What would you do for fame? As in Lady Gaga’s new fragrance, FAME Eau de Parfum? Well, I did exactly what “Gaga” wanted me to do: touch her hand through a hole while she slept in her vessel, as one of her adoring fans! Yes, I went there. O.K., I’ll explain.

By now I am sure you have heard all about Lady Gaga’s black-tie masquerade ball at the Guggenheim last week. All of her fans certainly took the dress code seriously and got dressed up for the occasion, and then some (see the slide show)!

Just past Gaga’s muscle-clad topless greeters in leather pants, there was a giant replica of her new fragrance bottle planted askew on a Kryptonite-like platform, as if it had come down from Mars through the Guggenheim's rotunda skylight. Unbeknownst to all the partiers, Gaga was asleep inside this “vessel” (the fragrance bottle—its egg-shaped pod was inspired by Brancusi and her collaboration with Hussein Chalayan____, an incubation vessel which they created and from which she was then “born” at the 53rd Grammy Awards). As the speakers pumped out everything from Edith Piaf to David Bowie, smoky black drinks were served while the FAME-fragrance video played overhead on a giant screen. Then they slowly shed the light on a sleeping beauty, all dressed in black with a long mane of hair adorned with a gold-leaf headpiece.

One by one, guests slowly approached the vessel and put their hands through a small cutout hole to touch the Lady’s hand, seeking their 15 “seconds” (versus minutes) of fame. This process took more than an hour, and I can assure you that it was indeed a performance piece and that we all took part in it.

Earlier in the day, prior to her performance-art exhibition at the museum, I had the privilege of having a proper sit-down with Lady Gaga. It was very obvious that this fragrance launch was not your ordinary celebrity fragrance launch but a groundbreaking launch by Haus Laboratories and Coty, Inc____.

FAME is the very first “black” eau de perfume ever to be introduced into the fragrance market. With patented technology, Coty, Inc. managed to figure out how to make a fragrance juice that looks black in a bottle but sprays clear once airborne. “I associate scent with colors. I associate with the color black: being pensive about fame is a very dark thing, but when you release it—when it comes out—it’s quite light and beautiful,” explained Gaga.

Despite its dangerous-looking exterior, the scent is surprisingly soft, feminine, and alluring, with all the notes working together simultaneously so that there are no middle or base notes. They are raw and heightened at the top and seem to work beautifully together—a blend of belladonna, honey, safffron, apricot nectar, tiger orchid, and jasmine sambac.

What does FAME smell like to her? “This smell reminds me of making love. At first it’s a blast of excitement, then it becomes addictive and luscious," said Gaga. After many trials, she ultimately gave her blessing on this juice. “I chose this fragrance because it won over a man and he was a good catch," she said with a sly grin.

It was very clear that this is a product Lady Gaga really believes in, and it was obvious that she was involved every step of the way, helping to make this project take off from the ground with no compromises on her end. And "it gave me the chance work on a project with my heroes, Steven Klein and Nick Knight. I designed the bottle with Nick and the ad campaign with Steven. This is totally us—we designed the entire thing together and Coty helped to make it into reality," Gaga said adoringly.

According to Gaga, fame has a veil. “This FAME is a nice representation of me, because I always have a veil over me, because the raw human artist that I am is for me only so that I can create and protect. Only the product sprouts out at the top”, clarified Gaga.

To her, every inch of this bottle and its juice is evocative of being famous; what it means to be famous on the inside and how it’s portrayed on the outside—the price of being famous. “The ad is about the pleasures of fame," says the famed one herself. "Ultimately those pleasures can lead to vanity, but if it’s not managed well it has a dangerous prospect around the corner. Vanity is the death of fame."

So what does being famous smell like? Well, according to Lady Gaga, it smells just like her FAME in a bottle. And you can have it, too, but it’ll cost you much less: only $79.00 for 3.4 ounces at Macy’s____, Bloomingdale’s, and Nordstrom____. And I can assure you that the cost of this FAME is totally worth it.