The starlet’s newest fragrance with publicly traded Parlux Fragrance is expected to boost her four-perfume line to nearly $100 million in annual wholesale sales.
And Paris’s take for licensing her famous name? 5 percent — nothing to sniff at.
Hilton’s popularity has helped the fragrance garner attention, but the new scent, CAN CAN, is turning heads on its own. It’s been a big hit on blogs that review cosmetics, perfume and other beauty products.
And as Hilton told CNBC in an exclusive interview, she’s more than just the face on the box.
“I do everything. I come up with the names, the bottles, I pick the fragrances with the perfumeries, I’m involved with all the campaigns when we were discussing the shoot and who the photographer is,” Hilton said.
“I want to make sure I’m on top of everything and its going to be totally my style and a perfume I’m going to wear every day.”
Parlux Chief Executive Neal Katz is also enjoying the sweet smell of success.
“Right now, our run rate for this year will be around $75 or $80 million and if this brand develops like we think it will, we can turn it into a $90 million business,” he said.
To do that, Paris and her team will have to keep working the millions of teens spending piles of cash on anything and everything Paris.
“We have weekly meetings and I talk about what I want to do next, what offers I have coming in, which ones sound good, which ones I want to do,” Hilton explained. “I say yes or no and then we work it out from there.
Paris and Parlux follow an uptick in recent years in celebrities launching their own fragrance. In fact, almost one in four of the top 100 women’s prestige fragrances is either a celebrity scent or celebrity endorsed, according to market research firm Mintel.
Notably, Gwen Stefani, Sarah Jessica Parker, Usher, Jennifer Lopez and Victoria and David Beckham all have their own branded fragrances, while top-tier actresses Hilary Swank, Keira Knightley and Kate Winslet all appear in fragrance advertisements.
The first “celebrity” fragrance, L’Interdit, was created 50 years ago when Hubert de Givenchy expanded into the fragrance business using a famous face as inspiration: his muse, the late Audrey Hepburn.
Elizabeth Taylor followed suit in the 1980s with her signature fragrance Passion, which is still a top-selling scent. Meanwhile, Givenchy is reintroducing L’Interdit this season.
[“source=cnbc”]