Kate Walsh + Boyfriend (Part 2)

Thanks for joining us for Part 2 of our talk with Kate Walsh!

Doesn’t her perfume sound lovely and so versatile?   I can’t wait to try it!  If you haven’t seen the promotional videos yet, check them out on the Official Boyfriend Website.  They are very amusing and entertaining!

Without further ado, here is the second part of the interview:

LESLIE: Which part of the creation process did you most enjoy and which was the most challenging?

KATE: That’s a really good question. I really loved all the sampling.  I had a really specific idea of what I wanted for this initial Boyfriend. There are other Boyfriends to come, like in life. Most people don’t have just one.  But for this one, I really wanted to tell the story of a guy and a girl and the memory of him. I should say that part of the inspiration was that luxury feel and the romance of the train case. I wanted the design of the bottle to have that classic Chanel-type shape but modernized and with a Boyfriend twist. I wanted that luxury, but accessible so you don’t have to be a millionaire to get it.

The designing I just had a ball with. Chad Levine designed the bottle. We all collaborated on it, but he was just incredible.  Making up a business was really challenging and saying,  “Ok, I’m going to do it this different way.” I made it like you would a TV pilot in Hollywood. You write it and then you go and try to sell it.  It was sort of like I built this company from Elmers glue and lint. It’s hugely exciting.

LESLIE: It’s amazing to me that you were involved in every aspect. It’s very unique for a celebrity fragrance.

KATE: That’s why I was reticent to do it, but then its sort of like saying who needs another script or another TV show?  It was a creative endeavor. I couldn’t find what I wanted in the marketplace so I said I’m going to go and make it. The digital aspect and supporting it virally and making the webimmercials is really hugely gratifying.

LESLIE: They’re very entertaining to watch. It seems like a large part of what Boyfriend is about is feeling sexy. What is your go-to outfit in your closet when you just want to feel sexy for a night out?

KATE: I love a good skirt or dress. If I can get a new pair of heels on and rock them I just feel – I mean, as women we work really hard.   As much as I love skinny jeans, which is what I’m wearing now, as soon as I put on a skirt or dress and heels I immediately feel sexy.

DAWN: Hi, Kate!   I’m dying to ask you this. I saw you on Lettermen and you were promoting Boyfriend and you had the cute train case out on his desk and he surprised everybody by grabbing the body cream and eating it.

KATE: He went for it. It was insane. I didn’t know he as going to do that.

DAWN: Did he really eat it? You did mention that your perfume is so good you’d want to take a bite out of it.

KATE: I had given him the train case and he took the body cream out and filled it up with yogurt instead. He was just doing a bit. It’s not edible but it does smell so good you want to eat it. I don’t know why, maybe because I’m a foodie and I love to eat. I remember one of my earliest memories is seeing one of those big white lilies with an orange center and wanting to eat it. I was little, like 4, and I thought that’s really pretty I should eat it. It’s a very innate, primal thing: this smells good, shall we eat it? It’s a very sensual thing, too. This is tasty and really juicy and it smells good. That’s the pheromonal experience of fragrance too.

DAWN: It adds to the sex appeal of perfume.

KATE: Absolutely.

DAWN: As you mentioned earlier, back in the day, ladies would get ready and put their red lipstick on. The girls and I are on a quest to find the perfect red lipstick. Women seem to fall into two camps: Those who love red lipstick and those who are intimidated or not crazy about it. How do you feel about red lipstick and do you have a favorite?

KATE: I love red lipstick. I think people are afraid of it, especially if you have a fuller lip it can come across kind of hard. I think it can sometimes be a little hard. One of the biggest things I’ve seen with makeup artists is how they mix lipstick colors like a painter would on a palette and they come up with perfect shade. I have a perfect Chanel red that I adore. It’s Chanel Rouge Coco #23. It’s soft enough to wear day and night. It’s a little more spring or summer, not necessarily a 1940s Joan Crawford red.

DAWN: Do you have a favorite drugstore red too?

KATE: I don’t. Although MAC – I guess that’s not drugstore lipstick, but they have a great new line coming out for Wonder Woman and they have these insane colors.

ASHLEIGH: Hi, Kate.   I’m dying to know about working with Terry Richardson.

KATE: That was amazing or as I like to say “amazeballs.” He’s incredible.  Part of the process that I adored and was really thrilled about was getting green lights from people along the way.  My manager said, “Wouldn’t it be great to get Terry Richardson.” (Like that will ever happen.) But then it was like, “Let’s try!” So they reached out and he was totally down for it. He loved the concept and the idea. It was super exciting and fun to shoot with him.

Part of the story of this brand is to be real. Humor is a big part of it. I really want it to be sexy but funny. That’s what appeals to me. So much of fragrance is slow motion and airbrushed and super serious and sexy. I was like how about not that.

ASHLEIGH: What was first fragrance you ever wore?

KATE: I remember wearing Paris. I loved Chanel Crystal. And then Jessica McClintock, too.  When I was little, like 9 or 10, my grandmother gave me a little fragrance box and it was violet perfume. It was green with purple violets painted on the box. It was beautiful.

DAWN: You probably have your hands full but are you already thinking of a follow-up fragrance?

KATE: There will be more Boyfriends to come for sure! The concept behind starting a company was to expand and move into other fragrances and develop Boyfriend into a lifestyle brand. That’s my goal. That would be awesome. But I am a startup. It’s all me. We are a baby company. We have to grow slowly. I want to get this to as many people globally via ecommerce as we can. I want to develop the first Boyfriend as much as possible. We have the luxury of Twitter to help get it out there. But we don’t want to rush it too quickly with a coterie of other Boyfriends, but there will be others.

DAWN: What do you layer Boyfriend with?

KATE: I like oils so I wear it with musk or I go the other way with a China Rain. I can go fruity or musky. It’s amazing. It has all the notes so it blends well. I have a tuberose that is strong but Boyfriend softens it up.

We are launching videos called “Don’t Let This Happen to You” on February 10^th. They are very much humor videos designed to be Boyfriend-themed. They’re designed to be passed along. I’ll be Tweeting about them. You can pass them along on Facebook, Twitter or Email. I’m really proud of them. I wanted to continue the story and I hope everybody will get a good laugh. They are really funny. The last videos I wrote and directed but this time they are directed by someone who worked on Grey’s Anatomy. I’m really proud of launching them.

BLOGGERS: Thanks!

KATE: I really appreciate you taking the time!  Thank you so much!

by Dawn Hassle