What Are the 10 Most Famous Celebrity Perfumes?
What Are the 10 Most Famous Celebrity Perfumes?
It’s the 100th anniversary of the launch of iconic perfume Chanel No 5. and to celebrate we’re looking at some of the other fragrances associated with celebrities. So what are the ten most famous celebrity perfumes?
Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel (1883-1971), already an acclaimed couturier, creator of the ‘little black dress’, when she launched her perfume No. 5 in 1921. In a post-war era, the perfume, which had over 80 ingredients, expressed a new sense of modernity and a break away from the single-scent perfumes of old. It was also meant to celebrate female independence – this was a perfume a woman would buy for herself rather than receiving it as a gift.
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The iconic design of her perfume’s bottle was angular, distinctive, and minimalist, the black sans serif lettering emblazoned on a white label echoing the lines of the bottle. The design was even included in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1959, and was immortalised in a print by Andy Warhol.
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The perfume received priceless publicity when Marilyn Monroe, in interview in the magazine Marie-Claire in 1960, famously said that she wore nothing in bed except “five drops of Chanel No. 5”.
The fragrance, developed with Russian perfumier Ernest Beaux, is still the best-selling perfume in the world today. Coco Chanel once described her Chanel No. 5 as the “scent of a northern morning by a lake.”
But what other celebrities are associated with perfumes, and how are these ‘celebuscents’ regarded by the experts?
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ELIZABETH TAYLOR – WHITE DIAMONDS
Actress Elizabeth Taylor was one of the first celebrities to endorse a perfume. White Diamonds is a sheer floral fragrance, an example of top classics. The harmony of flowers and aldehydes in the top notes, together with the sharp base, give this fragrance an elegant vintage nuance. The top notes are aldehydes, bergamot, neroli, orange and lily. The heart unites the classical trio, violet, rose and jasmine, accompanied by ylang-ylang, Egyptian tuberose and narcissus. The base is composed of oak moss, patchouli, musk, sandalwood and amber.
The perfume was created by Carlos Benaim in 1991, and was inducted into the Fragrance Foundation’s Hall of Fame in 2009.
The success of Elizabeth Taylor’s fragrance, which brought in $61m in 2010, motivated many other celebrities to launch their own perfumes, and it remains a best-seller – but it’s sometimes regarded as a ‘granny scent’ by younger buyers looking for something more subtle.
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KYLIE MINOGUE – DARLING
The Aussie popstrel endorsed this fragrance from Coty, launched in 2006 and designed by Thierry Wasser from Firmenich. Wasser wanted to create a perfume which reflects the Australian singer: the key notes are Australian sandalwood, star fruit, freesia and Boronia flower.
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In 2007 a successor to the perfume, Sweet Darling came into the markets. Having the base as its predecessor, cotton candy, patchouli and vanilla were added into the original substance. Sweet Darling was a limited edition, available only in 2007. In 2008 the third version of Darling, Sexy Darling, was released. It was created by Sophie Labbe and it contains blood orange, pear, pink pepper, red rose, belle de nuit, jasmine, sandalwood and musk. In 2011 a new incarnation of Darling was released as Dazzling Darling.
Kylie Minogue released a promotional Darling EP with two album tracks and three live tracks at the launch of the fragrance at Harrods in 2007.
