Must-Try Celebrity Perfumes Worth Your Money in 2026
The celebrity perfumes worth trying are the ones that have outgrown the novelty: Ariana Grande’s Cloud, Billie Eilish’s Eilish, Kylie Jenner’s Cosmic, Bella Hadid’s Orebella and, for sheer nostalgia, Britney Spears’ Fantasy. Each offers something distinctive: a gourmand cloud, a creamy vanilla, a jasmine and amber glow, an oil-based formula. The category has matured, and the best bottles now hold their own beside designer names. Below you will find a shortlist, what to expect from each, what stars wear when no one is paying them, and a sensible way to try before you commit.
TL;DR
- Modern celebrity fragrances are no longer cash-ins: Marie Claire UK’s fragrance editor points to richer accords, better longevity and more elegant bottles.
- Start with the proven crowd-pleasers: Ariana Grande Cloud, Billie Eilish’s Eilish, Kylie Jenner’s Cosmic, Bella Hadid’s Orebella and Britney Spears’ Fantasy.
- What celebrities wear privately is often niche or designer, so the “signature scent” and the endorsed bottle are rarely the same thing.
- Never blind-buy a full bottle on hype alone. Sample first, wear it for a full day, and judge the dry-down.
- If you love the style of a scent but not the price, an inspired-by fragrance can be the smart route, and a discovery set lets you test several at once.
Table of Contents
- Why celebrity perfumes deserve a second look
- The shortlist: celebrity perfumes to try first
- A note on Dior Sauvage and “popular” versus “good”
- What celebrities actually wear
- How to try celebrity perfumes without wasting money
- Our perspective: celebrity scents and the art of the inspired-by
- Where to start with Alexandria
- Celebrity perfume versus inspired-by: choosing honestly
- FAQ
- Sources
Why celebrity perfumes deserve a second look
For years, the celebrity bottle was an afterthought: a sugary, one-dimensional fruity-floral wrapped around a famous name. That reputation lingers, and it is partly deserved. Yet the fragrance writer at Marie Claire UK admits her own scepticism gave way as newer launches turned up with structure, depth and wear-time that rival designer houses.
Three things have changed.
- Better composition. Today’s releases are built on proper accords rather than a single note repeated at volume. Kylie Jenner’s Cosmic, for example, is described as a blend of star jasmine and amber.
- Better design. Bottles are now objects in their own right, which matters to collectors as much as the liquid inside.
- Better expectations. Buyers now look for complexity and longevity, so a name alone no longer sells a scent for long.
There is a flip side. Popularity is increasingly social. A retail study of the world’s most popular fragrances tracked annual Google searches alongside TikTok and Instagram posts, and found the two tend to move together. In other words, the “most popular” bottle is often simply the one people are talking about most, which is not the same as the one that suits your skin.
The shortlist: celebrity perfumes to try first
Here is how the front-runners compare at a glance, followed by notes on each. Descriptions of notes come from the cited reviews; your skin chemistry will always have the final word.
| Fragrance | Style | Why it earns a try |
|---|---|---|
| Ariana Grande, Cloud | Soft, airy gourmand | The most searched celebrity scent, by a wide margin |
| Billie Eilish, Eilish | Creamy vanilla, warm musks | A gourmand that feels grown-up rather than sugary |
| Kylie Jenner, Cosmic | Star jasmine and amber | A modern floral-amber with designer ambitions |
| Bella Hadid, Orebella | Oil-based, alcohol-free | A different texture and a clingy, skin-close wear |
| Britney Spears, Fantasy | Playful gourmand | The cupcake accord that defined an era |
Ariana Grande, Cloud
If one celebrity perfume has become a cultural fixture, it is Cloud. Vogue’s profile of Ariana Grande’s fragrance business reports that Cloud has logged over 1.8 million searches in total, well ahead of her other scents such as Sweet Like Candy and Moonlight. It is a soft, whipped, comforting gourmand, and the sort of scent that makes the case for the genre: familiar, easy to wear, instantly recognisable on someone else.
