Strictly Come Dancing host Claudia Winkleman likes to ‘smell of sex’

Claudia Winkleman has a unique approach when it comes to selecting her scent.

The Traitors and Strictly Come Dancing host’s perfume scent of choice is very Brat summer-coded – she wants to smell like sex.

She’s not getting between the sheets with her husband Kris Thykier each time she needs a top-up, but instead, she is spritzing one bottle.

Claudia, 52, has deemed the Yves Saint Laurent Opium EDP as the perfect provider of her desired aroma, and therefore it’s become the only perfume that she uses.

YSL describe it as an ’emblematic fragrance’ with a ‘spicy and floral trail’ that is ‘a symbol of addiction since its creation.’ ‘Never has a perfume provoked such emotion,’ they added. Claudia simply says the odour is ‘pure filth’.

We’re not sure her description will be added to the official marketing campaign for the luxury fragrance, which costs £125, for 90ml, any time soon.

‘I always opt for the classic, old, brown bottle – it smells of pure filth,’ she explained to Grazia.

‘It’s the best smell. It’s musky and it’s dirty.’

Clarifying exactly what she doesn’t want people to get a whiff of when they are around her, she said: ‘I don’t want to smell girly, I don’t want to smell like I’ve just walked across a meadow. I don’t want any of that. I want to smell like sex!’

Claudia is unapologetic in approaching beauty in her own way. She describes her signature look as ‘orange, black eyes, tipp-ex mouth’ and has gone to some extreme lengths to maintain her fake tan including using Bisto granules and old tea bags.

‘I don’t care about what I look like,’ she previously said on Elizabeth Day’s podcast.

‘I don’t want to suddenly go, I’m throwing on a gloss and a bit of blush, I don’t want to change what I do, I want to get decrepit looking the same.’

The shiny brunette long bob and full fringe are also synonymous with Claudia – it’s so enviable that some people would give their spleen to have it (a bit dramatic).

However, the boss of BBC wanted to make a slight change to it when she accepted the Strictly gig in 2014.

When calling to offer her the job, BBC Television Executive Danny Cohen, requested the number of her hairdresser.

‘Two days later, James, who does my hair, said, “This guy called Danny phoned up to complain about the length of your fringe”. 

‘He [Danny] was like: “You can have this job but it’s just annoying, it’s down to your nose. You want to be on telly but you’re invisible”.’

The request didn’t seem to bother Claudia, who claimed that the programme is bigger than her.

‘I don’t say this in a faux self-deprecating way. It is a machine. A steam engine. I’m not even a cog,’ she explained.

Claudia’s teenage daughter Matilda who she shares with Kris – the couple also have sons Jake and Arthur – has a different approach to beauty.

‘I don’t do TikTok because I’m so ancient. I mean, my daughter is so good at applying makeup, I can’t even tell she’s wearing it. I’m like, how have you managed that? And she gets so many tips from from just watching tutorials,’ she shared.

‘She’s like, “Yeah, mom. I just put a little bit of highlight at the end of my nose.”

‘For me, I like looking like Alice Cooper, but I love the fact that this whole generation knows what they’re doing. I definitely didn’t and I still don’t. That’s okay.’

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