Perfume.com

One of the perks of being a celebrity is having the money and connections to pull off any product line penchants you may find yourself having. Anytime you find a favourite thing, place, person or feeling, you can (pay others to) capture them in a clothing line, cosmetic, or fragrance.

Take an inside look at the inspirations behind some of the largest (and most surprising) celebrity fragrance lines on Perfume.com.

Andy Roddick
This American pro tennis player played Wii tennis with Bloomingdale’s customers last spring to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Lacoste brand, while lamenting his own retail shortcomings. “[We’ve] sold nine bottles of [my cologne]. Wait, is it ten? Did we sell another one today?” The cologne is called Andy Roddick (“We paid a huge creative team for that name”) and yes, he wears it. But then, he admits, he might not be the right guy to take fashion and grooming tips from. “I wore a neon visor for a while. I’m not really proud of that.”

Antonio Banderas
After the relatively large success of 2005’s Zorro movie and its corresponding men’s Zorro fragrance, Antonio got a taste for the art of perfumery— and today he boasts a number of scents released under his own name. And created under his sturdy gaze, apparently; Antonio is rumored to be a bit of a control freak behind the scent scenes. So he was obviously intimately involved in the development of many of his later scents, including Spirit for Women, in aspects from product development to marketing, and even distribution.

Britney Spears
Brit’s fifth fragrance Circus Fantasy was inspired solely by her album Circus and corresponding Circus tour. “I fell in love with the circus story we created with my tour and am really excited to be able to bottle it up and share it with my fans,” said Ms Spears. Circus is the first time Elizabeth Arden has created a fragrance named after, inspired by and entirely aligned with, one artist’s album and tour. Princess gets what she wants!

Christina Aguilera
Christina Aguilera might have been Dirrrty in the past but the pop star put the microphones aside and, only eight months after giving birth to her first child, created and presented the perfume Inspire. Far from being an amateur in the world of perfumes (she has half a dozen fragrances under her name), Christina’s most recent launch was inspired by her vision of everything she believes a female perfume should be: classic and timeless, sexy, sweet and exciting.

Derek Jeter
The Derek Jeter cologne, called Driven, was designed to capture “ambition, courage, passion and confidence”. Avon Products Inc. teamed up with the New York Yankees shortstop to develop this list of attributes to be captured in the baseball player’s signature men’s fragrance. Jeter was involved throughout the development process— and claims he knows what makes for a scent home run and what makes for an olfactory foul ball. “I knew what I wanted. I didn’t want it to overtake a room.”

Donald Trump
Estee Lauder reportedly grabbed Donald Trump for a cologne collaboration because “his commitment to excellence and desire for perfection is unparalleled.” Aiming to capture the essence of the American Dream, Estee Lauder felt that men of all ages would want to experience Mr. Trump’s passion and taste for luxury. What inspired Mr. Trump to get on board? Well— what’s ever inspired him? Money and his own ego! “My new partnership with Aramis and Designer Fragrances is huge. They are leaders in the industry. Donald Trump, the fragrance, will be the best men’s scent available and the must-have gift for the holidays.” (We’re pretty sure he went on to say, “All other colognes, you’re fired!”)

Gwen Stefani
Gwen Stefani was always more than a performer, also creating her own clothing and inspiring a global following of her personal style. After being introduced to French haute couture fashion (which inspired her L.A.M.B. clothing line) Gwen successfully branched into fragrance and released L in 2007, working on the brew diligently alongside perfumer Harry Fremont. Her newest string of fragrances is inspired by the hippest niche of Tokyo culture and the region’s Harajuku Girls, who represent as Gwen’s back-up dancers and were the inspiration for much of Gwen’s style, substance, and now, fragrances. Stefani has released five Harajuku Lovers scents.

Halle Berry
The X-Men star apparently spent two years fussing over Halle, a woody-oriental mix tailored exactly to the star’s tastes and specifications. Halle reportedly spent years mixing and matching her own fragrances, and was tired of searching for a scent to represent her. She said of Halle that “after two long years of work, the scent is a real, true expression of who I am.”

Jennifer Lopez
Following the female version of Deseo (a name which means Desire, and scent that was inspired by her Latin origins), J-Lo launched a men’s version by the same name, stating that the way a man smells should evoke three fundamental things: “fresh masculinity, sexy allure and daring attitude.” Perhaps an off-shoot of all this desire, her next scent My Glow was inspired by the joys of motherhood and love for her family.

Jessica Simpson
She might question the origins of tuna but Jessica knows diehard romance, and her new scent, Fancy Love, captures just that: the soft but outrageous, uninhibited, all encompassing feeling of falling in love. “Romance has never been more important to me so I wanted to celebrate that special feeling with this new fragrance.” Despite the star’s single status, Jessica is known to be forever inspired by the goal of a loving and successful partnership.

Mariah Carey
Divalicious Mariah Carey was admittedly never a perfume wearer until she was able to create her own fragrances, making them especially personal. Her new scent Forever reflects where she is currently at in life. For M the inspirations were multiple, including places she’s traveled and unspecified childhood memories. For Luscious Pink, perfumers used the singer’s voice as inspiration to compose the sparkling floral scent. So in short, Mariah fragrances are like everything else Mariah— just all about Mariah!

Mary-Kate & Ashley Olsen
In 2003 the Olsen twins added fragrance to their giant empire of products, working with Coty to develop simple fragrances and body mists to be sold at Wal-Mart stores. Ever the level-headed workaholics, the inspiration for this development was simply a desire to tap into an available niche of bringing fine fragrances to what they perceived to be an under-marketed teen segment. Snooze! Even the titles lack real inspiration: Mary-Kate & Ashley 1 & Mary-Kate & Ashley 2.

Paris Hilton
The American socialite has just launched a new perfume to add to her growing empire of fragrances, shoes, clothes and hair extensions; and dont forget her music, television and movie career, as well as her inheritance from the Hilton hotel chain, which is a job on its own to spend. Her fifth perfume, Fairy Dust, with slogan Do you believe in fairy tales? suggests that Paris’ inspiration was to enchant women around the world with the help of her magic wand and a sprinkling of fairy dust, to remind them that dreams come true if you just think happy thoughts! (and have rich parents!)

Queen Latifah
Queen Latifah has recently entered into a partnership with Parlux Fragrances to create a series of empowering fragrances for women. Despite weight struggles, Latifah has never stopped believing in her inner beauty. “For me, beauty really does start on the inside. It’s like a state of mind, a state of love if you will. So I see fragrance as a natural expression of this state of love: scent expresses a woman’s confidence and sensuality; it’s how she embraces her body, her mind and her strength.”

Sarah Jessica Parker
SJP is as vocal about her fragrance inspirations as she is her love of shoes. Her second fragrance, Dawn, reminds her “of being a child, walking into a botanical garden and being completely enveloped by the smell of orchids. It also represents the sheer loveliness of dawn, where a lovely day unfolds in individual lovely moments. Dawn is a fresh canvas, a new adventure, a lovely moment of your own.” Seems like a little of Carrie Bradshaw’s writing abilities rubbed off on SJP!

Sean John
Larger-than-life rapper, producer and entrepreneur Sean “Puffy” Combs takes his inspirations from close to home. “My grandmother always used to say, ‘You are what you say you are,’ and she called me her little king. [I Am King cologne] is about your father, your brother, your boyfriend, your husband — the kings in your life. It’s about self-affirmation.”