Best for: anyone who enjoys sweet, cosy fragrances and wants a safe first step into celebrity scents.
Billie Eilish, Eilish
Billie Eilish’s debut stands out among gourmands for its restraint. PureWow’s roundup describes creamy vanilla, warm musks and sugared petals, and notes the thousands of five-star reviews it has gathered. A UK reviewer at Cosmopolitan, whose personal favourites sit well above £200, still rated the Billie Eilish trio highly enough to compare them with her costly bottles.
Best for: those who want vanilla with a little shadow in it, rather than icing.
Kylie Jenner, Cosmic
Cosmic is the example Marie Claire UK reaches for when it argues that celebrity fragrances can pass as designer. Its star jasmine and amber pairing gives it a luminous, slightly resinous warmth. It is the better pick if you find the sweeter gourmands too juvenile but still want something glowing and sensual.
Best for: evening wear, and fans of floral-amber compositions.
Bella Hadid, Orebella
Orebella takes a different technical route. According to PureWow, these perfumes use an alcohol-free, oil-based formula, and Eternal Roots, with lychee, raspberry and pink sugar, is the reviewer’s favourite of the six. Oil-based perfumes tend to sit closer to the skin than a spray of eau de parfum, so they suit people who prefer a personal, intimate aura over projection.
Best for: dry skin, layering, and anyone who finds alcohol-based sprays harsh.
Britney Spears, Fantasy
Fantasy is the old guard. Marie Claire UK recalls it for its unique cupcake accord, and it remains iconic for noughties-era gourmand fans. It is a reminder that a celebrity perfume can be a landmark rather than a fad, and that the sweetness people sneer at today was, in its moment, a genuine innovation.
Best for: nostalgia, and a very playful, unapologetic sweetness.
A note on Dior Sauvage and “popular” versus “good”
No conversation about famous faces and fragrances is complete without Dior Sauvage, the scent most people link with an actor’s campaign. The Independent reported in February 2026 that a bottle is bought roughly every 30 seconds, making it the world’s bestselling fragrance, yet the same piece explores how its ubiquity has earned it a polarising, even mocked, reputation online.
That is a useful lesson when you shop: cultural perception shapes how a scent is received just as much as the notes. If you are curious about the formulations, our guide to Dior Sauvage in EDT, EDP, Parfum and Elixir explains how the concentrations differ. For the wider picture of what sells, see our overview of the best-selling perfumes. Historically, Chanel No. 5 holds the all-time crown, with over 100 million bottles sold since 1921.
What celebrities actually wear
The bottle that carries a famous name and the bottle on a famous dressing table are frequently different things. The Mirror’s report on perfumes celebrities wear without being paid lists Rihanna’s reported favourite as Kilian’s Love, Don’t Be Shy at £225, even though she owns her own fragrance range. The same feature points to Taylor Swift’s fondness for Tom Ford Tobacco Vanille and the Princess of Wales’s long-standing love of Jo Malone London Orange Blossom.
The Standard makes the same point: stars will happily wear what they like, whatever the campaign contracts say. And on the men’s side, British Vogue reported that Tom Hardy found his signature in a woody cologne with cypress, grapevine and moss notes.
The takeaway is liberating. If a celebrity’s private taste leans towards vanilla-tobacco, orange blossom or a woody cypress, you are not limited to the bottle with their face on it. You can chase the style, not the name.
How to try celebrity perfumes without wasting money
A famous name raises expectations and the price tag alike, so a little method pays off.
- Test on skin, not paper. A blotter shows the opening only. Your skin shows how the heart and base unfold.
- Wear it for a full day. Gourmands especially can change dramatically after the first hour.
- Notice the dry-down. The last stage is what people smell on you at the end of the evening.
- Match the occasion. A light cloud suits the office, while amber-jasmine is happier after dark.
