It may not be the “Complicit” fragrance we were expecting from Ivanka Trump, but we hear it smells a hell of a lot better.
Adult entertainer and Donald Trump accuser Stormy Daniels just launched her own fragrance, appropriately named “Truth.”
Described as a “beautiful, gender-neutral, pheromone infused cologne/perfume created for all,” Truth is made by intimate product manufacturer It’s the Bomb (no, seriously: their site is itsthebomb.com). The fragrance reportedly features top notes of cyclamen, rose water, melon, freesia, lotus, rose and Calone; middle notes of carnation, lily, water peony and lily of the valley, and base notes of exotic wood, tuberose, amber, sandalwood, musk, osmanthus and cedar.
In short, it smells like “hot tea”—or impeachment, if you catch it upwind. But according to style site Racked, it actually smells ... pretty good! (As we’re sure impeachment would.) Forming their own all-gendered focus group, they got the following response:
All of them had positive reactions. Some said they would wear it, although one person said that while she wouldn’t personally do so, “if someone next to me on the subway were wearing it, I wouldn’t be mad.”
It was almost universally described as floral and not particularly gender neutral, at least in the strictly traditional sense of the term. One man said, “I can’t wear this.” I originally had the same opinion, but after I wore it for a few hours, the floral notes weakened and it took on a clean, less girly scent. It’s really very … nice!
“I feel like it’s someone with a very tidy public image,” one woman said. “I don’t think it’s particularly gender neutral, but it’s also not cloying. It feels pretty grown up.”
We’re sure it’s more grown-up than Trump, whose two fragrances are called “Empire” and “Success” and likely smell like sweaty toupees and decades-old self-tanner, respectively.
The description on Truth’s product page reads: “Embracing your personal truth is the one thing that everyone can do to empower and enhance their own life. Whether it’s speaking out on personal experiences or pursuing the goals we set for ourselves with determination to succeed, we each control our own story and how it will shape us and those around us.”
After kicking around a few names—including “Hush,” which It’s the Bomb chief operating officer and creative director Michael Ninn said, “just had bad connotations”—Daniels ultimately chose the name “Truth” herself. If it sounds familiar, that’s because it was also the name of a now-discontinued Calvin Klein fragrance (the name had been legally released). The tagline for the new fragrance is “embrace your truth,” and in a personal note on the page, Daniels writes:
I have reached the point in my life where I know that I am in charge of what I do and who I am. I have fully embraced my own truth and now I am sharing that empowering message with everyone seeking the complete freedom to be who they are. Honesty within and about ourselves leads the way to great things. ‘Truth’ is more than a fragrance to me; it is a symbol that will remind those who wear it that they are in charge of their own life.
Admittedly, we usually try to keep our focus on the ins-and-outs of black beauty, but there is something just so sweet about Daniels leveraging her notoriety in this way—for the bargain price of $64.99 per bottle. And even sweeter? Despite becoming a household name via presidential scandal, Trump isn’t part of the marketing plan; he isn’t mentioned once, respecting both Daniels’ gag order and her autonomy. As she told Racked in a statement:
I have met many people that are just coming into their individual truth, whether it be their sexuality, social activism or their skills and abilities that are not considered by many in the public realm to be “normal” but are exceptional and unique to them. ... My fans know that while I may have created a fantasy for them to enjoy, I was always real. There’s a difference between fantasy and outright lying to people and lying is not something I ever have or will do. Did I sometimes not speak out publicly when I was not happy with certain situations? Sure. But that doesn’t mean that I wasn’t aware of my own truth and followed my heart in how I acted when in a situation I didn’t agree with. I am a strong woman who has always known what I wanted and was very adept at figuring out how to get it.