I Scent You a Day honour The Perfume Society with Fellowship Award – follow a fragrant journey…

Dedicated fragrance blogger I Scent You a Day set herself the challenge of wearing a different perfume every single day of the year, without bankrupting herself by buying 365 differing bottles of scent! One of the ways she’s been able to follow this perfumed pilgramage, and write about it so entertainingly, is by regularly purchasing our Discovery Boxes of fragrance minis and samples – many of which are impossible to find elsewhere, and have led to a love for rising-stars of the niche world along with classics of the genre and even pre-launch sneak-previews.
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We were absolutely thrilled to hear that in her round-up of ‘the very best of scents’ for 2016 – a.k.a The Iscents – The Perfume Society were honoured with a Fellowship Award!
Indeed, the Fellowship Award was specifically invented for us, because we ‘[defy] other categopries.’
As explained in the post describing the award categories and why the winners were chosen,  ‘Not only do they provide white boxes of treasure that even the most jaded perfume palate would salivate at, but they’re a sort of Mothership that  we can all turn to when we get a bit lost in the  murky depths of fruity-florals-chypres-colognes-my-nose-is-confused-help!  Ever had a day like that? I have. The Perfume Society Scented Letter magazine also makes me settle down with a contented sigh and think “I’ve found my tribe” as I read what other perfume obsessives are up to.  Fumeheads, you are not alone.’
SLMagCoversSmall-350x350Blushingly, we gratefully accept this award, and are so glad to have played a significant part in I Scent You a Day’s continuing fragrant journey… and hopefully, in yours!
Written by Suzy Nightingale

From the scents of ancient Egypt to the olfactory exploration of wine, IFRA Fragrance Forum 2016 got our noses tingling…

Every year, IFRA [the International Fragrance Association] hold a Fragrance Forum, bringing together scientists, perfumers, press and all industry professionals who share an interest in the subject of scent. This year’s forum took the theme of ‘Do You Smell Well?’ with a full day of talks covering the ancient Egyptian’s use of incense and perfume in magical rites through to how babies learn to smell and even a wine-sniffing session.
Discussing therapeutic aspects of fragrance and perfume materials, a number of eminent speakers addressed these topics with gusto and as always, it was fascinating to mix with such a variety of professionals who make the study of how – and why – we smell, their life’s work.
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In the distinguished setting of The Royal Society, we began the day with an historical look at spices, balsams and the incense of temples: the fragrances of ancient Egypt – the Egyptologist and raconteur John J. Johnston from University College London perhaps being familiar to some of you who have seen him speak at Egyptian-themed events with Odette Toilette. Among any number of fascinating tales, we learned how incense was made to specific recipes, with each ingredient serving a magical purpose as an offering to the gods. Stunning perfume recipticals survive, mostly of mystical beasts sticking out their tongues – ‘To wear perfume is as though to be licked by these magical animals.’
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Dr Benoist Schaal from the Centre des Sciences du Goût, Djijon, addressed the audience with a talk entitled ‘Born to smell and smook‘ – “smook” being the way newborn babies smell and look while suckling at their mother’s breast, it turns out. A fascinating series of scientific studies were recounted, in which Benoist and his team have researched the way we are born to react to smell – that some odours do not need to be lerned and mammalian females have evolved the specific ability to highlight their breasts to their offspring by secreting a smell map around the nipples, to guide the babies directly there.
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The next talk took a deeper philosophical topic of ‘the role of smell in consciousness‘ – Professor Barry C. Smith, Director of the Institute of Philosophy – Centre for the Study of Senses, argued that we don’t merely have the five (or six) senses usually attributed to humans – we could in fact have over twenty senses, each of them highly connected and overlapping with the rest. Smith went on to remind us that, historically, we have neglected our sense of smell as being the least important sense, but in fact it adds to and shapes almost every aspect of our lives! We were thrilled to hear this talk, most especially as it confirms everything we teach in our How to Improve Your Sense of Smell Workshops, and have had such great feedback from those who have taken part.
olibanum_resinDr Mark D. Evans of De Montfort University, Leicester was making sense of frankincense – beginning with a truly “lightbulb” moment where he explained how this historically important perfume ingredient got its name: French incense – franc encens. Of course it makes perfect sense when it’s pointed out, but had never occured to us, previously! Herodotus wrote of frankincense in th 5th century BC, Pliny wrote how the Phoenix feasted on it, and in Roman Britian alone, up to 50 burial sites of wealthy citizens have been found to contain traces of frankincense, thought to be used in funeral rites. Indeed, frankincense has always primarily had a religious use, but we were astounded to learn the postive research results currently being investigated on its incredible anti-inflammatory properties, and possible future use in many medical treatments, including some cancers.
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An insightful look at the state of the nation: shoppers and fragranced products followed, with Vitaliy Zhyhun from market research specialists Nielsen UK leading us through a series of charts, facts and figures that revealed the UK shopper is perhaps the most “disloyal” of all, shopping online and looking around for the best deals. Most interesting to us was their research that showed a huge swing toward smaller, independent or local shops – smaller brands also driving growth and far outperforming their larger competitors, and with online sales set to grow even more in the next couple of years.
Carl Philpott, photographed at the Medical School, university of East Anglia. Ear, nose and throat surgeon and director of the Smell and Taste Clinic at James Paget University Hospital in Norfolk, UK. Photography by Jason Bye t: 07966 173 930 e: mail@jasonbye.com w: http://www.jasonbye.com
Mr Carl Philpott, Honorary Consultant ENT surgeon & Rhinologist and Director of The Smell & Taste Clinic at James Paget Hospital led a moving talk on living without smell, looking at the research they’ve done on those people who have lost their ability to smell, and the many psychological implications this has on their lives. Reinforcing how vital our sense of smell is and how little resepct we pay it until it’s lost; Philpott showed the shocking numbers of those patients who developed severe depression and feelings of alienation – and some of the ways they are trying to resolve or help them. In fact, he’s now working with Duncan Boak of Fifth Sense – a charity we have supported and highlighted, for those affected by taste and smell disorders.
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Finally, the always-welcome sound of corks popping heralded the return of Professor Barry C. Smith to the stage, guiding us through an olfactory exploration of wine – with our noses. Discussing the varying ways in which we perceive tastes (and mix them up with our other senses all the time – saying things smell “sweet” or “cold”, for example) and also relate smells and tastes to varying speeds… ‘Everyone in the world thinks lemons are “fast” and bananas are “slow”!’ chuckled the professor, as he also got the entire audience to identify the temperature of water, just by listening to a recording of it being poured. And the subtle but distinct difference between club soda, Champagne and prosecco being poured.
Who knew we had such hidden powers?
As ever, the IFRA Fragrance Forum left us with brains bursting from all the captivating information we’d taken in throughout the day, and noses a-twitch with a plethora of ideas of what to write about for future issues of The Scented Letter magazine…
Written by Suzy Nightingale
 

