Fragrance sales have been down since 2006, the year in which celebrity-branded scents became full blown. Two news pieces over the past few weeks touch on what might happen to the fragrance industry: More of the celebrity trend and also an ad campaign targeted to get more of the public interested in wearing perfume or cologne. Although the recession has seen sales across all aspects of retail dip, fragrance sales have seen a sharp decrease, mainly because of its use as a luxury item and not a necessity like clothing. Nevertheless, possibilities for reviving the fragrance industry include more than waiting through the recession.

One option is an upcoming ad campaign by The Fragrance Foundation called “One Mighty Drop.” The website for One Mighty Drop is designed to make scents appeal to everyone, including features for designing you own perfume bottle to tips for wearing fragrances. One notable suggestion is waiting 10 minutes after spraying a fragrance. At this point, you’ll be able to smell all three parts to a scent, and you’ll be able to tell if you’ll enjoy wearing it or not. After all, some perfumes can even take up to 30 minutes for revealing the lowest layer.

Another option is choosing which celebrity will be branding the fragrance. While some celebrities with fragrances come and go, such as Hilary Duff or Ashanti, others, such as Beyonce, appear to have more staying power. Since her start in Destiny’s Child, Beyonce hasn’t really left the public eye, even when an album or single wasn’t entirely stellar. Her recent fragrance, Heat, has been selling fairly well and, according to the linked news item, the promotion for it at Macy’s Herald Square generated about $60,000 in one day, with customers purchasing $122 sets of Heat. Perhaps, in the near future, companies like Coty and Elizabeth Arden will be pickier about which fragrance they brand with a celebrity.

Celebrity fragrances have been around for years, although this past decade saw a significant surge in their creation and popularity. So, how well can a celebrity’s name sell a particular fragrance? A recent list compiled by Stylist shows the best-selling celebrity fragrances. The top fragrance, of course is White Diamonds by Elizabeth Taylor, a floral perfume introduced in 1991. Other celebrity fragrances, such as those by P. Diddy, Antonio Banderas, and Britney Spears, are all part of fragrance lines associated with the particular celebrity and have some longevity on the market. Aside from the celebrity’s popularity, some scents like White Diamonds are simple enough to stand out without the celebrity association.

The main issue we’ve seen with celebrity fragrances is that the scent is too convoluted. Many perfumes, for example, combine floral, fruit, and dessert scents together, and the resulting product can’t be defined clearly enough. Is it sweet floral or a flowery fruit scent? Men’s colognes often suffer from a similar issue. Although fewer celebrity colognes are on the market, some of these, be it Paris Hilton’s or David Beckham’s brand, can’t decide on what it wants to be. Combining leather or tobacco notes with wood, patchouli, or grass notes doesn’t always work successfully. Neither does combining any fragrance to the classic amber-spice-lavender framework for many cologne formulas.

But celebrity fragrances aren’t going anywhere. Anyone on the A-list seems to be coming out with their own fragrances in the present, including Beyonce, with Heat. The perfume combines some light floral and fruit notes with vanilla. Beyonce isn’t the only one, however, and, as the linked article mentions, Rihanna and Kanye West both plan to come out with their respective fragrances. This means that consumers might be seeing an umbrella-shaped perfume bottle with a rain and floral scent in stores later in 2010.

The formula for celebrity fragrances is this: Attach the name of a celebrity to a bland or overly sweet fragrance and the bottle will sell quickly for a short period of time. Not all celebrity fragrances can be Elizabeth Taylor’s White Diamonds, and most stay on the shelves for a few years and then disappear. But, although we mentioned that celebrity fragrance sales are down – and many won’t buy a perfume with a less-than-desirable celebrity name attached – fragrance companies still churn them out. Avon, for example, put out celebrity fragrances by Reese Witherspoon and Patrick Dempsey this past year, while 50 Cent, with an album that no one noticed, came out with his first fragrance.

The latest list of celebrity and non-celebrity fragrances can be read here.

