Celebrity perfumes: A thread

There's a lot of juice, both good and bad, being pumped and marketed in the names of various celebrities, now more than ever. I have already talked about my love for all things Rihanna and my obsession with "Rogue", and now I have my eyes on Beyoncé's "Rise" while I wait for my first Elizabeth Taylor scent ("Passion") to be shipped.

What are you favourites, and would you recommend any? Why? Let's talk about the good ones, now, we can bash the bad stuff in other threads

"Covet" from Sarah Jessica Parker has got some good reviews.

"Lovely" by SJP is the quintessential job interview perfume. It's the pinnacle of a clean, generic musk scent. I can't think it could offend anyone if it tried. Boring, sure... but what it does, it does well.

"Truth or Dare Naked" is a rich, mature gourmand. Not sure why it has so many 0-20 votes though. While everyone is entitled to an opinion, in cases like the above it does make me wonder if some people login just to slate a brand they don't like.

Also, "Instinct" by D&V Beckham is a great fragrance for the price. For $10 you just can't go wrong.

I liked Covet by SJP for a while. It was an unusual perfume that I liked to sniff. I fell out of love with it after my boyfriend said it smells like a grassy a$$.

Nowadays, I like Hidden Fantasy because it smells like orange cake or wassail, so I wore it during the winter holidays.

I have been reaching for Katy Perry's Meow often this weekend. I have taken a liking to vanilla and pear this winter. As boring as some people find the two notes, I find them pleasant.

Taylor Swift's Taylor is a soft and sweet (but not too sweet) apricot and sandalwood scent.

JLo's Live Luxe is a fresh variety of melons, peach, and pear. The bottle is also very beautiful.

Even though I like all of these, I have grown bored of them rather quickly with the exception of Hidden Fantasy and Meow. I am not sure why.

Sometimes I feel like a brand has become a celebrity status itself, like Juicy Couture, Guess, Thierry Mugler, etc. Am I strange for thinking this?

Both "Roberto Cavalli" and "Truth Or Dare Naked" are pretty wonderful additions to my collection. They're very similar, albeit have their slight differences. Both are strong on the benzoin for me and last for hours. I think they're very unique for today's offerings. Naked is so sensual with its woody and musky tones, it offers a thick heady scent from Madonna. Hers is sweeter, while I found Cavalli to be more dry and have more of a bite.
Everytime I wear "Halston" someone will compliment my perfume, but I'd wear it regardless. I adore it. It's the quintessential example to me of polar opposites in perfumery. It's sweet but not, warm but cold, mossy yet fresh.
Any of Elizabeth Taylor's perfumes offer a huge bang for the buck. They're pretty amazing fumes. I don't reach for them often, but when I do, they last for hours and hours and offer a delicious blend of scents. Out of hers, I'd say "Passion", "Rare Pearls" and "Diamonds and Rubies" are my favorites.

I love JLo's Miami Glow - sometimes I wear it in the winter when I wish it were summer. It's so uplifting to me.

My latest celeb acquisition is Denise Richards - heavy on the tropical white florals, it's a great vacation scent and reminds me of Hawaii. I don't have anything else like it in my wardrobe, so it's a keeper.

My old favorite is Malibu Nights by Pam Anderson. Some say it's a dupe of Coco Mademoiselle, it is a little I think too, but not completely. I really love the scent - it was my first introduction to champaca flower.

I have decided that I will be rotating my bottles in effort to slow down my buying frenzy. This week will be Celebrity Rotation. My lineup:

Liz Claiborne Spark
Queen Latifah Queen
Jessica Simpson Fancy Nights
Kat Von D Sinner
Jo Lo Still
Elizabeth Taylor Black Pearls
Mary J Blige My Life

I'm not sure what order I'll be wearing these but I'm going to try to stick to this plan.

I like "Truth or Dare" because I am a sucker for tuberose and this one is a well done offspring of Fracas, imo.
A patchouli I would like to check out is "Fancy Nights", because it received some very good reviews.