Fragrance Foundation Awards: all the scents, winners and stars!

The 24th annual Fragrance Foundation Awards 2016 took place last night the garden-party themed Brewery in the City of London – and we had the very great pleasure of being there to see it all!

Hundreds of industry guests packed the venue in great anticipation for this prestigious event, so admirably hosted by Natasha Kaplinsky (who was also on this year’s judging panel for the Jasmine Awards). A host of celebrities including Callum Best, Oliver Cheshire, Sali Hughes, Jenny Packham, Laura Predalska, Lilah Parsons & were there to hand out the beautiful Lalique statuettes or simply to soak up the atmosphere and celebrate the incredible UK talent we should be so proud of in the perfume world. With a fabulous meal, Champagne flowing and entertainment provided by Kevin Simm – recent winner of BBC’s The Voice and ex member of Liberty X – it really was a night to remember, and that’s even before the awards were finally announced!

There were twenty award categories in all, with a great range of fragrance houses, both well established and newly emerging, being showcased – and to ALL the finalists in these hotly-contested and highly prized awards we send our heartfelt congratulations: it was an honour to be in a room with such diverse and equally inspiring brands and the hard-working people behind them.

Read on to find out who won a coveted Lalique Fragrance Foundation Award in each category…

Best New Female Print Campaign: Alaïa Paris

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Best New Male Print Campaign: John Varvatos Dark Rebel

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Best New Female Commercial Fragrance: Chanel Chance Eau Vive

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Best New Male Commercial Fragrance: Guerlain l’homme Ideal Eau De Cologne

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Best New Female Fragrance Design & Packaging: Alaïa Paris

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Best New Male Fragrance Design & Packaging: Alfred Dunhill Icon

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Best New Home Fragrance: By Kilian French Boudoir

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Best New Female Fragrance in Limited Distribution: Tom Ford Fleur de Portofino

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Best New Male Fragrance in Limited Distribution: Tom Ford Private Blend Venetian Bergamot

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Best New Independent Fragrance: The Perfume Garden India

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Perfume Extraordinaire: Armani Privé Sable d’Or

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Readers’ Choice Awards for Women: Leighton Denny Light & Dark Desire

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Men’s Health Magazine Readers’ Choice for Men: Dior Sauvage

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Best New Celebrity Fragrance: Rosie for Autograph Marks & Spencer

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Boots UK People’s Choice For Women: Yves Saint Laurent Black Opium

Boots UK People’s Choice for Men: Paco Rabanne One Million

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Retailer of the Year: Harrods

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Best New Male Fragrance: Dior Sauvage

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Best New Female Frgrance Marc Jacobs Decadence

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Ultimate Launch Award: Dior Sauvage

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…Phew!

