so different amidst the fruity-florals. I get a lot of patchouli and woods out of it, and love the dark, not overly-sweet vibe. Wore it Wednesday night to see a chick flick with a good friend, and the leftovers on the collar of my jacket on Thursday had me sniffing in pleasure.
Where I live Sephora offers this in a 10ml rollerball, which sounds right up my alley. (Bonus: the rollerball isn’t covered in names that are not my husband’s.)
Boyfriend does smell good on collars and cuffs the next day! and I do like seeing a fragrance available in various sizes and formats.
That gets me thinking about perfumes that are suitable for a chick-flick with a good friend. I find something like that, which ought to be simple, quite tricky. A comfortable fragrance with low sillage (for the movies) that is not intellectually demanding or make you feel you should be impressing someone. Hmmm … I’m off to survey my collection …
I’m thinking over my own scent wardrobe… at this time of year, something like ELd’O Like This or Caron Farnesiana, or on the lighter side, Si Lolita or Oeillet Sauvage or Drole de Rose.
The notes sound interesting, and I’ll have to give the original another try, and sniff the new flanker as well. However, I’m kind of hoping I don’t like them – can’t quite get around the name and the ad campaign. Another example of a scent you wouldn’t want to tell anyone the name of….
Maggiecat, that is so true. I could never tell anyone I was wearing Billionaire Boyfriend, even for fun. It goes against my whole personality.
reading everyone’s comments today really has me chuckling!
Dilettante, me too!
I discovered this at Sephora a couple months ago and was so pleasantly surprised that I got a sample and wore it for the next three or four days. With repeated wear I began to tire of the sweet and artificial drydown somebody already mentioned, and was sad because it was enough to make me lose interest. The name thing doesn’t bother me for some reason – it just seems like an abstract artistic concept to me, though I would definitely say “It’s by Kate Walsh” if someone asked [happily married] me what I was wearing!
I don’t think I could wear Boyfriend too many days in a row, either… but I feel that way about most ambery-patchy scents.
Julie, I think I’m with you on the name. It just isn’t bugging me today–at least not Boyfriend. Billionaire Boyfriend just sounds like the fantasy of a young woman with few personal aspirations.
What is it about this whole marketing concept that unnerves me to no end :D? It riles me up, brings out the activist in me — what, I need to totally lose my identity to my “Boyfriend”? Is “Billionaire Boyfriend” for real?!
A Wink…just a wink and a smile and I could laugh over it, but I almost feel like it’s insulting to people who find the concept degrading, confusing or arrogant, and it’s insulting to people who take it very seriously because they must be laughing at them, right? Marc Jacobs and Tom Ford piss me off in the same way.
NLB, I think you nailed two points that are making me uncomfortable. One, the loss of identity. Two, that strange tension between “wink, wink” jokiness and straightforward “aspirational” marketing. I don’t think a brand can do both things at once; otherwise, as you say, it ends up condescending to both audiences.
I loathe Tom Ford’s advertising campaigns, and as much as I love many of Marc Jacobs’s clothing designs, many of his ads rub me the wrong way — remember the one showing Victoria Beckham stuffed in a box, with her legs sticking out, like a discarded doll?
Boyfriend is actually one of my favorite fragrances! I don’t know why, but it turns a little minty/herbal on me after three hours 🙁
Don’t care for the campaign or marketing either.
Great review 🙂
Minty/herbal! Hey, that’s interesting. I wonder which notes you’re picking up…
I’m sorry, that was really poor form. I just feel like their’s something so condescending about the whole campaign.
Alright, I’ll stop commenting. “Billionaire Boyfriend” and me should just stay far away from eachother. It’s for the best.
[there’s]
Hah, not to worry!
I try never to be dripping in diamonds when driving in a vintage AR – I keep thinking of that actress who was died when her scarf got caught in the tire of her convertible (or maybe this is an myth) 🙂 What if my ropes of diamonds choked me?
That was the dancer Isadora Duncan and her scarf in a convertible… yes, good point! lol.
