Friday, July 05, 2019

Blind Items Revealed #13

January 18, 2019

How come some celebrity brands of perfume succeeded beyond anyone's wildest dreams despite not being sold by a big celebrity, while others crashed and burned despite the backing of an A+ lister? Well, believe it or not, it all comes down to the formula. If it smells like crap, no matter who is selling it, no one will be buying it. The thing is though, that celebrity and his team thinks it smells just fine. They don't know about the little extra that manufacturers know about that drives big sales and not just a pleasant smell.

So, who gets the magic formulas? Well, when the celebrity perfume craze came along there was a rush to get the best formulas. All of a sudden you had these lab geeks being wined and dined by celebrities to let them have the best. Some were just outright purchased with astonishing sums of money. Hello Beyonce. Others though, were acquired the old fashioned way. Perfume casting couch? You bet.

So, who are the biggest?

A list everything in her mind spent a weekend with the decision maker and she got a massively big hit.

Permanent A+ list "singer" was happy to spend a night with a decision maker and she got tens of millions of dollars in return.

This former A list singer/international box office star/cheater on her first husband hooked up with the guy in charge a couple of times and also had a huge hit.

Someone you might not expect. This permanent A list solo singer and in a group.

As a bonus, this former back in the day A+ list reality star hit the casting couch, but apparently didn't give it her best effort so the decision maker didn't give a very good product.

A list everything in her mind: Jennifer Lopez
Permanent A+ list "singer": Britney Spears
Former A list singer/international box office star/cheater on her first husband: Jessica Simpson
Permanent A list solo singer and in a group: Gwen Stefani
Former back in the day A+ list reality star: Paris Hilton

22 comments:

Thursday November said...

Celeb perfumes sell big in other countries, especially Eastern Europe & South America. Those countries are also big into American reality tv & want to be Car-trash-ians.

Elvis Belushi said...

Ha! Paris Hilton got a bad one!

Thursday November said...

Well, Paris is known for just laying there, so not sure what either was really expecting to happen.

Thia said...

Have you smelled Paris' perfume? It smells like floral grandpa feet.

Flashy Vic said...

The term 'A list singer' is being thrown about this blind with all the abandon and accuracy of cakes at a chimp's tea party

Aquagirl said...

This is a BULLSHIT blind. I said it initially and I’ll say it again. This is NOT how the industry works. At all. All fragrances are developed by fragrance houses (Ester Lauder, Coty, Victoria’s Secret, etc.,don’t develop shit.) Fragrance houses are given briefs for a new fragrance whether it’s a celeb fragrance or not. Various submissions are developed & revised, and the company who is distributing the product chooses the ‘winner’. The only thing that drives the quality of a fragrance is cost. Obviously, a designer fragrance will surpass a celeb fragrance that is sold in outlets such as Kohl’s. Nobody, I repeat nobody, has ever couched for a fragrance.

Aquagirl said...

*Estee Lauder

no said...

My wife absolutely loved Gwen Stefani's perfumes. The packaging is so on point for her aesthetic, too. I couldn't tell from Enty's write up if it meant she did the casting couch or not since there weren't any details but at least she got a decent product out of it.

JT0130 said...

Yeah, I call BS on this blind too. Any company or fragrance house that willing sabotages a product or goes half ass with the development because the celebrity wouldn't put out would no doubt be out of business. Couldnt the celebs easily get the feds involved on something like this.

Sook said...

Well, this clearly indicates why Old Spice has been such an enormous hit for decades. Wait... what?

Troy Dyer said...

I had Beyonce instead of Gwen for my guess and this is probably the only instance of the two being interchangeable

Unknown said...

Can't you hire IN-HOUSE or your own chemists on your own dime to concoct something? Then if you have good fragrance you can hire the right PR, ad campaigns, etc. I don't get who the 'decision-makers' are? Seems like a J Lo or Brit or whomever if they have enough initiative could hire folks to come up with a great product and then others who wish to market a great product and make money without all this screwing for a perfume line.

Krissie said...

Britney's fragrance is pretty good. I wonder who Justin Bieber slept with to get all three of his scents.

Aquagirl said...

@Unknown, @Krissie: Nobody sleeps with anybody. And you don’t just ‘concoct’ something. Perfumists are a rare breed. Read my comment on the initial blind because I’m sick of repeating it. The ultimate decision maker is the company that is partnering with the celebrity—for example, Coty does a lot of the celeb fragrances, so they decide. Do you honestly think that celebs give a shit how their fragrances smell? As long as the packaging, marketing campaign, etc., are ‘on brand’ —that’s how it goes. They’re doing it for $! They are trained to say: ‘the top note is x, the middle note is y, the bottom note is z’.

lutefisk said...

I have gotten paid to test fragrances. This is not how the fragrance industry works. There are very specific results they are looking for, all aimed to produce a successful fragrance. Also, there are specific perfumers that are used, based on their previous successful creations. They aren't going to risk their stature in the fragrance community to sleep with some herpes-riddled celebrity.

Truthseeker said...

Curious from Britney is one of my favorite scents. I believe it has been discontinued. Which sucks

VikingSong said...

I don't believe this for one second.

dtfan said...

Completely and utterly fake.

Huge brands spend large sums developing perfumes then approach celebrities to put their names to those perfumes (and maybe give them a tiny bit of input like asking "floral or woodsy?" "sultry or every day wear?" Which of these three samples do you prefer?"). It's a business agreement, no different from celebs agreeing to be the face of a lipstick.

The idea that celebs are just deciding to enter the perfume market all by themselves, and seeking out random lab geeks to help them, is pure fantasy.

lutefisk said...

Go to Fragrantica.com and look up each celebrity. You well see a long list under each name of the many perfumers that worked on their fragrances. It is not one person, but multiple, highly regarded people in the industry.

Samantha the 1st said...

I can't read this item without thinking of the film "Perfume." Very creepy movie.

At least they aren't out there sacrificing virgins, I guess.

Marsh666 said...

"Someone you might not expect." Oh, Gwen...

doood said...

hey why does my perfume smell like rubbing alcohol? and why are you rubbing it all over your junk? - bonus celeb

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