ANTONIO BANDERAS FRAGRANCES Archives

Celebrity fragrances ain’t what they used to be. The category has been in steady decline for several years. According to Women’s Marketing, sales of celebrity scents in the US crashed from $150 million in 2011 to just over $50 million in 2014. In the UK, according to Cosmetics Business, sales of celebrity fragrances plummeted 22% from £56.5m in 2015 to £44.2m in 2016. Despite the grim figures, the business model for this sector is quick-in, quick-out. So new scents are still being launched.

Would you wear celebrity fragrances? Such a simple questions can provoke a flurry of reactions ranging from the downright “Never, too common!” and “Yeuch, too tacky!”, to the more measured, “Yes, great value for money” and, “Of course, they are sometimes created by top perfumers”.

Speaking for myself, I know that my decision to wear a particular celeb’s fragrance was sometimes partly based on my pre-existing ideas about that star. Do I like him/her based on interviews I had seen/read and their contributions to popular culture? So Kim Kardashian would have got a big fat “No!” from me.

Celebrity Fragrances - Adam Levine For Him EDT

THE VOICE OF REASON: But do I like you, Adam?

So I decided to put my prejudices and preferences to the test by wearing several celebrity fragrances created for a variety of stars. The results were, to say the least, revealing.

Where known, the name of the perfumer is listed in brackets after the name of the fragrance. Interestingly, quite of a few of these celebrity fragrances don’t have a listed perfumer. Perhaps to create the illusion that the celeb concerned created it?

“Do I like him/her based on interviews I had seen/read and their contributions to popular culture?”

Adam Levine For Him EDT (Yann Vasnier)

What I was expecting from the rock musician: A middle-of-the-road scent featuring an inoffensive rock ‘n roll sensibility, with hints of darn-I’m-so-sexy smugness.

What I got: A huge (and surprising blast) of guava from start to finish that completely dominates all of the other listed notes. This is classic love-it-or-hate-it-stuff that stays put for hours. Depending on your reaction, this is a very good or very bad thing.

R495 for 30ml and R695 for 50ml.

Britney Spears VIP Private Show

What I was expecting from the seen-it-all pop star: Kinda sweet, kinda trashy (in a good way), kinda fun, kinda young.
What I got: With all that initial sweetness, the equivalent of an olfactory filling, courtesy of blood orange, mango nectar and red apple notes. However, the pleasant dry-down of raspberry wood, golden amber and velvet musk brought me to my senses. I have to admit I even found myself thinking, “What’s that nice smell”, after the initial onslaught had thankfully subsided.

R585.00 for 50ml.

Gold Jay Z (Illias Ermenidis)

What I was expecting from the hip-hop mogul: Bling-meets-street cred, loud and proud.
What I got: An unexpectedly sophisticated, albeit sweet, scent that features a very agreeable pink pepper note front and centre. Other discernible notes in the eclectic mix include: blueberry, violet leaf, vanilla, cardamom, lavender and grapefruit. It’s good to be wrong (sometimes).

R620 for 90ml.

Pitbull Man EDT

What I was expecting from the Latino hit machine (or, more accurately, what I was hoping for): A hot number infused with the passions and rhythms of Cuban Miami.
What I got: A fairly standard woody-aromatic vibe, with notes of woods, cardamom, sage, violet and tonka, lending a familiar-ish (and strangely bitter) vibe. Sorry, Armando Christian Perez, a lost opportunity. Congrats, though, on the solid and slick bottle design.

R620 for 100ml.

Nude by Rihanna EDP

What I was expecting from the R&B superstar: Something provocative, sexy, perhaps even raunchy.
What I got: Featuring notes of guava, pear, gardenia, sambac jasmine and orange blossom, it’s a pretty fruity-floral that’s very much in tune with current trends. If Fenty wanted to show her softer, sweeter side, this is a case of mission accomplished. It’s a quick fader, though, which is not something I would associate with the Bajan.