- Ignore the hype cycle. A scent that dominates your feed this month may be the one you tire of next month.
- Sample before you buy. Five millilitres reveals more than ten minutes at a counter.
Our perspective: celebrity scents and the art of the inspired-by
We have spent a great deal of time with both sides of this conversation, and our view is simple. Celebrity fragrances are a gateway. They bring people to perfume who might never have walked into a niche boutique, and the best of them teach a valuable lesson: you can love a style long before you know its vocabulary.
Once you have learned that you adore creamy vanilla, luminous amber or a sugared floral, curiosity naturally widens. That is where we come in. At Alexandria we make inspired-by fragrances, using high oil concentrations for lasting performance, and we produce them to be cruelty-free and IFRA-compliant. Our aim is quality without the designer premium, never a lesser experience dressed up as a bargain.
If you are interested in how fame shapes the dupe market, we have written about it in depth in The Impact of Celebrity Perfumes on Dupes. For UK-specific buying habits, our guide to top-selling perfumes in the UK is a good companion.
Our honest advice: choose by nose, not by name. A well-made scent that suits you will be complimented every time you wear it, whoever’s face is on the box.
— dave
Where to start with Alexandria
If the celebrity bottles above have shown you what you like, the quickest way to explore similar territory is to sample widely. Our Sample Pack of 6 x 5ml is £59.99, and gives you six scents to wear on skin across several days. If you would rather browse by style, our women’s fragrances, men’s fragrances and unisex collection each gather inspired-by scents across the main families, while the Discovery Set is priced at 83 USD and focuses on our best-selling dupes.
For a vanilla-led lover of gourmands, Splendid Vanille is a natural place to begin.
Celebrity perfume versus inspired-by: choosing honestly
The two are not rivals so much as different answers to different questions.
| Question | Celebrity perfume | Inspired-by fragrance |
|---|---|---|
| What are you paying for? | A named brand, design and marketing | The scent profile of an established original |
| Best for | Trying a trend, collecting, gifts | Wearing a loved style at a gentler price |
| Risk | Buying on hype, not on your skin | Choosing without sampling first |
| Smart move | Test on skin, wear for a day | Start with a sample pack or discovery set |
Both benefit from the same discipline: try before you commit. If you are a bargain hunter who also cares about craft, sampling inspired-by scents can be a particularly rewarding way to widen your palate.
FAQ
What is the most popular celebrity perfume?
By search interest, Ariana Grande’s Cloud is the usual answer. Vogue’s analysis cites over 1.8 million total searches for it. Popularity measures conversation, though, not whether the scent will suit your skin.
Are celebrity perfumes actually any good?
Many now are. Marie Claire UK argues that recent releases show real accord-building and good longevity, quite unlike the sugary cash-ins of the past. Quality still varies from one release to the next, so test each on your own skin.
What perfumes do celebrities really wear?
Often niche or designer scents rather than their own lines. The Mirror reports Rihanna favouring Kilian’s Love, Don’t Be Shy, for example. These are reported preferences, not confirmations.
Is there a cheaper way to enjoy a celebrity-style scent?
Yes. Once you know the style you like, an inspired-by fragrance can offer a similar character at a lower price. Our Sample Pack lets you try six before choosing a full bottle.
Sources
- 7 Celebrity Perfumes That Could Pass As Designer, Marie Claire UK
- Ariana Grande, Perfume Tycoon?, Vogue
- Billie Eilish perfumes reviewed, Cosmopolitan UK
- The 13 Best Celebrity Perfumes, PureWow
- New study reveals the most popular fragrances in the world for 2024, Retail Times
- Dior Sauvage and the red flag, The Independent
- 9 best-selling fragrances of all time, Stylist
- 6 pricey perfumes celebrities actually wear, The Mirror
- Celebrities’ favourite fragrances, The Standard
- Tom Hardy Has Finally Found His Signature Scent, British Vogue
