05.30.08
Signature Style
Tova Borgnine celebrates 30 years in the beauty business.
By Melissa Meisel
Associate Editor
Imagine being the top-selling fragrance on QVC, having sold over 10 million bottles to date on television without customers being able to smell the scent until it arrives in the mail. This is the world of Tova Borgnine, recent nominee for the FiFi 2008 Fragrance Hall of Fame award and head of the Tova Corporation celebrating 30 years of business. And how does she feel about it? “Success never smelled as sweet,” says Tova.
Tova Borgine |
Tova expanded the Cactine skin care line to include eye makeup remover, moisturizer, toner and a moisture masque to complement the original masque. In 1982, Tova was ready to break new ground and develop her own fragrance, which became Tova Signature—“a true American classic,” according to Tova. The fragrance is aged for three months and uses pure essential oils such as bergamot, jasmine absolute, French lavender, sandalwood and musk.
"Customers are on their 50th bottle and have gone into second generations, where the daughters are now loving Tova Signature as their mothers do. It is clean sensuality, feminine, alluring and never overpowering,” says Tova of the celebratory fragrance recently celebrating its 25th anniversary on the market. “Men love it because it’s as if you just stepped out of a spring shower. You put it on in the morning and six to eight hours later you may not notice it, however, I promise you that people will ask you what you are wearing. It becomes your signature.”
In 1990, another marketing breakthrough occurred when Tova was asked to appear on a trial basis on the televised shopping network, QVC. In 1998, she broke all previous sales figures on QVC when she sold 100,000 fragrance gift sets in mere minutes, nearly crashing QVC’s massive telephone system in the process. Today, loyal QVC shoppers await Tova’s next release—most recently, Tova Signature Summer.
Tova Signature Summer is called a sparking citrus. |
As for 30 years in the beauty business, “We were way ahead of our time and now we’re right on target,” says Tova. Upcoming releases for the brand include a Signature Skin Smoothing Body Balm and Signature Soft Shimmer Dry Oil. Additionally, according to Tova, the company is working on a Signature fragrance for Holiday 2008.
More info: www.QVC.com