Antonio Banderas - Banderas Insisted On Charity Tie-In With Fragrance Collection

ANTONIO BANDERAS almost turned down the opportunity to launch his own collection of fragrances - until company bosses agreed to combine his passion for philanthropy in every step of the perfumes' promotion.

The Mask of Zorro star became one of the first celebrity perfumers in the mid-1990s when he signed a deal with PUIG to capture the smell of success.

He is now preparing to release his seventh men's scent, titled The Secret, this summer (10) - but the Spaniard admits he would not continue to be involved in the fragrance industry if his work didn't have a dual purpose.

Banderas tells WENN, "I've been working with them (PUIG) for 14 years now. When they proposed for me to do (a fragrance), I hesitated a bit at the beginning. And then I went to Barcelona and had a meeting with these people who have been doing perfumes from the 19th century and it sounded pretty comfortable.

"They allow me, at the same time, besides the commercial projects, to have a number of things attached to the perfume. Like having a number of charities all around the world. When we go to launch the perfume in Argentina we try to bring something to them, we'll collaborate with a hospital. We go to Chile, we collaborate with Unicef.

"Of course, we come to New York and because of my relationship with Broadway, Broadway Cares was our target; we established a relationship with them five years ago and we're going to continue."

The Secret, which features notes of mint and white grapefruit with cinnamon, musk and leather, is set to hit select retailers in August (10).