SJPeePee Still Smells

Filed Under: Wacky, Tacky & True Sarah Jessica Parker Sex & The City Business Blitz Fragranz!

Sarah Jessica Parker has ridden the roller coaster of the fragrance market. Her scent, Lovely, which launched back in 2005, is has stayed in the top 50 women's fragrances since its initial release. Meanwhile, her second fragrance, Covet, which came out in 2007, has not enjoyed the same success, and is winding down distribution in the U.S.

Maybe this is why the petite Parker is trying to ride the Sex & The City gravy train?

Apparently, SJP and perfume house Coty Prestige have created SJP NYC, a new scent based on the Carrie Bradshaw persona. Now, Coty Prestige is trying to strike a deal that would make SJP NYC directly tied to the highly anticipated Sex & The City 2. The power perfumer is working with producers and distributors to marry the fragrance and the film.

Coty's global VP of marketing and celeb fragrances, Carlos Timiraos, said "We did some activity around the first Sex & The City movie, but didn't have another new scent coming out at that time. After that movie did around $500 million globally, we bet on the expectation that lightning would strike twice, and we began developing SJP NYC."

Uh, buddy, we're not sure it's the best marketing to openly admit you're trying to piggyback off of the movie's success. Just a thought.

Sarah Jessica put it more delicately, saying "A large part of the inspiration was what I now understand to be people's impressions of seeing Carrie Bradshaw walk down the street and what feelings that evokes for her and them - a real sense of freedom and possibilities, a love for the city around her and, of course, fashion."

Fruity and floral, the fragrance has top notes of Italian mandarin, white osmanthus, and wild red strawberries, with mid-notes like gardenia, honeysuckle, and mimosa and subtle notes of vanilla, rum, and creamy musks.

That's a lot going on!

Parker said of the aroma,

"The most surprising aspect is the strawberry note that looms nicely at the top of the fragrance. The reason it surprises me is because I have this idea in my head that strawberry is very youthful and juvenile, but this fragrance doesn't smell candy sweet. It amazes me that this essence of strawberry mixes so beautifully with the more sophisticated floral notes and the musks that I love and will always have as part of my fragrances. "

At first, we trusted SJP's instincts. Then we saw the packaging.

Created by SJP and Coty's Jon Dinapoli, the packaging is meant to imitate the look of Carrie's closet. We never saw anything in Carrie's closet that looked like a trip to the zoo on acid, but maybe we missed that episode.

"We started with this idea that we wanted to create something fun. We wanted to create a party in a bottle and reflect that in the packagine with a real sense of whimsy, fun, and joie de vivre. And then we took it from there. Portability and fashion played key roles in the development of the packaging and overall concept," said Parker.

"Because we wanted to incorporate a sense of fashion, it was a different process [than that of my previous scents.] And of course, the packaging has to fit the juice. I love where we arrived both with the juice and the packaging."

Uh, you do?

If that cheesy packaging is actually fitting of the perfume, that must be some funky fugly fragrance. Tranny spritzer!

With the film set to premiere in May, the fragrance won't hit stores until then. You know, so they can mooch off all the hype and publicity. SJP will probably plug her fragrance every time she does any press for the film. Klassy! We bet Kim Cattrall is beside herself.

If you're into the whole tranny-drenched-in-strawberries thing, you can spend $25 for 15 ml, $35 for 60 ml, or $49 for 60 ml. Or you could let it really soak into your skin and buy the 200-ml. body lotion for $25.

As for us, if we're gonna dabble in SJPerfume, we'll stick with Lovely.

[Image courtesy of Coty Prestige.]

Posted: October 17, 2009 at 10:30 am