So, Rihanna is bringing out another fragrance; this time it’s called Nude by Rihanna and it will be her third. So, firstly, given that whole rumble between Stella McCartney and Nude Skincare over the rights to use the name Nude for a fragrance (Nude had it, Stella took it anyway), I have no clue how this time it’s okay for someone else to use the name Nude. Secondly, it’s just brought it home how easily persuaded we are to part with our money in the name of celebrity.
This week alone, I’ve been offered Myleene Klass False Eyelashes, an Amy Childs hair piece (kill me now), Lauren Goodger self-tan and hair rollers (Lauren also has lashes and hair extensions under the Lauren’s Way label) and now…now we are to have a male and female fragrance from Mark Wright to be called Mr Wright and Mrs Wright (appropriate because I am sure he will have a wright laugh all the way to the bank).
Binky from Made In Chelsea is *guest* blogging for Escentual.com and The Daily Mail (“Welcome to the latest BBB; (that’s Binky’s Beauty Blog, for uninitiated amongst you”). On the blog (it’s the same blog for both sites, so you have to wonder right away who is paying who for what) she tells us she “filled her bath right to the brim with steaming water and bath oil”. I doubt it – anyone who has ever filled their bath right to the brim knows you can’t actually get it in without displacing so much water that you’d actually flood the room. Dimming the lights and adding candles doesn’t really seem ground breaking beauty news either. So, bottom line of this is that Binky had a bath and that’s considered SO newsworthy and relevant that she gets paid for it. I don’t begrudge her – its common sense to capitalize on your five minutes of fame, but it’s done so carelessly (and I am positive it is ghost written) and without the slightest thought for anyone impressionable who might be swayed by what she says.
Ultimately, celebrities very, very rarely have anything whatsoever to do with the product they put their name to. They don’t care; it’s a commercial transaction between their agent and the brand for which everyone gets nicely financially rewarded. My point is that it’s the consumer at the end of this money chain that gets short-changed. Mylene’s false lashes won’t make you look like Mylene; they’re no better than any other high street lashes so why pay for her face on the packaging that goes straight in the bin? The same goes for tan, hair pieces, make-up – you name it, they’ll endorse it. Their agent just has them sign on the dotted line and they’ll be immediately ‘in love’ with said product for as long as the contract lasts.
I’m often told that X celebrity was ‘very involved’ with the making of their fragrance/tan/stick-on nails. If you ask for proof of that, there is none. I once tried to get a quote from a designer about their fragrance; they said that it reminded them of their Caribbean island beach house when in fact the main floral note wasn’t even indigenous to the Caribbean. Another, on presenting her fragrance to press forgot what was even in her perfume, despite having been very ‘closely involved’. The only one that I can think of that really did seem to love what she’d put her name to and did seem to have given proper input was Alexandra Burke and her Lip Booms.
I’m not sure I know of a parent who hopes her child grows up like someone from TOWIE or MIC, and I can’t really explain why the press thinks we’re at all interested in buying into the franchise or why they even promote them. It’s not good to try and convince young women and men that what these people, their agents and the colluding beauty brands stand for are anything approaching role models. MIC is the new Jeremy Kyle, slightly more palatable because it’s posh people. At least Jeremy Kyle, for all the sensationalism deals with very real people with very real issues. Any minute now, TOWIE, MIC and Geordie Shore will be long forgotten when a new breed of reality sets in. We don’t know what it is yet, but you can be sure that there will be a bloody perfume.
Actually, I just heard that Chris Brown is bringing out a fragrance. I think it will be the scented equivalent of owning a Pit Bull.
Similar to this
Leave a Reply