With 50 Cent, when your album doesn’t do well, you create a fragrance to make up for the copies no one bought. While Before I Self Destruct has yet to even go gold, the fragrance released around the same time called Power has a combination of musk, spices, patchouli, and woods. Most men’s colognes focus on one of these fragrance types but, as we’ve seen with celebrity fragrances before, they attempt to smell like multiple types and don’t really go anywhere. While 50 Cent says this smells like “success,” the sales of the cologne have yet to live up to that notion.

Similarly, rapper Nelly has released a fragrance to accompany his Apple Bottoms clothing line. This scent, at least by the description, appears more focused as a women’s perfume. The main notes appear to be floral with some fruit hints. The good news is, while apple blossoms do appear in the mix, the perfume isn’t scented like apples, and the upper notes of citrus, peony, and rose and offset by sandalwood and musk.

Similarly, other B and C-list performers like Faith Hill, Jennifer Lopez, and Pamela Anderson have all released fragrances – debuts or new to their line – this past year.

Where do you look for designer knockoff handbags? Canal Street in New York’s Chinatown section has been the place to go for years. This week, however, the area experienced a crackdown, with the police confiscating counterfeit items like handbags and watches and shuttering businesses. Although Canal Street has this notoriety, knockoff goods can be found many other places, such as South Street in Philadelphia and the internet. With prices only a fraction of those sold at department stores, knockoff handbags almost sound like a deal. Appearances for such handbags are deceiving, however, and what appears to be a Chanel or Gucci handbag sold at $30 falls apart within a few days.

Some are luckier and swear by knockoff designer handbags. After all, they look like designer bags and, really, only the designers would be able to tell the difference. But finding a high-quality designer knockoff bag is far more likely in a department store. The fashion blog for About.com gives some hints to spot a fake handbag, but other telltale signs include examining the stitching, sewing, and name plate. If the name plate, for example, isn’t screwed on but, instead, appears glued, the bag is likely a knockoff. Similarly, if it looks poorly stitched from the inside or if the zipper gets jammed easily, the handbag isn’t authentic.

One option, as we’ve seen in the product selection for Best Handbag Wholesale, is to go the designer inspired route. The bags don’t claim to be by Coach, Chanel, or Gucci, but the patterns are based on the styles by these designers. At a distance, they even look like the real thing. Another option is to go on discounted designer websites. Often, products with damaged packaging or a slight scratch find their way onto such a website and are sold at less than full price, even at 70-percent less. Both Vision In Style and Kaufman Fragrance are such discount designer products websites.

The designer famous for its handbags and shoes is now adding scents to its line of products. Apparently, having a Jimmy Choo perfume has been in the works for over two years, but the fragrance is now set to appear by January 2010. The Jimmy Choo perfume is a women’s fragrance but, at this point, the scent hasn’t been revealed yet. Although considering the ostentatious nature of many of Jimmy Choo’s shoes and handbags, anything is possible, really. As the president behind Jimmy Choo wants to accessorize the whole woman, wouldn’t the perfume need to match the shoes and the handbag?

Jimmy Choo styles change with each season, and this past season, with studs on leather a popular theme, Jimmy Choo shoes and handbags have also received the stud treatment. But what sort of fragrance would match with this type of ensemble? Whether or not you consider studs to be western or rocker chic, a grass or an aqua fragrance definitely wouldn’t go with the rest of the accessories. Out of fruity, floral, and sweet (or dessert) smelling fragrances, the most likely would be a floral combination or a citrus perfume. But, with designers for perfumes sometimes combining two types of perfumes, such as grass and floral or citrus and floral, a Jimmy Choo perfume might smell completely different from everything else out there at the moment.

Or maybe not. A fragrance often completes a brand’s image. Adidas fragrances, for example, live up to the athletic image of the sneaker and clothing brand by having combinations of citrus and light floral notes – not too strong but not too subtle in either case. Jimmy Choo, on the other hand, is known for being high end, ostentatious, and synonymous with Sex and the City. In this case, anything is possible, although Jimmy Choo and general fragrance lovers should expect a complex, multi-level fragrance to complement the other accessories by the brand.

This blog hasn’t done much in regards to men’s fashion, but, looking at fashion overall, at least eighty percent is geared toward women, and the remaining twenty percent toward men. After all, how many men would feel comfortable in the supposedly latest looks of men’s fashion, such as skinny jeans and paisley shirts that have been featured in GQ? For the matter, how many economical retailers for men actually carry men’s skinny jeans and paisley shirts? Price aside, one aspect of fashion that men don’t really see as “metro” is fragrances. While some cologne in recent years have taken on a more feminine quality by adding fruity or floral notes, most colognes and men’s fragrances simply stick to the basic template: amber, spices, and lavender.

The backbone of many men’s fragrances is this combination of scents. In spite of the lavender, the cologne isn’t overall feminine. Often, other notes are added to this combination, and these are typically musk, bergamot, or patchouli. Nearly all designer brands have some sort of cologne with this combination under their label, as this combination, often with musk or patchouli, is considered a classic men’s fragrance.

But what about other men’s fragrances? While the amber, spices, and lavender combination is common, other types of men’s cologne are on the market. One popular type is an aqua cologne and, by name, this scent is designed to smell like the ocean. An aqua cologne often has water notes, as well as various tropical notes of the sea and tropical fruits. In addition, colognes aren’t immune to the celebrity brand treatment. While many more celebrities have women’s fragrances, men also have their fair share of celebrity perfumes, with the most prominent on the market being any of soccer player David Beckham’s scents. Other celebrities with a line of perfumes, such as Paris Hilton, also carry cologne with a similar scent.

Just as singers Mariah Carey and Britney Spears come out with their respective fragrances, the New York Daily News comes out with an article about how celebrity fragrances are bringing down perfume sales. With the exception of Britney Spears’ perfumes, other celebrity-branded fragrances aren’t successful. What’s the main reason? Various average consumers don’t want a celebrity-endorsed product, especially if it’s associated with an actress/singer/celebutante most people don’t care about. What self-respecting woman over 21 would wear Hillary Duff or Paris Hilton perfume? Or what man, for that matter, would find himself wearing Paris Hilton for Men or a David Beckham scent, especially when many classic colognes still smell better?

As mentioned in the article, blind tests of these fragrances showed that the subjects found the fragrances pleasing but, as soon as the celebrity-endorsed name was revealed, the testing subjects no longer liked the brand. Britney Spears perfume, as long as the pop star remains relevant, continues to sell well overseas. Then again, so did Michael Jackson albums after 1992. Once Spears’ career is officially over, her scents will probably do as well as MJ’s Invincible did on American shores in 2002. Other celebrity scents aren’t as lucky but, as long as the artists are selling albums or films, the fragrance aspect of their brand empire is somewhat insignificant.

Celebrity fragrances aren’t usually released independently but through larger names like Coty and Elizabeth Arden. Would these larger brands continue to thrive without the endorsements? Coty, for example, had a hit with Exclamation perfume (the bottle shaped like a black exclamation point, if you don’t remember) in the late ‘80s but over the past fifteen years, most of its products are celebrity related, with the exception of Adidas scents for men and women. Elizabeth Arden, on the other hand, has a plethora of scents and cosmetics to the brand, especially with classics like Red Door, so survival without celebrity perfumes for this particular brand is a given.

Many celebrities seem to release fragrances about the same time a new album or film comes out. Britney Spears is already on tour with her Circus Tour in 2009 and, at the same time, her perfume of the same name comes out. Essentially, releasing a celebrity fragrance and a movie/album/tour at the same time is like saying, “Buy my music… And my fragrance!” Too bad the two aren’t packaged together or even that the latest Britney Spears perfume isn’t sold on the merch table after the show. Spears already has two fragrances to her name, both released to the perfume market before her infamous meltdown and phoned-in Blackout album, and Circus makes a third. But how does it stack up against the others and will more than Britney fans want to buy it?

Reviews of this Britney Spears perfume are already on the internet, and, like many celebrity fragrances, Circus by Britney Spears is, really, just another hit-or-miss fruity perfume. To recap, Spears’ original scent was a floral concoction reminiscent of magnolias, while Curious was an overall-sweet perfume with cupcakes, white chocolate, and floral notes going all over the place. Like Britney Spears’ communication skills, Curious was unfocused. Both perfumes were geared toward teens and Britney Spears fans (hopefully they are one in the same), and have stayed around, so far, because of that market.

