Floral
BRITNEY SPEARS
Britney Spears is a celebrity fragrance brand born in 2004 from a deal between the American singer and Elizabeth Arden. Curious and Fantasy made it the most enduring celebrity line on the market, with more than forty releases in twenty years and distribution in some sixty countries. The license passed to the Italian group Give Back Beauty on January 1, 2025.
BRITNEY SPEARS perfumes
FloralCurious, and the 2004 record
The singer signed with Elizabeth Arden in 2004, then at the peak of her career. Curious was released in the United States in September of that same year, composed by Claude Dir, and launched internationally in March 2005. The brand name is the singer’s own, but the product follows a classic licensing arrangement.
The launch broke the house’s first-week record and made Curious the best-selling fragrance of the year, for more than one hundred million dollars. The Hollywood Reporter wrote in 2013 that it had sold more than five hundred million bottles in ten years.
Fantasy, and the mechanics of flankers
Fantasy was released in September 2005, composed by Ann Gottlieb with Givaudan, in a fuchsia bottle designed by Jean Antretter and set with Swarovski crystals. Elizabeth Arden named it the best-selling fragrance of the entire line, ahead of Curious itself.
Believe arrived in 2007, signed by Loc Dong and Carlos Benaïm. Flankers then took over and gave the line its volume: Midnight Fantasy, In Control, Circus, Prerogative, not counting the limited editions.
The change of licensee
Revlon, Elizabeth Arden’s parent company, had renewed the deal every five years since 2004. With the contract expiring at the end of 2024, the brand moved to Give Back Beauty, the Italian group that became the official licensee on January 1, 2025.
The handover was settled in court: in August 2024, Revlon sued four of its former employees and the new licensee, accusing them of stealing trade secrets. The parties settled in 2025, and the new licensee announced a first original fragrance for 2026.