Your average celebrity may not care what the difference is between Moroccan
incense and Manhattan street incense -- but then again, your average celeb
doesn't have 500 hours of beauty school under her jeweled Roberto Cavalli
evening-dress straps like Mariah Carey does.
"I always knew what I wanted to do with my life -- my mother was an opera
singer, and I'd been singing since I started talking and writing songs since I
was 13," said Carey during an interview Monday evening before the launch event
for her first fragrance, M by Mariah Carey. And Carey -- the best-selling female
recording artist of all time, with 17 number one singles -- clearly didn't need
a career plan B. "I just went to beauty school in 11th grade because you could
leave school for half a day -- and that was cool! -- and also because I always
did people's hair. But I was always singing during my beauty school classes, so
I think my teacher really hated me. I'm actually a beauty school dropout,
because by the time I was in 12th grade I was so focused on doing what ended up
being my first record [the eponymous ';Mariah Carey,' released in 1990] that I
had to let that go."
But it did have a lasting impression on her. "Honestly, if I'm not working with
someone who's a really great makeup artist, or someone who really knows how to
do hair, I'll be like, ';No, you can't do it this way because hair grows from
the roots, not the ends, and cutting it isn't going to work...' and quoting all
this theory I learned in beauty school. They'll say, ';How do you know that?'
And I'll be like, ';I have 500 hours of beauty school!'"
The fragrance, created by the singer along with perfumers Carlos Benaim and Loc
Dong of International Flavors & Fragrances, opens with top notes of marshmallow
and sea breeze accord; has a heart of Living Tahitian Tiare flower and gardenia
petals, and a drydown of sheer amber, Moroccan incense and patchouli. "I was
never a perfume wearer, because some scents would irritate my skin," said Carey.
"But this doesn't, and this is the first fragrance I've ever worn."
Each of the ingredients represents something special for her, said Carey. "The
inspirations were multiple -- places I've been, moments in my life, childhood
things like the marshmallow scent in the top note. It's like a subliminal thing
-- a lightly toasted marshmallow. We were working hard fine-tuning that to the
right toast degree, very much like when you sit in front of the fire -- which
really takes you back to camp, and I'm eternally 12 anyway. Then we have the
more sensual bottom note. I went to Morocco a few years ago, and I have a room
in my house designed by Mario Buatta which we just extended to the roof -- it's
like this Moroccan oasis in the middle of New York City. So I burn incense there
that I got on the street -- I felt really stupid bringing it in to all the
bigwigs at Arden, but I really like it. I'm really pretty specific with the
things that I like. The Tiare flower has never been a basis for a scent, not the
way we've treated it, but I had it around my neck the first time I went to
Hawaii, and I never forgot that moment. Creating this [scent] was like creating
a song, and that's what I know best. People would ask me how the tour was going,
and I'd be like, fine. But the FRAGRANCE...." she laughed. "I don't think people
understood that I was really into this, because of the creative scenario. It
wasn't like a corporate thing, where it was just like, ';Yeah, put my name on
it.' I really got into it."
Butterflies are a trademark of Carey's, and the bottle -- a lavender glass orb
with a subtle wave design and a butterfly-adorned cap -- reflects that passion.
"I had an album called Butterfly [which was released in 1997]," said Carey.
"It's random, because I was never into butterflies before, but at a certain time
in my life, when I was leaving a lifestyle and someone I was married to [record
executive Tommy Mottola] -- I can't even believe I was married, it's weird to
say that! -- I was emerging from that world, which had become quite stifling. So
I wrote this song ';Butterfly' prior to leaving that house, and on the way out,
I saw that my mantel had a butterfly right in the middle. I thought, ';This is
ironic!' And I started to wear them."
The bottle was designed by Carey and Arden's Jean Antretter. "The glass stopper;
this is my favorite thing. It's sexy to me, to have that little stopper to put
the perfume on," said Carey. Eau de parfum spray will be sold in three sizes: 1
oz. for .50; 1.7 oz. for .50; and 3.3 oz. for .50. A 0.5 oz. parfum, 5, and a
6.8 oz. body lotion, , will also be sold, added Noreen Dodge, vice president of
global fragrance marketing for Elizabeth Arden.
In a first for Arden, Carey's fragrance will be launched globally nearly
simultaneously, said Ron Rolleston, executive vice president of Arden. It will
be released in about 2,000 U.S. department and specialty store doors, including
Macy's, Belk and Dillard's in September, followed closely by door openings in
Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, the U.K., Scandinavia and Spain -- for a
total of 15,000 doors worldwide.
And if Carey's musical prowess extends to her fragrance, Arden will have a hit
on its hands. While none of the executives would discuss sales projections or
advertising and promotional spending, industry sources estimated that the scent
could do million at retail globally in its first year, with as much as million
of that figure to come from the U.S. market. Advertising and promotional
spending is estimated at million.
Carey's passion will prove to be a key success point for the fragrance, E. Scott
Beattie, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Arden, believes. "If
the celebrity is passionate about doing it, if they like the project, they like
working on it, [it will do well]," he said. "[Mariah's] loved working on it.
She's spent hours, endless hours, designing the bottle and testing the
fragrance."
While none of the executives would comment, Carey is said to be reaping a
royalty of 5 to 6 percent, with a guaranteed payday of million over the next
three years.
"We have long-range plans with Mariah," added Rolleston. "It's our attitude that
this is the first of what we think is an opportunity to do a couple of different
interesting things with her. What's great is that Mariah has a very broad
audience, from 18 to 45, with a median age of 32. What we will make sure that we
do in our media mix is target her audience with vehicles which work for them.
That doesn't necessarily mean we will follow the same marketing mix that we
would with, say, Hilary Duff or Britney Spears. We focus on each of them
individually."
While new media has been somewhat the order of the day for Arden's latest
celebrity launches, M will have a more traditional media mix, said Rolleston,
with national print advertising in fashion, beauty and lifestyle magazines
slated to begin in September books. "That works for her audience," he said. The
ad was created by advertising guru David Lipman in St. Barth's, said Rolleston.
A TV campaign will run at holiday time and on cable TV, he added.
Carey isn't planning to stop with fragrance either: She is also in early stages
of developing a lingerie line, and has a self-branded costume jewelry line with
Claire's. She's also got an eye on the hair, color cosmetics and skin care
categories. "We've been talking about a few different ideas," said Carey.
"Anything that's creative. In the beauty world, skin, makeup -- I will sit there
and do people's hair and makeup. The minute someone gets a new haircut, I'm
focused on it. I'm focused on the scent of the skin and I really take care of
it. And I'm really excited because I love lingerie, and I've been looking at
doing something with that -- but that's a whole different story," she said with
a smile.
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