Spears has a large enough fan base that this perfume will probably sell well, although, according to reviews, Circus is primarily a milky and floral scent. But, as an improvement over the unfocused palette of scents for Curious, Circus refines this formula and sticks to milky and floral notes. The scent doesn’t seem too artificial but, overall, the perfume is still a fragrance geared toward teenage girls. Will it become a classic perfume? Probably not, but with Spears career not dying as of yet, her fragrances will last as long as people buy her albums.

So far, in regards to fragrances, this blog has discussed which celebrities have scents to their names, but what about what the stars are actually wearing? Do the stars wear their own perfumes, if they have a brand to their name? IVillage published a list of some of the perfumes worn by various actresses and singers, and many of the scents are classic scents. While celebrity perfumes often take a backseat to handbags – can you always smell a perfume when someone wears it? – some of these stars aren’t wearing the latest fragrances but scents that have been around for years. While only a handful of prominent A and B-list celebrities were interviewed at the moment, all asked about what fragrances they wear pointed to timeless – or those lasting more than ten years – perfumes.

As seen on iVillage, some of the fragrances worn by stars include Angel by Thierry Mugler, Tuberose Indiana by Creed, Clinique Happy, Acqua di Gio, and Christian Dior Dolce Vita. Is there a trend among celebrities regarding fruit, water, or aqua scents? Out of this selection, Angel perfume is often described as an oriental and woody perfume, while Acqua di Gio, for both men and women, is essentially a high-end aqua perfume. Clinique Happy and Eau de Dolce Vita by Dior, on the other hand, are both flowery fragrances.

If you want to smell like some of your favorite celebrities, whether you prefer Gwen Stefani or Celine Dion, your best bet is to not wear their celebrity brand perfumes but, instead, find out what scents they’re wearing. More often than not, they’ll be wearing a classic fragrance or the latest perfume by a high-end designer like Armani or Dior. Madonna, for example, lists the Tuberose Indiana as a fragrance she wears but, if she ever came out with a perfume to her name a la Britney Spears or Celine Dion, would she wear her own perfume? Don’t bet on it.

Advertisements have appeared over the past few weeks for a new Mariah Carey scent called Forever. While some blogs, such as The Scented Salamander, have covered this fragrance, the scent actually appeared recently in September. Carey already has two scents to her name, M and Luscious Pink, and Forever, at the moment, coincides with an upcoming album, Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel and single “Obsessed” that was released over the past month. While “Obsessed” gives listeners a glimpse of what Mariah Carey sounds with Auto-Tune effects (and dressed as a guy), what does Forever give perfume wearers looking for something different?

Forever, as described in reviews on various perfume websites, has an overall floral scent, with a composition consisting of neroli, lotus blossom, dewy green apple, tuberose, gardenia, white musk and, woods. Many, in addition, cite that they like that the tuberose isn’t too overpowering in the overall body of the fragrance. Celebrity fragrances, generally, have been by company Coty, but, in the case of Forever, the scent was developed by perfumer Olivier Gillotin.

The scent itself seems fairly straight forward and innocuous, but, as with most fragrances, the question is, who will buy it? As seen on various perfume websites and message boards, those who seem to prefer this fragrance are, in fact, Mariah Carey fans who pre-order this fragrance, much like her upcoming album, to have everything Mariah Carey-related. Although following a particular artist is never a bad thing (unless, of course, you found Glitter enjoyable), this is essentially the strong market for any Mariah Carey perfume. The rest of us? Some have been trying the fragrance at department store counters and it appears hit or miss. Some, from various message board comments, find it smells like a cheap version of a Marc Jacobs perfume. So, when deciding if this is an Elizabeth Taylor Diamond (a classic) or a Debbie Gibson’s Electric Youth (a passing fad), what is the verdict? As with many celebrity perfumes, Forever will be the latter in a few years.