The story of Ariana Grande
The American singer launched her first fragrance, Ari by Ariana Grande, in 2015, following the big celebrity signatures of the previous decade. It landed immediately with her fans, and the brand kept up a brisk release schedule, often in novelty bottles shaped like a pom-pom, a cloud or a balloon. Cloud, in 2018, changed the scale. Its accord of coconut, praline and creamy musk, dressed in a cloud-shaped bottle, reached well beyond her audience and settled among the most searched-for scents in the mass-market segment, spawning several follow-ups. The line also proved that a celebrity perfume could keep selling long after launch, carried by word of mouth and social media rather than by its star's news cycle. Today the line is one of the clearest examples of how a pop star's fragrance can outgrow its merchandise origins.
An olfactory signature
The Ariana Grande signature is softness. Cloud gives the clearest version of it: lavender blossom, juicy pear and bergamot up top, a heart of coconut, praline and vanilla orchid, then cashmere musk, blonde woods and creamy musks. The effect is clean, sweet skin, more milky than bakery, with an airy lightness that keeps it from cloying. It is accessible floral gourmand, built to please on first sniff. Vanilla orchid and praline supply the comfort; the pear keeps it youthful.
Which Ariana Grande perfume to choose?
Cloud is the only Ariana Grande scent in our database, and it is also the best place to start. Pick it if you enjoy pale gourmands of coconut, praline and musk rather than dark vanillas. Test it on skin rather than a blotter: its musky base only shows after an hour or so, which is when it becomes most flattering.