Cult Fragrances: Celebrity Favorite Perfumes

Perfume is one of the most lucrative branches of the beauty industry, with nearly $6 billion in sales in 2007 in the U.S. alone, and the biggest trend in the perfume industry today is celebrity fragrances. Every actress, model and singer imaginable lends her name, her face or both to one or more scents. (J. Lo leads the pack, with more than four fragrances bearing her imprimatur.)

It is hard not to be cynical about these celebrity perfumes, as money is clearly the motivating factor behind them, and the market is becoming saturated with them. Finding racks of celebrity perfumes on clearance at your local TJ Maxx or Marshalls indicates that a backlash may be underway, and by the time Jessica Simpson's new perfume comes on the market later this year, there may not be any market share left for her.

The reasons for the overproduction of celebrity scents are many. For one thing, fragrances have a very high profit margin. They are also products that can easily be modified to sell more units-- if the perfume is a success, the cosmetics company will come out with a body lotion, shower gel and scented powder, as well as making lighter and heavier versions of it, but even if you like the fragrance that doesn't mean you want to wear all those products at once!

Finally, cosmetics sales in general have historically improved during poor economies because they're a relatively inexpensive morale booster, and that relationship holds true today. The fashion world has become part of everyday pop culture due to such hit television shows as "Project Runway" and "Ugly Betty," but the average working mom cannot afford high fashion like Dior couture, for example. However, for $45 she can get a bottle of Dior J'Adore and feel like a movie star every time she wears it.

So what do you do if you want to smell like success, but quality and exclusivity are important to you? The answer is to find out what celebrities really wear when they're not hawking products. Following are some celebrity favorite cult fragrances, as well as a description of the scents so that you can decide which famous beauty you want to emulate with your perfume: