Recently when I was researching news of Keith Urban to launch scent, I came across a quote that really boosted my opinion of a man who named his daughter after a day of the week. In naming his signature scent, Urban admits he didn’t feel the need to use his own name, to save embarrassment for those who might like to wear it.
I was imagining a woman saying to a man, ‘You smell good, what is that?’ And I didn’t want the man to have to say ‘I’m wearing Keith Urban.’ I just find that a little awkward,” the country singer says. And so Urban named the fragrance Phoenix, in a nod to his own personal struggles in the past and to the Hopi Indian thunderbird tattoo urban has on his arm.
The funny thing about the whole thing is that the Aussie musician could very well be onto something here. One of my colleagues from bd’s sister site (her name starts with O and rhymes with Schmolivia) and I were on our way to a launch recently when she spritzed herself with a fragrance she had stored in her handbag. When I asked her what it was, she sheepishly admitted that was Paris Hilton’s Heiress. She also told me that it was her number-one complimented-on scent, but she never dared admit what it was to others, mysteriously answering, Oh, just something I had on my desk at work.”
The whole phenomenon got me thinking about fragrances we love but are too afraid to admit we wear. When I was young (very young) and Impulse body sprays were the done thing, I was obsessed with the Spice Girls’ limited edition scent to the point that I was hoarding cans of it in fear of it being discontinued. Of course, when it came time to apply said body spray in the change room after PE, it was always a case of, Oh this stuff? It’s my sister’s – I must’ve grabbed it by mistake.”
So who else out there has a secret scent they’ll only share in the intimacy of an online forum? Don’t sit there and tell me you haven’t strayed from Chanel… someone’s buying Bieber’s Someday and it’s not me.