If you happened to wander by the Ravens’ locker room on New Year’s Eve, you might have noticed a certain aroma — and no, not the one you think.
Lamar Jackson’s Night Lights cologne permeated the locker room and the media room and probably the meeting rooms as well after players and media members tested the star quarterback’s unisex scent at the request of The Baltimore Banner.
On the field Jackson has earned an impressive salary, but he’s got a variety of business interests, as well. He’s made an effort to market himself more, with Gatorade ads that greet drivers heading to M&T Bank Stadium to complement various projects with Complex Sports and GQ that have gone viral on social media.
In one of the latest videos, published by GQ, Jackson took viewers through his 10 essential things. They varied from God to water to slides. He also included items he has produced in his own business ventures.
The one that broke the internet, however, was his cologne. In a clip with over 20,000 views, Jackson explains why he created his own scent.
“People may not know this about me, but I’d rather prefer girl perfume, like something real soft,” Jackson said in the video. “So that’s what made me want to create something unisex, instead of just all about us men. I was like, man, I like to smell like a female sometimes, so get something that can be in between.”
Jackson explained that he was brought a few combinations by Crafting Beauty, which manufactured the scent for Era 8 Apparel, and chose his favorite. Spoiler alert: The cologne includes notes of neroli, cinnamon bark, incense, papyrus, amber and sandalwood.
In GQ’s video, Jackson sprays the scent and cherry blossoms appear in the background while birds chirp.
“Wonderful,” Jackson says.
The Banner was curious if Night Lights is, in fact, wonderful. So we bought a bottle (it’s $90 on the Era 8 Apparel website).
The original idea was to test the cologne with reporters, but when some of Jackson’s teammates caught wind of it, they wanted in, too.
So on New Year’s Eve, while the team practiced, the reporters — men and women alike; it’s unisex, after all — got the chance to test Night Lights and walked into the media availability smelling like Lamar Jackson.
In the locker room, safety Kyle Hamilton was first up, but he was reluctant to spray it on himself. Then wide receivers Rashod Bateman and Nelson Agholor got involved and talked it up, prompting Hamilton to change his tune.
Soon players from every corner of the locker room were testing the scent. As they headed to meetings, players and even the volunteer firemen and equipment managers were stopping by for a spritz. All agreed he did a good job of making it unisex.
Of course, their opinions were all from the male side. There are not yet females on any NFL rosters to confirm it, but the three female reporters provided a small sample. One, Morgan Adsit, guessed it would be floral if it was feminine, and she and another, Carita Parks, both picked up floral accents. This reporter guessed it would have some spice to it, which shows up in the cinnamon sticks.
“I mean, I could wear it,” Parks said. “He did pretty good with the unisex part.”
Jackson was watching it all with a grin. When asked if he knew what was going on, he replied “I could tell. I smelled it.”
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