Thank you! I knew it was a true story. Ah, well. I’m off, dripping in diamonds, to the grocery store…
I’m in the “too creeped out by the concept to contemplate the actual fragrance” camp. Ick.
L, sometimes it offends me, and sometimes it just confuses me. In any case, there are enough fragrances out there that do *neither* to my poor tired brain, thank goodness.
I guess I’ll be the odd one here who is not any more offended by this marketing than I am the constant sexualization in almost every other perfume.
I am beyond sick of being told I have to be constantly on the sexual prowl, and I hate that everything I want to buy is being fronted by some skinny, writhing, half clothed young model.
Somehow, the concept that a boyfriend might want to spoil me is far less offensive to me than the implication that if I’m not running around half naked, constantly panting for sex, something is wrong with me.
That being said, I hated the Billionaire commercial, and though I am not opposed to being spoiled by my husband, I can certainly buy my own perfume when I feel like it. Heck, I buy it all the time, since he would be petrified to try and pick out a fragrance for me.
I think she started off with a kind of darling concept….I can clearly remember the first time I tossed on one of my husband’s (bf at the time) button down shirts and caught his scent. I’m a middle aged broad and he was my first and only, so perhaps I am just hopelessly old fashioned, but I still remember how amazing it made me feel to smell his scent mingling with my own.
Agree – the whole writhing, panting, longing thing is a boring turn-off.
Hi, Jolie! I agree, I’m tired of the writhing, half-dressed models, too… I think part of the reason I first turned to niche lines like L’Artisan, Diptyque, Rosine, Frederic Malle, etc. was that I didn’t have to watch the same old formulaic sexual fantasies/dictates being enacted. They leave much more scope for the imagination!
I agree, JolieFleurs and I too remember the discovery of my now husband’s scent left on his shirt, the pillow, etc. I actually really liked the concept for the first perfume – that you’d be wearing a scent that reminds you of the last time you were with your lover. I never thought the idea was to get him to buy the perfume. That wouldn’t have even occurred to me, for the same reasons others have mentioned already. The Billionaire concept is sad and disturbing.
My brother-in-law, who is single, has complained that the dating scene is really tough in NYC, partly because some women have a very materialistic attitude towards potential boyfriends and actually do expect to be gifted with jewelry, early and often. Maybe he’s just meeting the wrong women, but apparently this attitude and expectation *do* exist in some quarters. That’s a shame, both for the men who feel pressured and for the women who make this kind of thing a priority.
A few years ago an older man I know told me I had to get married so that my husband can buy me some jewelry. I was more than offended for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is that I already have tons of all kinds of jewelry I’ve bought for myself since I was a teen, and a long standing relationship with a man I’d been with for at least 7 years (*now* we’re married, post baby, 11 years on). I like to keep things simple: I want a man to give me the only things I can’t give myself: his love, his friendship, and differentiated anatomical attentions. I said to this deluded older man: I buy my own jewelry, thanks.
*high five*
I do belive it’s all very cheeky, however the fragrences are so nice AND reasonably priced, that I hope she does well with these!
I like the price point, and it was refreshing to smell a fragrance (or two) at Sephora that didn’t have pink pepper, lychee, an overdose of vanilla, and/or a fresh-air note…! The line does appear to be selling well there.
“Blonde” or “Light Woods” is the code word for “cedar” now. It’s in everything, and some of them smell like cheap pencils or a used hamster cage. Just got an order with samples from Luckyscent and am horrified–everyone of the samples reeks of cedar. I may have to sit out the next wave of scents, including this one.
Oh, no! I love some cedar notes… like those in Poussiere de Rose… but this new wave of cedar must be something different.
I’m not a cedar fan. It turns sour and pungent on me, and it amps up really loud on me. Same with musk. Right now, there aren’t that many niche fragrances I can wear. Cedar is the new pink pepper.
If it smells like pencils or hamster cages , that suggests they are using Virginia cedar, which is actually a juniper, rather than the true cedars (Atlas cedar or Himalayan cedar) which are more traditional in fine perfumery, and which have a much finer aroma.
