Name a Perfume after Me

I could almost buy into the idea that Elizabeth Taylor had a perfume created on her behalf, White Diamonds. Even though the ad probably shows Elizabeth some 20 years ago, she is a dame, and she was once a bigger than life movie star. Since I finally got over her breaking up somebody else's marriage, I can appreciate the work she did to raise money for AIDS--before this cause was generally accepted.

Elizabeth's ad is pure class. She says, "These have always brought me luck." She does not have to try too hard to be appealing.

Would I buy her perfume? No. Why would I want to smell like Elizabeth, when I'm my own person?

Why does anyone want to wear a perfume that is developed (or simply named after) a celebrity? Better yet, what kind of person thinks they are beautiful and sexy enough to put their name on a perfume? I can imagine someone thinking, "I'm so hot that I can influence how others want to smell, because everybody should want to be like me."

Most of these ads are pretty funny. Britney Spears--the first time I have mentioned her name on this blog--advertises several perfumes: Curious, Believe, and Fantasy. Britney has pretty much revealed most of herself in front of the camera. I am not "curious." She has destroyed all "fantasy" of her image. And it would seem that she "believes" in very little these days, especially herself.



Who gets to have a perfume? Is anyone buying Britney's perfume? Do young kids still want to be like her? Do they want to smell like her?

Mariah Carey likes to sing in her ad and float on the water. Her perfume is called simply "M," because we should all know who "M" is. I'm glad the original photo in the water got thrown out. It looked like Mariah's back was overly arched to make her butt look bigger. My daughter-in-law says that I was looking at the curve of Mariah's hip. Okay, she was contorted or twisted (in the photo below). Now we only see her upper body and head on TV.



Gwen Stefani, a truly original performer, also likes the water, only she rises out of it like a chiseled goddess or mermaid. There is something compelling about Gwen, who has demonstrated good taste and individuality since she gained fame in No Doubt. I think I liked her better when she was aspiring to be famous, but that's just me (or I). Her perfume is called "L" by L.A.M.B. I could tolerate Gwen's perfume ad if she didn't whisper, "I want you all over me."



I know that Diddy (Puffy, Sean Combs, P.) has his scent, and so does Usher. By the way, I love Usher. These men are both included in the Macy's ad with Martha Stewart telling Jessica Simpson to plug in the tree lights ("My bad"). Good grief. Kinda cute except for that last part.

The funniest ad to me is Antonio Banderas. I know that most women really do find him sexy. To me, he's a funny little man, who believes all the silly hype about himself. Okay, maybe he doesn't believe the hype, but he looks like he does in the ad for Spirit Eau de Toilette for men.

Honey, please get some of this toilette water so you can be as romantic as this little Latin hunkola.



Antonio has a whole list of perfumes, including Diavolo and Mediteraneo for women. Who makes up these phony names? I guess that Antonio oozes so much sex appeal that he knows how both sexes should smell. Has anyone noticed that when Antonio is giving his "sexy" look, he puts his head down and looks up, so you can see the whites of his eyes?

Who is buying these perfumes? The ads seem so silly. I challenge you to look at these ads and picture yourself in Mariah's or Antonio's place. Would you have the nerve to pretend to make love to everyone in television land? Could you claim to be an expert in sex and romance? They sure seem full of themselves.

I'm guessing that these perfume/cosmetic companies contact celebrities and invite them to lend their names. In Mariah's case, she probably came up with the idea herself. In Britney's case, her mother probably got 15 percent for selling her daughter's name.

I would guess that these celebs are somewhat involved in the creation of these scents. What does this mean? A chemist puts together some flowers and has the celebrity pick a favorite. And customers run out and buy these scents to mimic these celebs.

The two ads I enjoy with actresses are Tresor with Kate Winslett and J'adore with Charlize Theron. One is beautiful; the other is a temptress. They are not hawking their own products; they are not playing themselves. I saw the Dior (J'adore) ad a few times before I recognized Charlize.

My favorite (NOT) is Live Jennifer Lopez Perfume by J.Lo. Do you kind of see where I'm going with this?