Late again — at least I am consistent — here is my review of the third and newest fragrance from actor Richard E. Grant, Jack Piccadilly ’69 (for background, do see my reviews of Jack by Jack Perfumes and Jack Covent Garden). It was inspired by the actor’s first visit to Piccadilly Circus in London, and encompasses a number of associated smell memories: the patchouli oil worn by the hippies, the petrol, the Earl Grey tea at Fortnum & Mason, the leather banquettes at his father’s club (also in the notes: ginger, cypriol, green leaves, amber).

Perhaps that sounds, at least potentially, like a hot mess…

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A couple weeks ago, I reviewed the debut fragrance from actor Richard E. Grant, Jack by Jack Perfumes. I thought I’d review his other two fragrances the following week, but the best laid plans and all that. Here, a bit late, is a brief review of the second fragrance, Covent Garden, and I’ll try to get to the third next week. Covent Garden was…

… inspired by [Grant’s] early days in the business, waiting tables in Covent Garden – once a prominent fruit, vegetable and flower market and the centre of the theatre district. Taking cues from his early environment, the professional tradition of actors receiving fresh fruit and flowers on opening nights and the use of ginger to nurse their voices, Richard E. Grant created his second eau de parfum…

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I don’t review as many celebrity perfumes here as I used to, mostly because there aren’t so many of them anymore. For years, articles appeared regularly in the beauty press talking about how celebrity perfumes were over, but it took a good long while for the reality to catch up to the warnings. Even now, they’re not exactly over, but big name celebrities can no longer count on a deal with Coty, much less counter space at Macy’s, and names that used to inspire a rush to the local mall — Britney Spears, Mariah Carey, etc. — now mostly debut in discount box stores like Kohls.¹

At any rate, the backlash, if that’s what it is, against celebrity perfumes doesn’t much interest me. I’ve always said celebrity perfumes weren’t much different, either in quality or in terms of how they are made, from designer perfumes. Some designers have input into the licensed products issued under their names, some don’t, and it’s about the same with celebrities — if you wanted to make an educated guess about whether or not you could be bothered to try an upcoming perfume, knowing the company who held the license (and the target market) might tell you as much as the brand name. The truth is, there are fewer celebrity perfumes these days not because fewer people are interested in celebrities (witness the mad frenzy over Angelina Jolie’s deal to front the upcoming Mon Guerlain) but because right now, mid-priced mainstream fragrances are not where the money is…

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