Celebrity perfumes went mainstream on April 5th, 1991, when Elizabeth Taylor launched her most popular fragrance, White Diamonds, in a publicity blitz that included the Hollywood legend touring department stores across the US.

The top notes are aldehydes, bergamot, neroli, orange and lily - but perhaps the fragrance most appealed because of the public perception of Taylor’s fierce endurance, overcoming setbacks in her career and dependency to drugs.

In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly reveal Mae West’s buxom role in forwarding the development of Hollywood scents; recall how dubious celebrities from Peter Andre to Kermit The Frog subsequently took the path Taylor had blazed; and reveal just how much money the one-time Silver Screen legend made from her bottles of squizz…

Further Reading:

• ‘The 15 best (and worst) perfumes and fragrances by celebrities’ (Stuff NZ, 2021): https://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/beauty/300382622/the-15-best-and-worst-perfumes-and-fragrances-by-celebrities

• ‘Obsessions: Elizabeth Taylor, queen of cologne’ (CNN, 2011): 

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/SHOWBIZ/celebrity.news.gossip/03/25/taylor.celebrity.scents/index.html

• ‘White Diamonds Starring Elizabeth Taylor’ (Estee Lauder, 1991): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjVfu8-Wp6s

#90s #Hollywood #Business

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The Retrospectors are Olly Mann, Rebecca Messina & Arion McNicoll, with Matt Hill.

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