Is that why you wore a red dress to the launch party?
Yes, I wore a red dress to promote it, but it’s also about the spirit of feeling good and feeling sexy for yourself -- whether there’s a guy in the picture or not. It also happens that guys like the scent a lot too. The guys I’m around seem to enjoy it, but I was definitely making it for us.
What smells did you like (growing up)? Which fragrances have you always appreciated?
It’s funny because that was part of the process for me -- my little education with Givaudan, the perfumers. What I respond to with men’s cologne are these woods and amber and a little patchouli. Like with Polo, it was iconic, but it was pheromonal. You got an instant reaction. You want it and it makes you want to move closer. But what I wore day to day was a little more floral or had vanilla or some musks in it too. It wasn’t straight-up floral, but I do love night blooming jasmine. In California, we have these great flowers that bloom in the night and the spring like tuberose, trumpet flowers, trumpet vines, angel’s trumpet. They are these really pungent flowers that bloom. So what I realized is that I wanted to make this men’s cologne for a woman, but what I really like to wear as a steady diet is something more complex. That’s what I loved about the perfumers at Givaudan and the woman we worked with to develop Boyfriend. Her name is Marypierre Julien. She is so amazing that this fragrance really opens up. It’s like a great wine. The first part of it is juicy plum and a little bit of night blooming jasmine, which is an aphrodisiac so it just makes your eyes roll a little bit. And then it goes down to the woods and a little patchouli and then dries down to an amber vanilla.
It sounds beautiful. It really does.
It is really beautiful. I’m really proud of it. Not just the fragrance but the product. Part of the reason why I designed the train kit was that I was inspired by vintage train cases and makeup cases. It’s so romantic. When I grew up watching old movies and falling in love with all these movie stars like Clark Gable and Tyrone Power and all these people. The women all were so glamorous and well lit and they all had these great compacts and everybody had the perfect shade of red lipstick. There was such this ritual to beauty. So I wanted to encompass that. I live in LA and I’m in the business so people throw stuff at me all the time and I get lots of samples, which is great, but I really would love to have a whole line of things that aren’t fighting each other. Like it’s annoying to have my perfume fighting my body cream fighting my body scrub fighting my deodorant. I’ve got 8 different things happening here, so I designed the components of the Boyfriend kit to not only be portable so you can take your Boyfriend with you wherever you go, but also that they work together. They’re all the same basic ingredients and same fragrance pyramid but they’re all a little different. The pulse point oil and dry body oil have a little more of the vanilla than the eau du parfum. The candle is a little smokier.
It’s a beautiful idea and the train case is adorable. Was there a surprise or something unexpected in the perfume process?
The biggest surprise to me was that – first of all it was a wonderful experience in terms of just being an artist and being a collaborator. One of my favorite things about acting is you get to go on set and collaborate with 100 crew member every day. You can have that balance of having a really specific vision and knowing what you want and then letting reality inform you and other people who are experts in their fields inform you.
I felt really grateful to have that experience because the fragrance arena is obviously new - the whole business - is a totally new territory to me. So to have this idea that, yes, I want this men’s fragrance just softened up a bit. It’s like having his fragrance on your skin with your own floral notes. The biggest surprise was, ‘Oh, I don’t want to have a straight-up men’s fragrance for women. I want it softened up. I want to have the balance of masculine and feminine and, what in the fragrance industry they would describe as the woody and the amber notes and the floral notes balanced in there. I want to wear this all the time. I want people to be able to wear this all the time. I’ve always worn oils and one of the things that was important with Marypierre, who developed it was this idea of layering it. Not only being able to layer it within the Boyfriend products but with other fragrances. It’s palatable and malleable so if you are loyal to your other fragrance you can still work this in there.
Well, it’s a wonderful vision.
Thanks!
Which part of the creation process did you most enjoy and which was the most challenging?
That’s a really good question. I really loved all the sampling. Like I said, I had a really specific idea of what I wanted for this initial Boyfriend. There are other Boyfriends to come, like in life. Most people don’t have just one. There are others! But for this one, I really wanted to tell the story of a guy and a girl and the memory of him. I should say that part of the inspiration was that luxury feel and the romance of the train case. I wanted the design of the bottle to have that classic Chanel-type shape but modernized and with a Boyfriend twist. I wanted that luxury, but accessible so you don’t have to be a millionaire to get it. I loved doing the sampling but when it finally came to pulling the trigger and making the decision that was just agonizing to me. There were a lot of anxiety-fueled phone calls. It’s hard to commit and say, “This is it!”
The designing I just had a ball with. Chad Levine designed the bottle. We all collaborated on it, but he was just incredible. And just having an idea and seeing it become a 3D thing that’s going to be out there in the market place was just a fabulous feeling. Making up a business was really challenging and saying, “Ok, I’m going to do it this different way.” I made it like you would a TV pilot in Hollywood. You write it and then you go and try to sell it. Basically, I bankrolled the whole thing and luckily we sold it in the room to HSN and Sephora, which was a huge validation. That was the good news. Then they’re like, “OK, now you have to make a company and now you have to finance it and now you have to get a loan from the bank.” I have a great consultant, Pamela Vale, who has taken a lot of brands to market. She’s incredible and her knowledge and support has been amazing. Then we hired a designer, and a manufacturer and operations person. It was sort of like I built this company from Elmers glue and lint. It’s hugely exciting.
It’s amazing to me that you were involved in every aspect. It’s very unique for a celebrity fragrance.
That’s why I was reticent to do it, but then it’s sort of like saying who needs another script or another TV show. It was a creative endeavor. I couldn’t find what I wanted in the marketplace so I said I’m going to go and make it. The digital aspect and supporting it virally and making the webimmercials is really hugely gratifying and exciting.
They’re very entertaining to watch. It seems like a large part of what Boyfriend is about is feeling sexy. What is your go-to outfit in your closet when you just want to feel sexy for a night out?
I love a good skirt or dress. If I can get a new pair of heels on and rock them I just feel – I mean, as women we work really hard. We have to be so Alpha. As much as I love skinny jeans, which is what I’m wearing now, as soon as I put on a skirt or dress and heels I immediately feel sexy.
We are launching videos called “Don’t Let This Happen to You” on February 10th. They are very much humor videos designed to be Boyfriend-themed right in time for Valentine’s Day. They’re designed to be passed along. I’ll be Tweeting about them. You can pass them along on Facebook, Twitter or Email. I’m really proud of them. I wanted to continue the story and I hope everybody will get a good laugh. They are really funny. The last videos I wrote and directed but this time they are directed by someone who worked on Grey’s Anatomy. I’m really proud of launching them.
Thanks!
I really appreciate you taking the time! A big part of the brand for me is all viral marketing so I appreciate the time and space to help launch the brand! Thank you so much!
Be blessed, lovelies-