Once again, massive congratulations to all the amazing nominees who made it that far – it sounds a tad clichéd, but we swear we mean this: you’re all winners in our eyes; and to the Fragrance Foundation for organising another wonderful event that was so enjoyed by all who attended. We can’t wait to see who’ll be up for nominations next year…

Written by Suzy Nightingale

The Fragrance Foundation awards (aka ‘FiFis’) are tomorrow – and we can’t wait to be there!

We are thrilled to be attending ‘the Oscars of the perfume world’ tomorrow evening – The Fragrance Foundation Awards, aka the ‘FiFis’ – a prestigious ceremony in which the créme-de-la-créme of the fragrance world gather to celebrate and pay tribute to the very best newly emerging and already established brands out there.

Having won several Jasmine awards (had we mentioned?) this year for the our Scented Letter Magazine, we were kindly invited by The Fragrance Foundation to sit on the judging panel alongside other winners for two of the categories in 2016’s FiFi Awards, and the finalists who will nervously be await their fate are as follows…

Best New Independent Fragrance:

Coeur de Noir – BeauFort London

India – The Perfume Garden

Maxed Out – 4160 Tuesdays

Midnight in the Palace Garden – 4160 Tuesdays

Salome – Papillon Artisan Perfumes

Tea Tonique – Miller Harris

 

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Perfume Extraordinaire:

Floriental – Comme Des Garcons

Parfums de la Nuit No.1 – Roja Parfums

Royal Leather – By Kilian

Sable d’Or – Armani Privé

Salome – Papillon Artisan Perfumes

Voulez-Vous Coucher Avec Moi – By Kilian

With so many incredible perfume houses up for awards in all manner of categories tomorrow evening, it makes you realise what a vibrant and exciting industry this really is – and how many incredible brands there are yet to explore. Indeed, we must admit it makes us glow with pride to be part of it all…

 Written by Suzy Nightingale

Jean Paul Gaultier gets eau fraiche with Popeye & Betty Boop!

Every year, fans of Jean Paul Gaultier‘s Le Male and Classique fragrances are treated to a new incarnation of the iconic bottles – always dressed to impress and collected by ‘fume-heads the world over, we think the comic-book inspired duo of Popeye and Betty Boop bottles may be the cutest yet, and with a tonque-in-cheek advertising campaign to match!

From a sassy comic book called Spinach & Stockings to flick through online, to adorable downloadable postcards, we totally heart the high spirits of it all – so in tune with Gaultier’s own wink-wink humour and a paean to the originality and way-ahead-of-their time nature of the scents themselves, now getting eau fraiche with extra ingredients added to the juice for the (hopefully) warmer months ahead…

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‘A sexy fabric softener. A fragrance built on fabric softener accord; clean and fresh like an immaculate tank top ready to slip into. Created by perfumer Nathalie Gracia-Cetto. Neroli flower and mint enrich the base. Sage, a welcome and gentle gustatory ripple marries the Tonka bean, sandalwood and vanilla, the sensual base notes because a tank top is always sexy.’

Jean Paul Gaultier Le Mâle Eau Fraiche £54 for 125 ml eau de toilette
Buy it at The Perfume Shop

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‘A torrid, sugar syrup. An unusual blend assembled around white flowers created by perfumer Daphné Bugey. Ginger, indivisible from Classique, is found as an overdose of gourmand: crystalline, reminiscent of a lemon sorbet; sharp, yes, but sweetened with sugar cane juice. Sugar cane, with a sensual edge from the Labdanum Neo. Vanilla is also present. But musk has the final word and rushes to let the brain know we’ll be back for more.’

Jean Paul Gaultier Classique Eau Fraiche £67 for 100ml eau de toilette
Buy it at The Perfume Shop

Written by Suzy Nightingale

Jasmine Awards 2016 – the full list of winners, including… ta-dah!

