As the date for the FiFi awards ceremony draws closer, the people at Fragrance Foundation UK are busily releasing the final category shortlists. One of the latest to emerge is perhaps the most intriguing: for Perfume Extraordinaire, the judges were asked to smell and wear completely anonymous perfumes which they then had to rate according to various criteria. They knew nothing about these perfumes apart from the fact that they have been made by large fragrance manufacturers (ie the Givaudans and the IFFs of the world). The idea behind restricting this category to the Big Boys is to provide them with an opportunity for their work to be assessed away from the glare of the marketing imagery and advertising hype which usually accompanies the perfumes they produce. Here’s this year’s shortlist (links are to my own reviews):
I was fortunate enough to be one of the Perfume Extraordinaire judges again this year, so it was with considerable interest that I read this shortlist, partly to see if some of my guesses about the identity of the scents turned out to be correct. All of us on the judging panel submitted our marks independently of each other, so I genuinely have no clue about which of the above has won. However, I will say I’m thrilled to see Noir on the list, and I’m really pleased that the Liz Earle has scored yet another success. The winner will be revealed on 16th May. Be sure to check out @Persolaise for live tweeting!
Persolaise
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Dear Persolaise
I must say, I think that's a really rather handy list.
Apart from the two you rightly mention, the Chloe's quite nice and much more grown up than it needs to be, whereas Spicebomb is at least well made.
Yours ever
The Perfumed Dandy
Dandy, yes, I'd agree with you about the Chloe and the V&R, although I'm not as fond of the former as everyone else seems to be. I'm not entirely convinced by its attempt at dewy freshness.
Persolaise,
Now that's a cool "job." How fun!
Ann, it has been great fun.