R620 for 100ml.

Antonio Banderas Power of Seduction EDT

What I was expecting from the seductor Spaniard actor: I’d – shameless self-promotion alert – interviewed the man before (read here) and was familiar with several of his fragrances. So I had a head-start compared to the other celeb fragrances I’ve covered in this post. I won’t go into that here.
What I got: He’s been in the biz of seduction for 20 years and is one of Puig’s big money-spinners. So Banderas knows what will have commercial and relatively enduring appeal. Power of Seduction, his latest fragrance, opens with a fresh ’n fruity blast of bergamot and apple notes. It then morphs into an aromatic focus, with notes of lavender and sage. There’s also a big patchouli note lurking in here. While this typically masculine fragrance won’t be winning any awards for originality, it’s undeniably good quality at the price.

R505 for 50ml and R630 for 100ml.

CHRISTINA AGUILERA GLAM X EDP

What I was expecting from the American singer: Considering the name of this fragrance, it would have to be lashings of grown-up glamour.
What I got: The caramelised peach note opening doesn’t make for a very glam start. But things pick up when the floral aspect – freesia, lily of the valley, heliotrope and jasmine – slinks in. The base is all warm and cosy with notes of musk, amber and sandalwood. This is a nice-enough fragrance, but doesn’t push the glam-o-meter sufficiently to warrant its name.

236ml fine fragrance mist for R199, 30ml for R299 and 60ml for R429.

It’s not every day that a celebrity is in Johannesburg to promote his latest fragrances, Antonio Banderas The Secret Temptation and Antonio Banderas Her Secret Temptation. And do good while smelling good.

Antonio Banderas is best known for his films with director Pedro Almodóvar (Matador, Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown) and Hollywood hits (Philadelphia, The Mask Of Zorro, Spy Kids, the Shrek franchise). What’s not so well known is that the Spaniard is also a photographer. Funds raised from the sale of his photographs at a gala event auction will benefit Nkosi’s Haven, an HIV/Aids NGO.

Antonio Banderas Her Secret Temptation And Antonio Banderas The Secret Temptation

THE TEMPTATIONS: Antonio Banderas with Her Secret Temptation and The Secret Temptation. All portraits of Antonio Banderas courtesy of Puig.

It’s fun to be part of the whirl for the four days he’s in the city, attending the press conference and gala event. But the real reason I am excited is the one-on-one interview I have with him, in which I plan to focus on his fragrances.

“Unlike many other celeb scents which crash and burn, the Antonio Banderas fragrance range is doing quite well, thank you.”

Unlike many other celeb scents which crash and burn, the Antonio Banderas fragrance range is doing quite well, thank you. Originally launched in 1997, the line now includes 20 fragrances and has bagged some awards along the way. All of them play on the theme of seduction and why not. Antonio Banderas has used his Spanishness to great effect in his films and his fragrances shamelessly ooze seducción.

Antonio Banderas fragrances are smartly positioned and priced. They cost more than the average celeb scent, but are considerably cheaper than designer fragrances. Although I have not tried all of the fragrances in his range, those that I have tried offer surprisingly good quality at the price.

I arrive early for the interview (officially I have 10 minutes), dreading a haze of ego and entourage over the swanky and secluded hotel he’s staying in. When I meet Antonio Bandera in the flesh, I am immediately put at ease. He’s utterly charming, professional and looks good in blue jeans and a T-shirt. Before the interview kicks off, we chat about how he reduced his caffeine intake and stopped smoking after having a mild heart attack in January 2017.

When we start talking about his fragrances, he’s visibly animated. I take that as a sign that I am not asking him the same questions as everyone else. Or he’s such a pro, he answers them like it’s the first time he’s been asked that question.

Shall we talk about your fragrances…

I’m not a chemist. I’m not a perfumer. I kind of understand the process, but I’m not the one signing the fragrance. What I give is a tremendous amount of information when I sit down with the perfumer.

