A style icon best known for her role as Carrie Bradshaw in the equally iconic (and era-defining) Sex and the City shows and spin-off movies, Sarah Jessica Parker is better known to fragrance fans for her own widely-praised collection of highly desirable scents…
Beyond that, Sarah Jessica Parker’s perfumes have been highly praised by perfumistas and fragrance journalists alike: exquisite and even sometimes daringly niche-like compositions, but at highly affordable prices. And, as with her signature fashion collection – which shows flourishes of SJP’s distinctive style – here is a woman who clearly cares about her namesake fragrance line, keen to be involved at every step to make sure that the scents merit carrying her name…
From the very first launch of the aptly named and still-adored Lovely, through to Stash, these are fragrances to admire and enjoy in their own right – no matter if you happen to also be a huge fan of the woman who not only inspired them, but took such pleasure being involved in their creation. Never resting on her laurels, Lovely became Lovely Sheer – a gauzy, gorgeous reinterpretation where orange flower blossoms are glazed with mandarin and bergamot and fresh gardenia water glistens with dashes of pink peppercorn.
Renowned fragrance blog Now Smell This is just one of many to heap praise on her perfumes, describing Covet thus. ‘Like Lovely, it is just terrifically well done – and it doesn’t, like so many celebrity scents, smell like something that was dashed off over the course of a couple of meetings.’
Later, Sarah took inspiration from her character in Sex and the City – the inimitable and ever-fashionable Carrie Bradshaw – for the fragrance SJP NYC: six letters that say so much to those-in-the-know. Carrie is beloved for her joie de vivre, unique sense of style and idiosyncratic sense of humour. It’s testament to the alchemy of the perfumer’s art and her own close collaboration for this project, this character comes across so strongly in a fruity, floral-bouquet bearing sparkle of a scent that veritably bursts from the bottle.
Perfume-lovers had long been aware (and proudly wearing!) these fragrances – but it was perhaps the launch of Stash, such a boldly boozy and delectably addictive fragrance, that seemed to grab the attention and noses of fragrance writers and even ‘celebrity fragrance’ refuseniks…
One of the hottest trends right now is for what perfumers are now calling ‘genderless’ or ‘gender fluid’ fragrances (a term that’s replacing the more usual ‘unisex’, and meaning scents that can be enjoyed by all, with no overtly ‘masculine’ or ‘feminine’ character). As ever, SJP was way ahead of the game. Stash is a perfume that knocked it out of the park regarding positive reviews (from even the most vocal of bloggers) with those in the know likening it to a high-end fragrance – proving that affordable perfumes can be daringly different and of the highest quality.
SJP explained to British Vogue that Stash was actually designed ‘right on the heels of working on Lovely, about 10 or 11 years ago. I really wanted to do a genderless fragrance,’ going on to explain this was eventually put on hold because ‘…back then nobody was comfortable with it, because the fragrance industry at that time was pretty much about male and female categories.’
After waiting all those years, in 2016 the time was ripe and the perfumistas were more than ready. Parker Explains, ‘When I formed a new company to relaunch Lovely, I was fairly insistent that Stash be given its chance. I was grateful that the fragrance industry had gone through the unisex, genderless phase because it meant this could now just be a fragrance for humans. And Lovely is huge here [the UK], it’s incredible to me. It is in large part due to the support of Lovely in the UK that I am able to do Stash.’
And now, that success is followed by Stash Unspoken – a softer interpretation of the original that seems to purr in hushed tones on our skin. Pink pepper, quince, wisteria and honeysuckle are entangled with powdery peony and almond-like tonka bean in a woody musk base we can’t keep our noses out of. Along with perfume-lovers all over the world, we cannot wait to see what SJP Beauty delivers as her fragrance journey continues…
