Author Danielle Steel has encountered a high level of success with her writing career, writing 67 novels and selling more than 560 million copies worldwide. However, this is the first time she has entered the cosmetics world, signing an exclusive global licensing agreement with Elizabeth Arden in September 2005.
When discussing her fragrance launch, Steel suggested that she hoped to target the audience that she has already established through the high sales of her novels.
The scent, which is a combination of mandarin, jasmine, orchid, rose, amber and musk, will be sold at select department and specialty stores in the US including Macy's, Belk and Sephora and will be sold for around $35 to $65.
Steel said that the fragrance would reflect the characters that she uses in her novels, stating that: 'this is a wonderful opportunity to introduce my readers to another dimension of my creative life. Fragrances represent so many aspects of life that my characters experience - commitment, love, and emotion'.
Elizabeth Arden, a global beauty products company, develop a portfolio of brands such as Red Door, Elizabeth Arden 5th Avenue and men's fragrances such as Daytona 500, GANT adventure, and the HUMMER fragrance for men.
A large part of Elizabeth Arden's sales revenue is made through sales of celebrity brand name fragrances such as the Britney Spears fragrance brands, the Hilary Duff range, and the Elizabeth Taylor range.
Celebrity endorsements, alongside anti-aging products, are continuing to fuel a significant rise in sales of prestige beauty products in the US, with the make-up segment providing the main driving force in a market now valued at $8.2bn.
A report released earlier this year by The NPD Group stated that sales of celebrity fragrances now represent nine percent of the top 100 women's fragrances and generated about $150 million, three times what they generated in 2000.