(FORTUNE Magazine) – When Joan Collins's steamy autobiography comes out in paperback, readers will get a whiff of her new perfume, Spectacular, infused in scented bookmarks. Promotion is everything in the $2.1-billion-a-year women's fragrance business. It takes money to persuade women to choose Joy instead of Passion or Opium over Eternity. More cosmetics companies are banking on stars to promote their aromas after Elizabeth Taylor's success. Manufactured by Unilever, Taylor's Passion soaked up $50 million in retail sales last year, according to Mottus & Associates, a cosmetics newsletter publisher. Other successful star scents include Cher's Uninhibited and Forever Krystle, named after Collins's nemesis on TV's Dynasty. Parlux, manufacturer of Spectacular, has high hopes for Collins. Says a cosmetics analyst: ''She has sleaze appeal.'' The odds of a celebrity scent becoming the next Calvin Klein's Obsession are slim. ''There's a built-in liability,'' says newsletter publisher Allan Mottus. ''Stars lose their status.'' Who's next on the celebrity scent scene? Debonair dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov will introduce a new women's fragrance, Misha, for sniffing this summer.