Something very interesting happened when I first started doing this. They gave me as a gift a briefcase with a bunch of different scents inside, with no names on the front. They told me to open them, smell them and tell us what it is. I opened one and said, “My God, I know this. What is this?” And then I turned the bottle around and it said “Sunday morning”. Wow! They can synthesise Sunday morning, or they can synthesise recently washed sheets in a 19^th-century closet. They play with all of these things and this is way, way, way more sophisticated than I thought. I didn’t know the combinations they could use to have this effect on your brain.

When I arrive in Malaga, I know I am at home. You don’t have to tell me. If it’s springtime, it’s the smell of the flower of the orange tree, the ocean. And if it’s Holy Week, the smell of the incense. Together that is a package that makes me back to being seven years old and phew… [he laughs].

“When I arrive in Malaga, I know I am at home. It’s the smell of the flower of the orange tree, the ocean, the incense.”

That’s the power of fragrance. It’s an art and a science. You think you have forgotten something, yet a particular smell can trigger something from your childhood. What’s your earliest scent memory?

Oh yes, you don’t smell with your nose. You smell with your brain and your memories. My mother! Her scent of woman. The kind of feeling you want to throw it here [he laughs like a naughty boy]. That and my home town, with the strong smell of the ocean from the apartment terrace.

You’ve been in the fragrance biz for 20 years and launched with Diavolo in 1997. What was your original motivation when your first started?

The motivation wasn’t mine. A lawyer friend Paco said to me, “Why don’t you diversify everything you do. We create a little company, you work with them and get a percentage of the sales.” For me, business at the time was something cold, dry, things I didn’t like. Paco taught me that you can be very creative with business.

At the beginning it wasn’t easy. Paco, me and the company Puig said we have to sacrifice time, slow-cook this thing – that’s how you do things that are successful. The third or fourth year our head came out of the water and my obligations became bigger and bigger. Now we travel all around the world and sell in 83 countries. And then it’s your baby and love what you are doing!

You didn’t expect such longevity…

No. The maximum they gave us was five years. Now we represent 7% of the whole company that has Paco Rabanne, Jean Paul Gaultier, Carolina Herrera, Nina Ricci.

“Now we represent 7% of the whole company that has Paco Rabanne, Jean Paul Gaultier, Carolina Herrera, Nina Ricci.”

THE FAMILY WAY: Marc Puig, the CEO of Puig.

Congratulations! A lot of celeb scents come and go.

We’ve put a lot of work into it and they believe this company is a part of my life now. I go to Barcelona and see the CEO, Marc Puig. We are received like we are part of the family. And it is literally a family, the Puig family [founded in 1914, Puig is a third-generation family-owned, Barcelona-based business]. Next year we will celebrate the 20^th year with special limited editions. I use all of them. This is the truth. Since 1997 I have not used other perfumes.

So what are you wearing today?

The first one, Diavolo. Tonight I will wear Temptation. But in the morning I need Diavolo, because it’s still my younger me [laughs]. It’s more lemon-ish, it’s more fruity, it’s almost like an eau de cologne. You feel very fresh. The afternoon you need something more complex.

“In the morning I need Diavolo, because
it’s still my younger me.”

I am wearing a combination of the King and Queen of Seduction to test you, to see if you will notice your own fragrances.

[Huge laughter] That’s an interesting mix!

One of my favourite characters that you’ve played, well, it was more the voice, was Puss in Boots. Which fragrance of yours would he wear?

Diavolo, for the name. He is a little devil. And, of course, King of Seduction. Because that’s the way he can conquer women! Oh yeah, PUSS IN BOOTS!

Antonio Banderas The Secret Temptation EDT, R455 for 50ml and R570 for 100ml. Antonio Banderas Her Secret Temptation EDT, R455 for 50ml and R570 for 80ml.

Tag: ANTONIO BANDERAS FRAGRANCES