1. The marketing for Boyfriend is one of the most nonsensical pieces of drivel I’ve read for a long time.
2. Kate Walsh looks like a hooker in the Billionaire Boyfriend visual. Which is I suppose befitting considering all the men she’s chalked up on the bottle.
Er… oh dear! lol.
I agree with Jolie, “I think she started off with a kind of darling concept…”
I thought the concept was unique and cute. It started off well, maybe Walsh should have quit while she was ahead. Or moved onto a different concept for the next perfume.
I have the 10ml roller-ball of the first Boyfriend, (no names!) and it’s a fantastic scent, not something I could wear daily but it’s great wear once in a while. Yesterday, in fact. It lasts a loooong time on me.
I am not rushing to Sephora to try Billionaire, I’ll get there when I get there. The “let him spoil you” concept is kind of off-putting, and pushing the luxurious and opulent aspects of an item or idea is like trying too hard, like showing off, which is a turn off. Plus the bottle looks tacky. Before I was married few of my boyfriends had money (or jobs) so I don’t know about being spoiled like that, lol.
When I want to spoil myself , I go to Barney’s and buy a Lutens 😛
Boyfriend does last a nice long time on the skin! and it feels very autumn-winter to me.
I like your self-spoiling plan. I’m with you on that one. 😉
Well, lessee… The CEO’s name is on the bottle. The Sweet but Wimpy Boyfriend’s name is not. The Smothery HS Boyfriend’s name is not. The Boyfriend That Got Away, his name isn’t on the bottle either! ( And I’d definitely put in a bid for Foot Massage Boyfriend, if that scent becomes available.)
I’ve heard good things about Boyfriend, from bloggers who made fun of the concept but liked the smell. I didn’t think the idea behind the fragrance was all that annoying – I mean, who hasn’t practically swooned over the way their clothes smelled after a nice long embrace? A plum-amber sounds really pleasant, as well, but the patchouli has held patchophobic me back from trying it.
I don’t even want to discuss Billionnaire Boyfriend. That’s just stoopid. Plus indolic jasmine = a big fat world of NO.
I see a few of my male *frends’* names on the bottle… and the name “Sebastian” keeps catching my eye, because it makes me think of a boy I had a crush on in junior high, the character in “Brideshead Revisited,” and the band Belle & Sebastian, all at once. 😉
I think she should make a guys’ perfume and call it ‘girlfriend’.
Comment of the week. 🙂
Good one. 🙂
Like mals, I actually found the concept for the first fragrance was fine… even sweet. I didn’t like the fragrance itself very much for whatever reason. Now, Billionaire Boyfriend sounds like something I might like, but I do find the concept for that one a bit off-putting… Even if she had made the intended humor very clear, I might have found it easier to accept…
Like mals, I actually found the concept for the first fragrance was fine… even sweet. I didn’t like the fragrance itself very much for whatever reason. Now, Billionaire Boyfriend sounds like something I might like, but I do find the concept for that one a bit off-putting… Even if she had made the intended humor very clear, I might have found it easier to accept…
Well, you can probably find a jasmine/citrus/musk fragrance elsewhere, in niche-land…! I’m just glad it wasn’t a stunning violet-rose fragrance, or I might have suffered some internal conflict about acquiring a bottle. 😉
Humph. Well, after chuckling my way through all these comments I agree with both Mals and you, Jessica. A sweet concept badly handled.
But I also think it’s kind of brilliant positioning. It gives young women raised on hello-kitty-pink-glitter who are terrified of appearing/smelling masculine permission to sneak in the side door to a slightly different olfactory sphere. And I have a lot of faith in people’s ability to forget the original intentions of ad campaigns/novels/movies etc. and remake them to their own purpose. It’s not such a big step, I would guess, from wearing Boyfriend to borrowing the actual boyfriend’s cologne or just cruising the men’s aisle (and I bet some women who do so already were attracted to Boyfriend on that basis alone).
