8 March 2007
A couple of weeks ago, my wife Stacey and I went on a whirlwind adventure in San Francisco’s Union Square, the hub of high fashion and shopping in the city. Our goal was to smell as many celebrity scents as we could get our noses under and then critique these scents as if we were Simon Cowell on a bad day. We smelled 8 scents total, and for four posts I will feature two scents in a battle of sights and smells. Stacey and I judged the perfumes on three key elements: Packaging, Brand Novelty, and Scent. So, let the games commence:
For our competitors, I give you The Smell of Wild Mares™: Britney Spears’ In Control Curious Versus Paris Hilton’s Heiress.
We began the showdown at Macy’s where probably the most comprehensive scents were found. Every one of the counter people were more than accommodating to our whim, and I thank them for this. Even though Macy’s must have one of the largest and most comprehensive perfume counters in the city we managed to find Paris’ perfume quite easily.
Probably because the package holding her Heiress perfume (available for $37) is expertly coupled by a life-sized likeness of Paris’ Chihuahua Tinkerbell (which incidentally has her own book available at Amazon). After inspecting the overwhelming packaging, we took to nose the scent desired by so many teen-aged boys and found the top notes of her scent to be a comforting baby powder mixed suspiciously with cough syrup. Stacey and I both assumed the cough syrup might be a subconscious invitation. Overall, the scent says “take me”, possibly in a slight slur.
Unfortunately, Macy’s did not have Paris’ counterpart Britney Spears available. Thank God for Sephora, that oh-so-chic emporium of everything applied to the body. Sephora honestly has some of the most high quality brands available. They also carry Britney. And so we smelled. I should start by saying that the presentation is quite beautiful. The bottle is black faceted glass with a corded pink atomizer bringing back memories of a New York zig-zaggy art deco building.
Unfortunately, the Britney scent, as you may guess by Stacey’s expression, didn’t hold up as well as the packaging. The smells were abound with sweetness resembling bubble gum, and our overall impression was “take me…in fourth period gym class”. It’s a good scent for young sluts was another phrase that crossed our lips. So the final breakdown of the flagship Celebrity Smell-Off went like this on a scale of 1 to 10 (10 being the best):
Britney’s In Control Curious:
Packaging: 9
Brand Novelty: 9 (The name makes it even more desireable after the recent out-of control antics)
Scent: 2
Paris’ Heiress:
Packaging: 10 (The dog puts the desirability factor at super-high)
Brand Novelty: 6 (Haven’t seen her much in the news lately. Maybe it’s time for a rehab visit to fatten her coffers)
Scent: 6 (Didn’t smell like Sweet-N-Low, but still not incredibly appealing)
Paris Wins! Paris Wins!
Categories: Brand Crack
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Comments:
March 8th, 2007 at 9:40 am
I like Paris Hilton’s Heiress more too.
March 8th, 2007 at 11:02 am
[…] Celebrity Smell-Off One: Britney Spears Versus Paris Hilton - Design Crack […]
March 8th, 2007 at 11:57 am
NO NO NO! BRITNEYS IS BY FAR THE GREATER SMELL! I HAVE IT AND AM NOT A TEENAGER NOR SLUT AND ITS LOVELY!!! THATS ALL!
March 8th, 2007 at 4:25 pm
Maybe teenage slut is a bit harsh, but it definitely has overtones of bubblegum, there is no doubt. At least that’s what my wife and I smelled. I’m going to throw this out: are you a Hillary Duff fan? If so, you may consider her perfume because it was the best of the lot. By the way, is it a bad thing to smell like teenage slut? After all, the entertainment news industry relies on a continuous stream of teenage sluts. As it turns out, teenage sluts may be responsible for tens of thousands of jobs in the economy. I would revel in this.
March 8th, 2007 at 6:41 pm
I am not surprised that two obviously old hags would boldly sterotype people by calling them teenage sluts. Maybe you should involve a little more research in your noses before you publish such opinions. By the looks of you , looks like your just pissed because when you wore the scent to a club, it still didn’t help you get laid.
March 9th, 2007 at 1:58 am
brandy may be right. i assumed either scent would have gotten me laid, at the club. and it didn’t. hmmm
March 9th, 2007 at 4:00 pm
I may be a hag, but I’m a rich hag because of comments like yours. Thank you. Please keep them coming.
March 10th, 2007 at 9:10 pm
I don’t really get the whole deal with celebrity perfume…I mean I understand wanting to look like Paris et al but “smell” like her? Why? Surely it would be a mix of stale wine, cigarette smoke and salad???
love the blog by the way - made me laugh out loud.
Danni.
March 11th, 2007 at 5:03 am
[…] Heeee. Next time I’m at Sephora, I’ll definately have to give some of those a whiff. […]
March 13th, 2007 at 10:54 pm
Your poor noses. You guys should have smelt the original Curious instead.
If you want to do this again you should do Sarah Jessica Parker’s “Lovely” vs Jennifer Lopez’s “Glow After Dark” next!
April 5th, 2007 at 2:13 pm
[…] A lot of my friends have told me that they have loved my blog, however I rarely get comments on the blog unless I write something that’s not flattering. Take the Celebrity Smell Off, for instance. I referred to Britney’s perfume as being perfect for teenage slut. That got some comments. I also wrote an unfavorable post about the Vertu phone. Again, several comments. People only want to engage you if your talkin’ smack, I swear. I’ve got the data to prove it. […]
October 15th, 2007 at 8:15 pm
I did a post on the TOP 10 Celebrity Fragrances of 2007 you should check it out here.
http://www.celebrityroyale.com/2007/10/09/top-10-celebrity-fragrances-celebrity-news-that-doesnt-stink/
Great post by the way. I love this blog!
November 19th, 2007 at 3:42 pm
I think it’s only a matter of time before Britney runs over a photographer and kills ‘em. What happened to that sweet old Britney we used to know and love?