The Fragrance Foundation’s Jasmine Awards are often called the ‘Oscars’ of the fragrance-writing world – held at BAFTA in Piccadilly, with Lalique statuettes polished and gleaming, Wednesday 16th March saw the gathering of excitedly chattering nominees shortlisted for 2016’s crop of awards. We have to say, the whole Perfume Society team was thrilled to be honoured with nominations this year – not merely for features we’d written online or published in our magazine The Scented Letter, but with fellow journalists also nominated for features they’d written about The Perfume Society.

What happened next? Well read on as we veritably squeal with excitement…

Presiding over the event were Chairman of The Fragrance Foundation – Annalise Fard, and Cecile Budge – Managing Director P&G Prestige & Chairman of The Jasmine Awards, said:

‘Congratulations to all the winners today. As always, the quality of the entries from both the finalists and the winners was very high. We saw great creativity throughout and pieces that truly inspire consumers to try and then buy fragrances.
We had entries from a wider range of publications and individuals this year, which is really encouraging to see. We also saw increased participation from retailers this year.’

The judging panel this year were industry expert Joanna Norman ‑ Chairman of the Judging panel, alongside Paula Hawkins – Author, Gill Hudson – Editor, Millie Mackintosh – Fashion Designer & Blogger, Natasha Kaplinsky – TV Presenter, Sanjay Vadera – CEO The Fragrance Shop, & Daphne Wright – Author.

Best Article in a Customer Magazine: The judges chose Deborah Bee & Jan Masters for ‘Birth of a Fragrance’ in Harrods Magazine.

Best Digital Article on Fragrance: The Perfume Society co-founder Josephine Fairley (hoorah!) was chosen to receive this prize – for ‘Perfume Notes: Smoke and Fire Fragrances’ published on the telegraph.co.uk.

Best Digital Fragrance Experience: went to Anna Hunter for ‘The Niche, Lesser Known Fragrance Brands You’re About to Fall in Love With’ on getthegloss.com.

Jasmine Independent Literary Award: This year went to our very own Suzy Nightingale for ‘What Does Wednesday Smell Like?’ in The Scented Letter.

Jasmine Independent Soundbite Award: A new category for this year was awarded to Persolaise for his article ‘Closer to Heaven’ in (yay!) The Scented Letter.

Jasmine Soundbite (news press): Journalist Edwina IngsChambers was awarded the prize for her piece ‘A Better Bottle’ in The Sunday Times Style.

Jasmine Soundbite (magazines): The judges agreed the prize should go to Sali Hughes for ‘It’s Backbone in a Bottle’ in Stylist.

Best Practical Guide to Fragrance: The judges decided that the Award should go to ‘How I Learned to Think Through My Nose’ (about our How To Improve Your Sense of Smell Workshops – huzzah!) by Kim Parker from Red.

Jasmine Visual Award: This category had some stunning visuals were original and eye-catching; the prize went to ‘Birth of a Fragrance’ from Harrods Magazine, Words by Jan Masters, Creative by Deborah Bee.

Most Creative Visual Award: This is for a stand‑alone piece with minimal words which stood the test of inspiring the reader by its visual impact. The judges found this a tough decision due to the high quality of entries, but it was decided that the prize should go to ‘The Forever Fragrances’ from marksandspencer.com, by Emma Robertson with the creative by Karen Davidson.

Jasmine Literary Award: Lucy Pavia for ‘What Does Pleasure Smell Like?’ from InStyle.

Jasmine Rising Star Award: Shannon Peterʹs ‘A Perfumer’s Business Card’ – Stylist Magazine.

Winners of the ‘Junior Jasmines’ – the Mighty Nose Awards – were utterly adorable, and their poems incredibly creative! This section of the awards was set up to challenge and inspire primary school children to write poems specifically about the sense of smell. The judging panel comprised of Richard E. Grant – Actor, Director & Chairman of the Judging Panel, Nicky Cox MBE – Editor of First News & Josh Lacey – Children’s Author.

Years 3 and 4 – First prize went to Isaac Littlewood from St Mary’s CE Primary School Edwinstowe, for his brilliantly funny poem – ‘The Smells Inside my Brother’s Room’. Runner up was Emily Wates for her poem ‘In My Dreams’ from Cranleigh Preparatory School.

Years 5 and 6 – First prize went to Tess Garrett for her excellent poem ‘The Smell Olympics’ from Bedford Girls School. Runner up was Anya Hemingway for her poem ‘Smells of a Summer Walk’ from Sheffield High School.

IMG_1322Truly, we have to keep pinching ourselves and aren’t quite sure it’s sunk in yet! Many, many sincere congratulations to ALL nominees – we were proud to be among you, and in a room full of such talent.

The winning articles are available to view on www.thejasmineawards.co.uk. The Mighty nose winning poems are available to view on http://www.martythemightynose.org