4 days ago
Trump's New Fragrance Doesn't Smell Like Success
Early reviews are in for the US president's 'rallying cry in a bottle'—and they're not good. It also costs $249. Photograph: REMKOPeople voted for President Donald Trump, they wore his shoes, his hats, and his watches, and soon they'll be able to make calls on his phone. Yet, there is seemingly always another addition to the ways in which one can experience all that is Trump: which brings us to the latest entry to the commander-in-chief's ever-expanding fragrance collection.
Victory 47 for Men promises 'rich, masculine notes with a refined finish,' without actually listing any of the ingredients or its scent profile. Helpfully, early reviews from users at fragrance forum Parfumo describe it as 'oriental-fruity', but score it at just 1.9 out of 10.
Price-wise, at $249 for 3.3FL OZ, it's comparable with mainstays of blockbuster luxe lines, such as Tom Ford Noir Extreme ($240 / 3FL OZ)—but the cachet between the two is likely as far apart as Tom and Donald's politics.
Fragrances might seem like an odd choice for a personal brand that prides itself on plain-talking and masculine tropes, but according to NPD Group data, celebrity fragrances in the US amounted to $148.5 million between August 2022 and 2023—a 30 percent jump on the same period the year before. And while it's not exactly memecoin money, who wouldn't want a piece of that pie when you can leave the grunt work to a third party?
That upper-but-not-quite niche $249 pricing also puts Trump fragrances ahead of the more sophisticated celebrity scent sphere. At one end, names such as Jennifer Lopez and Antonio Banderas have long cluttered pharmacy shelves across the world with their lower-market-end-conquoring offers (think $25 a pop). Stars such as Ariana Grande are next on the ladder, capturing a huge market with candy-sweet bottles that go for $45-$68. Then we have our Rhiannas and Billie Eilishes in the $140 ballpark—affordable luxury.
It's not The Donald's first foray into the world of celebrity stink, of course—back in the misty, pre-presidential days of 2004 we had Donald Trump The Fragrance (courtesy of mid-range powerhouse Estée Lauder), then Success by Trump in 2012, followed by Empire by Trump in 2015 (both by the parent company of Parlux, which produces Billie Eilish's fragrance line).
Of course, this isn't the first time we've wondered what power actually smells like: JFK famously wore both Eight and Bob and Jockey Club during his time in office, but he wasn't licensing his name and 'likeness' to a third party churning out products that he'd likely never purchase himself.
Still, the Trump brand-diffusion plan has caught the eye of fellow authoritarians. Former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro has his own line of fragrances courtesy of Brazilian beauty brand Agustin Fernandez—though retailing in the distinctly less-premium neighborhood of R$300 (US$50).
Like Melania, Michelle Bolsonaro, former First Lady of Brazil, also got in on the action with the launch of their line in 2024. Perhaps Donald will swap complimentary bottles with Jair, or maybe there's a rare flacon of the Putin-inspired Leaders Number One winging its way over from Russia? The mind—and nostrils—boggle.
As with so much of the product offered on the 'GetTrump' family of websites, the imagery is a masterclass of 'actual product may vary' visualization. More Oscar statuette than bottle (let's not kid ourselves here—the Trump faithful likely aren't really buying this for the fragrance), the golden, youthful T-1000-like figure is perhaps more Eric than Donald? For the ladies' version ('Sophisticated, subtly feminine,' no clue as to what it smells of; 'chypreartig-animal' according to Parfumo), the only concession to femininity is a rose-gold hue to the lower half—you'll still get the stock, gleaming Donalderic homunculus glaring purposefully at you from the dressing table.
Interestingly, the only positive noises about Victory 47 thus far have come from the Fragrantica site (the early visualizations of the bottles are a treat , BTW)—itself somewhat controversial. The site's original review for the 'Fight Fight Fight' cologne was criticized across Reddit for failing to mention any injuries or the actual fatality from the shooting in Pennsylvania, and instead cited Trump's inspiring moment of 'personal courage'.
For those keeping track, in addition to 9 currently available watches (and 11 in pre-order) the current tally of under-licence merch from the GetTrump empire now includes Trump Slides, "Fight Fight Fight' High Tops (Silver) and Trump Landslide Boots.
Sadly, that $5 million Gold Trump Card doesn't actually come with any credit, so Trump superfans will have to max out their regular gold cards if they're going to complete the collection.
