Perfume maker finds politics 'scent'-ilating

Perfume isn't just about dollars and scents to April Cline.

The former Utahn says the sale of fragrances that she designed and named for major presidential candidates last year correctly predicted the eventual winner. And she hopes that sales now of follow-up fragrances celebrating Barack Obama's inauguration may help a woman fighting cancer who happens to have her same name.

During the primary season last year, Cline started an online company called PresidentialPerfume.com that offered fragrances named for the three leading presidential candidates — "Barack," "Hillary" and "John."

"'Barack' and 'Hillary' were neck and neck throughout 2008. But 'Barack' was almost always just a few bottles ahead. It was a tight race, and reflected what happened in the actual race," said Cline who attended Snow College and Utah State University but now lives in West Virginia.

What about the sales for "John?" Did it trail the others? "Substantially," she said. "It just wasn't the year for 'John.' It was always behind."

Her perfume sales, and how it had mirrored the race, had attracted international attention last year ?with stories appearing as far away as China, Japan, Belgium, France, Italy, Spain and England. It started when a local newspaper in West Virginia wrote a story, and it spread on news wires and talk shows started calling her.

Not bad for a home business that had started, in part, because Cline suffered from chemical sensitivity that did not allow her to wear perfume for 15 years. She started making and selling fragrances that she could wear.

Now, Cline is trying to follow up with new fragrances to celebrate the inauguration — and use the proceeds to benefit someone she met online, who also happens to be named April Cline.

"We're a lot alike. We both happened to have e-mail addresses (on gmail) that were a lot alike. In fact, my sister kept e-mailing her by accident. She sent an important message one day.…The other April Cline thought the message was important enough that she tried to find me," the fragrance maker said.

As they became acquainted, the perfume-making April Cline found her namesake in North Carolina was fighting ovarian cancer. So the perfume maker says she wants to help by donating profits from a new fragrances she has created in honor of the inauguration.

Her top seller among that group is the citrus-smelling "Audacity," which she said she made with Obama in mind because of his book, "The Audacity of Hope." She said, "If you want a fragrance that leaves no doubt that you are in charge, this is the fragrance for you."

Among other fragrances are "Oval Office" (a soap-and-water clean smell for entering a new office), "Commander In Chief" (a vanilla fragrance Cline says is a "man magnet") and "Amazing First Lady" (a feminine fragrance).

"I'm excited about the inauguration and the first black to be president. This is my little tip to Barack Obama," she said. "And I hope it can do some good for the other April Cline at the same time."