I also really like Madonna's "Truth or Dare". I love gardenia and tuberose. A couple of years ago Hilary Duff's "With Love" used to be my favourite. I still like it quite a bit because it's so easy to wear. I often feel like that with woody scents.

I second Truth or Dare and Fancy Nights. I don't like Halle or Lovely. Today I followed a woman's sillage (she looked friendly) and I commented on her perfume. She said it was 'Charlie Blue' and that it was an old bottle that she kept cool and dark. Good God, it was lovely on her!
We had a lovely interchange about perfumes, was great.

Well, this seems like the thread for me

I tested almost every popular celebrity brand existing (meaning real celebrities, not those wannabes - if I remember correctly one or two wannabes ).

There are good and bad ones in each.

Of course I love me some Mariah
Forever is my all-time favorite. Followed by M, That Chick, Ribbon and Honey. Those are really nice. Vision of Love was too, but I can't wear it that often.

Jessica Simpson's line (minus the Dessert Treats edible stuff) had good ones too. I have nothing bad to say about those, but Parlux seems to have terminated the contract. Personally I can't wear Fancy, but all others are recommandable.

Both Madonna's are good, although I hate Madonna

Hilary Duff's With Love is wonderful, but discontinued.

Taylor Swift's Taylor as it is close to Fancy Love.

Amanda Lepore is fantastic, but not affordable with $550

Ah, there are too much brands to go through all of them.

I'd stay away from Justin Bieber and Nicki Minaj - those latest additions to Elizabeth Arden are yuck. I don't like Rihanna's stuff at all. Too heavy and stinky or simply blunt. Beyoncé doesn't do it either. Lady Gaga - zero points.

I'm personally disappointed in Kylie Minouge's line - only the men's fragrance Inverse is nice. Shania Twain's weren't good either. Reese Witherspoon's Avon scents too unfortunately.

When it comes to companies Coty has hits and misses. Elizabeth Arden too. Others have few celebrity brands, but there is a nice scent here and there. Back off Proctor & Gamble made scents (Christina A., Naomi Campbell, Cindy Crawford etc.), they smell of laundry detergents.
And I'd stay away from those UK-made celebrity scents, they are by far the worst production wise. If there is a specific line I didn't mention - just ask. Maybe I can say something about it too

You can take a look at my collection and ask about a particular scent if you like.

Hi Franfran, I would love your take on Gwen Stefani's Lamb and Kate Moss's Vintage.

There's a review of Davd Beckahm's Instinct on Basenotes about being a perfume snob that cracks me up. Big hearty chuckle

Gwen Stefani's L.A.M.B. or simply L may be something for clean lovers only.
While a lot of people call it a stink bomb (wet lamb, musk, soap, animalic), I can confirm this, although it's not that terrible as you might think. To me it doesn't smell good, but not really like wet lamb It's a highly aquatic, clean/floral scent and this is something I don't really like. The pear note is too synthetic and watery sweet, plus the other watery/green ingredients or notes it should represent, violet leaf, water hyacinth and lily of the valley. And the musk that makes it smell like a lotus pond to me (like Nicki Minaj's Pink Friday). It's not horrible, but very specific. It gladly didn't last too long on me, but it's mediocre longevity-wise.

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I don't know Vintage by Kate Moss.

I must admit being a bit snobbish about celeb scents but in November last year I learnt not to generalize over this group of perfumes.
It was when I found "Erotique" by Dita von Teese.
Yes, it is a tacky name and definitely does not transport any sexiness to me BUT it is the better "Wonderwood" for me (the CdG version gave me terrible headaches). Sandalwood and some incense with a decent sillage and longevity. I was impressed.
A wearable cheapie that I adopted into my collection with great pleasure.