I concur with the hope that Boyfriend *will* encourage women to venture over to the men’s wall at Sephora or the men’s counter at their local department store… or to some gender-neutral niche lines that don’t have pink bottles! 😉
I enjoy Boyfriend – I have the rollerball, which is oil-based and slightly smoother. I’m looking forward to trying Billionaire.
What I like about Kate Walsh is that she developed her own company to make these, and was instrumental in the creation of the scent. It’s not like a celebuscent that the celeb just puts their name on and talks about on the press tour.
Oh, and I could totally go for Bohemian Boyfriend!
I’m willing to believe that she was more involved than many/most celebs… which may be why the fragrances are also more interesting that many/most celeb scents.
I’m willing to believe that she was more involved than many/most celebs… which may be why the fragrances are also more interesting than many/most celeb scents.
I received a purse spray of Boyfriend in the post on Valentine’s Day and thought: “How apt!” A fellow fumehead had kindly custom bought it for me in the States. On 16th Feb I dropped it on the kitchen floor and it is now a thoroughly smashed ex-Boyfriend. Too bad…but I thought it was a bit different all right and liked the vanilla base in particular. I don’t feel particularly drawn to trying the Billionaire variety – I feel sure I would let that one slip through my fingers too…
Thoroughly-Smashed Ex-Boyfriend… hah! Many of us have one of those, I’m guessing. 😉
I have a friend I’m certain would go for these perfumes based on the name/concept alone.
I think Kate Walsh was profiled on a 20/20 Dateline type program. I didn’t see it but the preview was about the success of her “perfume empire” after leaving whatever tv show she was on.
I have to say that I find wearing a man’s shirt with his scent lingering on it can be very sexy. I had a boyfriend who loved me in his white shirt more than any sexy lingerie. TMI, I know, but I like the idea. I’ve never actually smelled the perfume. Billionaire Boyfriend bugs me to no end.
Re: Bond Girls – if I looked like Halle Berry or Ursula Andress before her walking out of the water with a bikini and a knife strapped to my thigh that’s all I would ever wear. 😉
I would ask what TV show, but since I don’t know, it obviously wasn’t one I watched. But seriously? Two poorly marketed items, one a flanker of the other makes “a perfume empire?”
If she actually used that expression, yeah… she has a long way to go!
The teaser said fragrance empire and I think it was along the lines of leaving tv and/or making more money with the perfumes. I think she was on Grey’s Anatomy for a few seasons.
Eh. Explains adequately why I had no idea who she was. If I’m going to watch a hospital drama, I’d like the drama to come from medical/hospital issues, not endless rounds of who’s screwing who under the breakroom coffee table.
In the interest of science, let’s take a poll: what fragrance did your first boyfriend or girlfriend, whatever you want – your frist “love”/significant other wear? Mine was in 8th grade, 1989, Canoe. Can you Canoe? I honestly have no idea what it smells like.
AnnS, I’ll play! My first love didn’t wear any actual fragrance, but he had just acquired a new leather jacket when I knew him, and for years afterwards, the scent of a new leather jacket (e.g., if I passed someone wearing one on the street) would make me go weak in the knees for an instant.
😉 Associated smells are good too!
Polo. The original green one. My sons wear it sometimes and I’m right back there, a freshman in HS with my first love….
I was lucky if my first love had showered in the past couple of days. He was a very sweet guy with much to recommend him as a HS boyfriend for a disaffected bookish type; consistent attention to personal grooming, however, was a work in progress.
He very seldom wore anything, but when he did, it was Drakkar Noir.
I have an old bottle and dab it on him (or me!) once in awhile, and the knees still go wobbly! 🙂
I seem to remember thinking that Walsh was being slyly tongue-in-cheek with the whole Boyfriend concept, as she’d just been through a slightly tabloid-y divorce when I heard about the perfume. She seems like a celeb with a sense of humor. Interesting though, that with this (possibly schmaltzy) concept, she’s able to explicitly do a riskier, more masculine scent, where I don’t think Sarah Jessica Parker has been able to do that with Coty, especially since Covet (which I really like!) wasn’t popular. What’s up with that?