Elle, Cosmo to Include Actual Vials Of Perfume With November Issues

Some subscribers of four Hearst magazines will soon get perfume samples in an apparently new fashion for the industry: via sample vials of Marc Jacobs Daisy and Daisy Eau So Fresh.

The two-and-a-half milliliter tubes will come poly-bagged to 100,000 copies of the November issues of Elle, Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire and Seventeen, for a total of 400,000 subscribers, according to Hearst Magazines. Affixing sample-size bottles of perfume to magazines is believed to be a first. "The technology just didn't exist," said Michael Clinton, president-marketing and publishing director of Hearst Magazines.

For magazine publishers, it could serve as yet another way to attract dollars from beauty advertisers, which has been among a handful of persistent bright spots for the industry. In the first half of 2013, the number of ad pages for toiletries and cosmetics climbed 3.3% industry wide while ad pages as a whole declined, the Publishers Information Bureau said.

"Until you get a scratch and sniff on your smartphone, magazine media has a unique selling proposition to allow samples," Mr. Clinton said. "This gives our medium an even bigger play into beauty advertising -- a big growth category and probably one of the biggest categories in the magazine marketplace."

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Beyoncé's Heat Perfume Is Best-Selling Celebrity Fragrance of All Time

It's been a big week for Beyoncé: first she debuted her dramatic new blond pixie cut, and now we've learned that her new special-edition Heat fragrance (the most recent release among her six other scents) has officially claimed the No. 1 spot for best-selling celebrity fragrance of all time!
Hey, when you've got it, you've got it!

The intoxicating scent features an alluring mix of florals, vanilla, sandalwood and fruity acai, making for one money-making must-have!

The perfume is packaged in a striking turquoise glass bottle and commemorates her Mrs. Carter Show world tour, which ended just days ago.

"I love my music, I love performing and most of all I love and appreciate my fans," said the singer of the perfume in a release. "I wanted to give them a special remembrance of this tour and I created this scent to reflect the power, passion and playfulness I put into my performances."
Sounds smells good to us!

Looks like her fans are lining up to get their hands on a bottle to honor Queen Bey!

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Orders Evaporate for Celebrity Perfumes

Wall Street smells trouble in the fragrance business.

Shares of perfume makers tumbled Thursday, after Elizabeth Arden Inc. RDEN +0.30% —the producer of fragrances including Justin Bieber's "Girlfriend," Taylor Swift's "Wonderstruck Enchanted" and Nicki Minaj's "Pink Friday"—said orders from one of its biggest customers, a major U.S. mass-market retailer, had been cut sharply in recent months.

Executives at the company didn't name the retailer, but Wal-Mart Stores Inc. WMT -0.45% is its biggest customer, according to Elizabeth Arden securities filings, accounting for 13% of its $1.24 billion sales in the year to June 2012 and about a fifth of its sales in North America.

The cutback in so-called replenishment orders, Elizabeth Arden said, effectively reduced the retailer's inventory on hand "with orders significantly below their pace of their retail sales."

Due to that sharp drop in orders, as well as pockets of weakness for its business in Europe, Elizabeth Arden posted a $5 million loss for the quarter ended June 30, compared with a profit of $3.6 million a year ago. Its overall sales in the year to June 2013 edged up 2% to $1.34 billion.

Shares of Elizabeth Arden, which also sells cosmetics and perfumes under its namesake brand, were down nearly 25% at their low Thursday before rebounding to $33.56, off 17% on the day. Shares of another fragrance maker, Inter Parfums Inc., IPAR -5.10% fell nearly 14% before climbing back to $31, down more than 5% on the day.

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