I have several celeb scents that I love.. love my sweets
"dazzle" by paris hilton - cherry vanilla champagne
"with love" by hilary duff
"covet pure bloom" by sarah jessica parker
"circus fantasy" by britney spears (but I think I'm the only one)
"purr" by katy perry

+1 madonna "truth or dare" but it doesnt last long on me

Here's some interesting reading for anyone who isn't aware of how a celebuscent comes to be.

scentbound.com/2013/01/20/the-making-of-a-cele brity-fragrance/

The crux of the matter is bolded here and explains why they're so popular:

The celebrity may have a varying degree of input in this process but it is really the marketing department that has the most say.
Generally speaking, the objective is not to create a masterpiece bursting with originality but to put out a popular product that would bring in sales.

Good article, Dulcemio. It puts it quite simply how a celebrity scent is put together and marketed. Thank you.
I know here in America we have the opportunity to find these scents at incredibly ridiculous low prices (especially when they're on sale or on clearance) at our discount stores. For myself, when I see a gift pack of one of these scents marked down to a few bucks, I've tested the scent and I enjoy it, I'll certainly buy it. Or, the fragrances that stores like Wal-Mart put out for holidays get marked down to 75% off, well, do the math. I've found some great deals on fragrances that I really do enjoy.
Some have really surprised me. Their quality is very good for the price. The longevity is very excellent, and they just are very appealing. I've received compliments on these. Some of them are good for layering. For the prices, they were decent buys.
So with that in mind, and going through my celebrity fragrances, these are the ones that I've managed to find that I found to be decent, I wear and enjoy.
"Covet"
"Wonderstruck"
"Halle"
"Halle Pure Orchid"
"Surprise"
"Unbreakable Bond/Unbreakable"
"Unbreakable Love"
"With Love"
"Nicole"
"Fancy Nights"
"Fancy"
"Fancy Love"
"Boyfriend"
"Diamonds and Emeralds"
"Diamonds and Rubies"
"Diamonds and Sapphires"
"White Diamonds"
"Sparkling White Diamonds"
"Passion"
I've tried others, but not liked them. And as you've requested, save trashing the bad for another thread.

Well, this is the same for designer labels and drug store scents as well I believe.
I don't think Joop, Armani or whoever is involved more than J.Lo and Gaga

It only matters that it smells good and we like it. I like "Fancy Nights" and I thought "Covet" was interesting, but not sweet enough for me.

Unlike a lot of designer frags of the past, where there was a famous perfumer behind the creation, I think the celeb scents are much more formulaic in their intent. I saw a piece on TV once showing a celebrity picking out notes as though picking toppings for their frozen yougurt, and then a professional team takes over to turn it into something sellable. They're not trying to reinvent the wheel, just tweek it a little.

Well, it probably depends on what is categorized a famous perfumeur because they do celebrity scents as well, so it's still the same to me. I don't think the "picking out"-phase is different and imo a lot of those don't reinvent the wheel as well.

Of course we like it since it's our personal taste/preference or not (when we dislike it)

Or maybe it depends on the term "designer scents", I'm not quite sure at the moment if the term is equally used in german and english, so maybe we could mean different things by labeling them this way

Yup, and it's not like designer scents aren't just as formulaic as their celebrity fragrance contemporaries. IMHO the classics of the past decades are not a useful comparison to contemporary celeb perfumes, or to any other perfume of a vastly different era and culture.

The one thing I most like about celebrity scents is that they are often adequate interpretations of the themes popular in their time, and often also cheaper and more widely available at discounters.

All true. And you just explained why some of the most ardent fans of vintage are also the most anti- celebrity scent. I used to be one of them, I must admit, as my taste started and stopped for many years with floral chypres like Chanel 19 and Eau de Calandre. Luckily, my horizons expanded into the sweet world of vanilla. I'm happier now.

Waiting to receive my first ones ever: Elizabeth Taylor: White Diamonds, Diamonds and Emeralds and Passion.
I was never attracted to "star"perfumes.