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What does Khloé Kardashian smell like?
Adele Cardani sits down with Khloé Kardashian to discuss her fragrance habits and the story behind her first-ever solo perfume
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Your support makes all the difference.If you’ve ever wondered what Khloé Kardashian smells like, you can finally find out for yourself. Her debut solo fragrance, XO Khloé, has just launched at Harrods – and according to the reality TV star turned business mogul, it took “close to a year and a half” and “over 100 rounds of fragrance mods” to create.
Kardashian has previously teamed up with her sister Kim on two perfumes under the KKW Fragrance line, and collaborated on one with her ex-husband, Lamar Odom. But developing XO Khloé was different from those forays into fragrance. The process allowed her ultimate creative control and marked her independence – culminating in a floral scent she calls “so identifiably me”.
The bottle shines like a multi-faceted gem, representing her motto: No pressure, no diamonds. Upon spritzing, the scent opens with a fresh whiff of rose petals, before transforming into a heart of juicy peach and sweet praline. Then, it dries down, engulfing the wearer in a comforting blend of tonka bean, moss, musk and sandalwood.
“This is now my signature scent that I wear every day. I stand behind it,” Kardashian tells me, perched on a sofa in her Claridge’s suite. “I really appreciate it when I’m walking by and someone says they like the way I smell. At first, I didn’t even tell my sisters I was doing a fragrance and then one day Kylie was like, ‘Oh my gosh, you smell so good!’ That’s when I knew I was on the right track.”
She continues, “It’s a huge confidence boost when I’ve created something that people tell me they love, without even knowing it’s mine. Or when I run into a friend and they’re wearing Good American jeans. It feels so good to know they actually like the product – that they’re not just trying to impress me or be nice.”
In her own words, XO Khloé exudes “relaxed confidence”. Kardashian explains: “I didn’t want the scent to be so heavy that you’re masking something. It’s a fragrance that is designed to enhance who you naturally are. It makes me feel confident and it smells glamorous, but it’s also unstuffy and relatable. There are some fragrances that are so strong it makes the wearer seem untouchable – like they’re too fancy. This one, on the other hand, is very approachable.”
Revealing her perfume application technique, Kardashian shares, “I douse myself. I like to spray directly on the skin so that the fragrance melds with my body chemistry. I spray my neck and then I’ll spray the air and do a little walk through the falling mist. Then, later in the day, I’ll reapply by spraying my clothes.”
As 20th-century writer Marcel Proust so notably recognised, our olfactory sense has the power to create some of the strongest feelings and memories. This is something Kardashian had in mind when crafting her signature fragrance.
“The beauty of scent is that it can transport you back in time,” she says. “The first perfume I ever wore was Thierry Mugler Angel. I wore it in middle school and it’s not a scent I would wear currently, but when I smell it, it immediately takes me back in time. I could tell you about the boy that I had a crush on, or [the memory of] when I was walking down a certain hallway.”
Kardashian concludes: “That’s what’s so special about designing a fragrance. It’s a lot of pressure because you’re helping create memories for the wearer. I hope XO Khloé does that.”
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