Colin McGrane-
First of all, let me start by saying how much I empathise with today’s celebrities. The recession is in full swing, property values are plummeting and we’re all feeling the pinch – even the glitterati. Yes, although it may be hard to believe, the bills do indeed come through Beyonce’s Swarovski crystal encrusted letterbox just like everybody else’s. And with the music industry no longer as lucrative as it once was, todays celebutantes have had to branch out into wild new places in an effort to put organic, hand-reared fillet mignon on the table.
When faced with such a prospect, the likes of Rihanna and Britney Spears could go down any number of the usual routes in order to bring in a little extra dosh – they could go consider getting another job, reducing their day to day expenditure or maybe even downsizing. Or they could go down the road that we have all contemplated taking from time to time – releasing a poorly produced and excessively marketed celebrity perfume on the back of an international cosmetics giant. The plan is brilliant, and in order to think of it, todays celebrity masterminds must be commercial geniuses – or so I thought.
Cher's 'Uninhibited'
Although there has been a recent increase in the amount of celebrity backed perfume brands appearing on the shelves, it seems that this is no new practice. Way back in 1987, the ever youthful and always natural beauty Cher decided to hop onto the smelly water wagon by releasing her very own fragrance entitled – ‘Uninhibited’. However despite the use of a glossy advertising campaign and brand packaging so tacky that it would make Jordan look demure, the public failed to respond to the perfume and it vanished from airport duty free shops after only two years.
Since then however, celebrities have been far more successful in their attempts to bottle their own affluent and egotistic aromas. Take for example Jennifer Lopez. Lopez’s first fragrance ‘Glow’ was released in 2002, and since then she has spawned a hugely successful perfume line, being sold in countries all over the world. Similar success stories are evidenced by Aussie songstress Kylie Minogue, who has herself released a catalogue of scents, each one proving wildly popular.
"Purr...looks more like a paperweight from an Egyptian themed Las Vegas casino than a perfume
The most recent celebrity to force her scent on the world (boy does that sound disgusting) is none other than Ms Katy Perry. Earlier this month, Perry unveiled her debut fragrance entitled ‘Purr’. The scent is cleverly contained inside a cat shaped bottle fashioned out of hideous iridescent purple glass and looks more like a paperweight from an Egyptian themed Las Vegas casino than a perfume. But putting the garish packaging aside, I’m slightly curious to find out exactly what ‘Purr’ smells like? According to Perry, the fragrance is inspired both by her personality and by her love of cats. With this is mind, I’m rather expecting the smell to resemble that of a stray tabby cat who has been rolled in candy floss and force fed straight vodka through a funnel. Sadly, according to the perfumes scent notes, this is not the case.
According to reviews, ‘Purr’ is a mouth-watering blend of peach, apple, coconut and rose. Definitely a plus if you are one of those people who likes to bathe yourself in a vat of Del Monte tinned fruit salad before you hit the town.
But don’t get me wrong, I am a BIG Katy Perry fan, and even as I type this, the soothing notes of ‘California Girls’ are emanating from my stereo. While Perry is in no way forcing her fans to rush out and buy her perfume (although I’ve totally pre-ordered a bottle online), it is undeniably difficult to appreciate Perry’s ‘Purr’ as a legitimate product when we have seen so many celebrity endorsements in the past.
Nevertheless, Katy Perry’s perfume has thus far been receiving generally positive reviews, and I suppose that it is understandable that someone like Perry who is young, beautiful and talented can stand to gain from releasing a perfume targeted at her mainly young fans.
However there are some celebrity perfume endorsements which I simply cannot forgive, case in point: Ms Celine Dion. In my eyes, Celine can do no wrong. Along with the maple syrup that I put on my porridge and Ryan Reynolds, she is Canada’s greatest export. But when Dion released her own line of fragrances in conjunction with Elizabeth Arden, I couldn’t help but feel a little let down. While I’m sure that ‘scent of Celine’ (It’s not actually called that, although it would be kind of cool if it was) is as amiable a scent as any, it is slightly depressing to see someone so talented and so established going down the road of endless endorsements. I understand that Celine needs to make ends meet, but I cannot shake the feeling that the world of endorsements is becoming increasingly intermingled with the world of celebrity. In the end, you can’t blame Dion, or any celebrity for that matter, for using their notoriety to sell merchandise (after all, they are essentially business people) but when I can walk into Arnotts and pay €40 to smell like Rihanna, then things have gone too far. Although judging by Rihanna’s claim that she loves the smell of ‘sex in the air’, I’m none too keen to sample her soon to be released fragrance.
