Tesco Finest Perfumes

British supermarket giant Tesco has revamped its own-label Finest fragrances range as part of a major push for its health and beauty products.

Design agency Pemberton and Whitefoord (P&W) has developed new packaging across the range featuring a star signature that is unique to its Modern Fragrances collection.

The design aims to reflect the more elegant and glamorous aspects of the fragrance genre.

Play-Doh Perfume a loser

Perfume as a brand extension did not fare well in 2006 according to a survey by Brand Consultancy TippingSprung.

And Play-Doh perfume was nominated the most inappropriate brand extension with 61% of the vote.

Consumers also turned their noses up at scents from Daytona 500 and rock band KISS.

Clive Owen face of Lancome Homme

British actor Clive Owen will receive £2.5million for promoting Lancome Homme - which will boast products such as plankton-infused wrinkle cream, 'invigorating' cleansing gel and smooth face scrub.

Lancome's roster of 'faces' includes Sir Mick Jagger's daughter Lizzie, American actress Uma Thurman, Spanish starlet Ines Sastre and German beauty Diane Kruger - who played Helen in Troy.

A Lancome insider said they hoped Owen's input would encourage men to be more open about buying skincare products. "The company thinks he's fabulous, he's very manly looking," the source said. "He'll be huge for the heterosexual market. "He's getting a giant fee but the men's skincare market is exploding. Suddenly it's become OK for real men to care about how they look.

New perfumes from GAP and Banana Republic

Inter Parfums, which makes and markets top fragrances worldwide as a licensee of top brands including Burberry, Lanvin, and Van Cleef & Arpel, has signed exclusive pacts to produce perfume and beauty products for The Gap and Banana Republic.

Parlux Fragrances sales down

Parlux Fragrances sales were down down 63 percent in 2006. Angry investors in the Fort Lauderdale perfume business smelled failure because of sagging sales and the late filing of a financial report. A shareholder lawsuit has been filed, and one major investor has asked regulators to dump the entire board.

Parlux manufacters and distributes the Paris Hilton and Guess fragrances, among others.

Fragrance Samples

Gwen Stefani to make her own scent
Gwen Stefani has just signed a licensing deal with perfume maker Coty to develop her L.A.M.B. (Love Angel Music Baby) line of fragrances, starting next year.

Fragrance consumers are a fickle bunch
Fragrances, and their makers, are struggling to captivate an increasingly fickle consumer. While consumers were once loyal to a scent for years, most now own half a dozen different fragrances, dabbing a drop of one or the other to suit a mood, an outfit or a season.

Poor Posh

Poor old Posh Spice.

It's been a long time since she's been at the top of the charts and now it seems Aussie pop princess Kylie Minogue has kept her from being the number one seller - in the perfume stakes.

Victoria Beckham's Intimately Her isn't selling nearly as well in the UK as rival fragrance Darling by Kylie Minogue. Posh's perfume is now second in UK chain Superdrug's Top 10 followed by Jade Goody's Shhh and David Beckham's Intimately Him.