In close proximity to music superstar Prince, one is likely to catch the scent of fate, which crossed a local company’s path with his own.

In recent months, Prince has been wearing the perfume 3121, a fragrance named after his 2006 album and developed in collaboration with area company Revelations Perfume and Cosmetics Inc.

Due to debut on July 7, the perfume, like the artist, is eclectic. The fragrance, which is subtle enough to be worn by a man, is described as a white floral scent, with a blending of jasmine, gardenia, tuberose and ylang ylang among other things, which upon settling takes on more musky, spicy overtones with notes of patchouli, sandalwood and cedarwood.

The lavender-colored fragrance, a favorite hue of Prince’s, is sold in custom Italian bottles plated with 22-carat gold. It could very well be the concoction that catapults 8-year-old Revelations higher into the fragrance and cosmetics market, company President Larry Couey said.

“He was interested in being very hands-on, he wanted a firm with a short decision process,” Couey said of Prince’s decision to sign up with the small firm that is rooted in Couey’s 33 years of experience in consumer products, including stints with Victoria’s Secret, Bath & Body Works and Unilever.

“He works all of the time, he’s a perfectionist,” Couey said of the artist known for such hits as “Purple Rain,” “Kiss,” “Little Red Corvette” and “1999.”

The seed for the business partnership was planted last August when Couey, attending a meeting in Los Angeles, ended up next door to Universal Music executives discussing Prince’s desire to launch a new fragrance collection with a small company. Introductions were made, hands were shaken, contact information exchanged and two weeks later Couey was boarding a plane to Prince’s Paisley Park Studios at the invitation of the legendary musician himself.

Couey and the artist, who has an affinity for the number seven that carries broad religious significance, had immediate chemistry, Couey said.

“Prince is a very spiritual man, he’s very serene and a centered person,” Couey said of Prince, who shares his Midwest upbringing.

In working with Prince, convention was immediately tossed aside by Couey and his wife Carol, who together co-founded Revelations in 1998. Meeting times were made flexible — by several hours — and stuffy board rooms were traded for less casual settings. The couple made monthly trips to the Rio in Las Vegas, where Prince lived, performed and owns a club and restaurant.

“Our meetings at times were in the living room, instead of being around a conference room table we were at a coffee table with lit candles,” Carol Couey said. From last September through April, Revelations presented roughly 10 different formulas to Prince, before finding the one which won him over.

“He uses a lot of candles … candles lit everywhere, and we worked from there,” Larry Couey said of the process of developing the signature fragrance that will be sold in values that can be made into the number 7 — $70 for 100 milliliters, $52 for 50 milliliters, $31.21 for 30 milliliters, $52 for a purse spray and $43 for body cream.

The fragrance line, which will initially be sold exclusively in Macy’s, will be expanded to include accessories, handbags and other products under the 3121 brand name in the future, Couey said.

The fragrance line will debut in Macy’s and online at 3121perfume.com on July 7 in a 24-hour charity event, in which 7 percent of each online sale will be split among seven charities chosen by Prince and Revelations. Prince will also perform a private show before 1,400 fans at a Macy’s in Minneapolis that day to be followed by a performance at a public venue. Fans lined up at the Minneapolis store last week to grab $250-plus packages, which granted them access to the private show, a lower-level ticket to the public concert, a T-shirt and a bottle of 3121, a month before it is made available in select Macy’s markets.

“We are on a steady growth path and I think that 3121 will catapult us on a different level,” Couey said of the private multimillion-dollar company. “Our object is to build 3121 into a brand that is in a class like Chanel No. 5 or White Diamonds.”

This article is reprinted with permission from the Philadelphia Business Journal. You can visit the PBJ online.