Celebrity Perfumes – Are they for me?

Regardless of how you feel about a celebrity and the Celebrity SCENTsation of celeb-inspired or celebrity-created perfumes, if you are a perfume connoisseur you love the rapid pace of new additions to your local perfume counters.  In years prior to the celebrity perfume trend, very few “new additions” of fragrances were released annually. Granted with the addition of the fashion design houses stepping into the fragrance arena, we have seen our fair share of newbie perfumes available.  But lets face it ladies, a new flanker version for the spring line or the holidays is all we could hope for.  The onslaught of brand-spanking-new perfumes has only been the fad over the last 8 years or so, and one can barely keep up with all the new celebrities throwing their hats into the ring!  I, for one, am loving it!

Let’s take a look at years gone by… Lancome introduced Tresor in the early 1990s and J’adore by Dior in the late 1990s.  I admit, they are fabulous fragrances, but perhaps their staying power (no pun intended) wouldn’t have lasted as long if more perfumes made their debuts each year.  In order words, if we had more than a handful of perfumes to choose from, each perfume would have fewer followers.  Think back to when the perfume counter was one small glass case at your local department store.  Nowadays there are 2 or more spectacular counters for men’s cologne and women’s perfume in their respective departments.  In the 1990s, when my SCENTsation was born, our biggest sellers for women were the new fashion house perfumes of Liz Claiborne and George Marciano’s Guess, (which faded from existence in a few short years…I still have a smidge left in a bottle stashed away like gold) and the men’s cologne selection, forget about it!

When the fashion houses started to create their own perfume lines, we saw the fragrance counter grow by leaps and bounds.  Now we’re talking!  Ladies like to change their shoes and handbags to match their mood, now we had fragrances available to add another touch to that personalized and ever-changing Stylista in all of us.  We are a new generation of consumers.  We don’t select one “signature” fragrance for life, or only swap scents when the seasons change.  No way!  We are individuals, and the lingering cloud of fragrance we leave in our wake needs to reflect our unique persona.

I remember clearly in the early 2000s when I spotted Jennifer Lopez’s Glow by JLO at the perfume counter of my local department store, I froze and thought to myself, “Hmm, what have we here?”  The scent was a too “young” for me, I thought, but it peaked my interest just the same.  I knew – knew – this was something special and I would have to keep an eye on this brand by JLO.  Sure enough, a few years later, the celebrity scent industry took flight.  When Britney Spears (who I have to admit I am too old to really “get”) came out with her second celebrity perfume, Fantasy, I was hooked.  Who cares about her, the fragrance is heavenly… and no, I’m not the only one who thinks so…there are 3 version of this popular perfume to date.  And , by the way, Jennifer’s 2005 Miami Glow by JLO is still one of my day-time faves! …it’s like the beach in a bottle.

Glow by JLO, Jennifer Lopez, Celebrity Perfumes

So what’s the point?  If I like the celebrity I’ll wear their fragrance, and if I’m not a fan, I can’t?  No.  Since celebs have been branding their own fragrances, perfume aficionados are reaping the benefit of having a wide range of new perfumes at their fingertips in an accelerated rate in comparison to years past.  I say, bring it on!

Learn more about Celebrity Perfumes at www.celebrityscentsation.com.