The Early Aughts Celebrity Fragrance

The celebrity fragrance is a tale as old as time. Let us take a moment to honor Elizabeth Taylor’s White Diamonds aldehyde bomb of the 90s (which I will come back to.) However, I would argue that the early 2000s celeb fragrances pushed this market into glamour overdrive. It was the perfect moment of worshipping the few celebs we had ahead of influencers. The pickings were slim, and we flocked to these juices.

Who didn’t want to be Britney before and, honestly, after her public meltdown? How could we get some of J.Lo’s glow? I’m not sure people actively wanted to be Paris Hilton, but she beat J.Lo to the punch in releasing her own scent, and was only one month shy of Curious by Britney Spears, so she counts too. The timing was ICONIC, the scam was real, and we all bought it. These fruity florals are the staples that leapt off many vanities from 2000 onward for every curious bitch.

Official notes across many of these are pink grapefruit, pear, magnolia, tuberose, musk, neroli… yeah right—these all kind of smell like Aquanet. You’ll actually smell like Britney Spears bucket hat after a day of filming Crossroads.