Victoria's Secret Fragrances: 7 Things to Know

Photo: Victoria's Secret Beauty

By Jessica Chia, Allure
 

The Givaudan fragrance house in Paris is the birthplace Tom Ford, Prada, and Louis Vuitton’s fragrances. And it’s also where Victoria's Secret fragrances happen to be dreamed up. Allure went inside its laboratories to get the inside scent scoop.

1.

One perfume is older than many of the models walking in the show:

Rapture, an amber-citrus floral, made its debut in 1992—making it older than Taylor Hill, Bella Hadid, and Kendall Jenner. But it’s officially being dropped from the VS perfume fragrance roster this year. Snap one up on Ebay while you still can.

2.

The craziest perfume package ever actually purred:

“We had a fragrance eight years ago called Ooh La La that purred when you opened the box,” says Mark Knitowski, vice president of product innovation at Victoria’s Secret. “The name was just a little out there. We were doing a lot of fragrances at one time.”

3.

Victoria’s Secret has won 20 Fragrance Foundation awards:

The brand has snagged 20 honors from the Fragrance Foundation since 2001, including Fragrance of the Year, Best Packaging of the Year, and several Consumer’s Choice Awards.

4.

Victoria’s Secret boasted the number-one fragrance in the country for five years:

Heavenly was the number-one fragrance (in terms of dollars and liters sold) in the U.S. from 2005 to 2010. It’s still at the top in terms of liters sold; Chanel now holds the title for the most profitable scent.

5.

The line’s priciest fragrance is $250.

The Victoria’s Secret Bombshell Luxe Eau de Parfum is blinged out with Swarovski crystals, and comes in a lacquered box with a lock and key. Because you’ll want to protect that investment.

6.

The most expensive ingredient used is more than $200.

The amber note in Eau So Sexy and Intense is worth more than $200 a kilo. “It’s really sexy, really resinous,” Knitowski says. “We used a really high-grade material that gives a great trail when someone wears it.” But it won’t be the priciest for long: There’s a perfume in the works that will contain a more than $250 orris note.

7.

Stella Maxwell is the newest face of a Victoria’s Secret fragrance:

Maxwell will be the face of Victoria’s Secret Paris, a sweet citrus with a French Cyprus note and an effervescent edge. “She really represented that energy and spirit of the brand and the fragrance,” Knitowksi says. And a little bit of naughtiness. She’s a rebel.”