The #smellfie sensation! Are YOU a winner?

On National Fragrance Day, March 21st, in a shower of #smellfie sharing, the world came together as perfume-lovers all over the planet expressed their joy for scents that gave the most comfort, strength and happiness in these troubling times.

This is the sixth year of our #smellfie campaign – sharing a selfie with a scent you love – and this time, we placed a special emphasis on those fragrances that make us smile, feel as though we’re wearing a suit of armour or as though we’re somehow standing taller. To be perfectly honest, we just weren’t sure – amidst a global pandemic – how many people would be able to, or actually feel like joining in on this occasion. But OH BOY, you didn’t disappoint!

We were moved to tears by some of the tender scent meories and photos you shared, and then whooping with laughter at some of the hilaious costumes you somehow got together! Overall, it was a fragrantly creative display of unity that helped us feel less isolated, reminded us all of how important fragrance can be to help lift our moods, and gosh, just gave us something nice to focus on for a little while.

Though in our hearts you are all winners, we promised to pick some of our all-time favourites, and we would love to share these with you below…

Our top choice, @harleyrider1883, will be receiving £300 worth of fragrance (though he might have to be a little patient as we figure out how to get it to him, while working remotely!) Five runners-up will either receive a VIP Subscription in the UK (with the joining box of their choice), or an International VIP Subscription – for a full year of fragrant reading!

OVERALL WINNER

 

@harleyrider1883 For embodying the power of perfume in his smile-making pic, captioned: ‘Wearing this makes me feel strong, confident and brave! (and happy because the wife likes it too)’

 

RUNNERS-UP

@mindmarrow Because we think everyone should go hiking with their fragrance. (We’re so doing that in future.) To quote: ‘Like a good scent soldier asked to do a smellfie, here it is. One of my favourites is Guerlain’s Plus Que Jamais. Besides having private and beautiful memories for me, it translates to “more than ever” and fittingly now more than ever we need connection, grace and kindness. More than ever we need courage, creativity and resilience. More than ever we need to breathe deeply. Sending love, support and solidarity to this community of passionate ’fumeheads.’

 

@bellempiretheheartoffeminity For the wonderfully dramatic photo with Guerlain L’Heure Bleue, and her caption: ‘Let us all honour the joy that spraying a beautiful scent can give us on National Fragrance Day in a time where small pleasures mean more than ever and a favourite perfume has the power to bring us back to happier and easier times… if only for a small moment.’

 

@lelatr85 As with many #smellfies for 2020, bare-faced but beautiful. (Lots of slap just doesn’t feel of-the-moment, right now, does it? And as we all know, you’re never naked with perfume.) ‘To celebrate #nationalfragranceday I choose to post a #smellfie with no make-up, just wearing #eaudemerveilles. A unique woody, salty, citrusy perfume – one of a kind.’

 

@thesniffwebsite For giving us the best laugh of the day. As the talented fragrance writer behind The Sniff, Nicola Thomis, says, ‘Sauvage by @dior done the #smellfie way for @theperfumesociety. Humour at times like this lifts us up, keeps us going and makes us feel like we’re wearing that suit of armour. I loved having an eyeliner beard and tattoos by the way. Things I have learned this weekend: felt tip eyeliner is a sod to get off arm skin!’

 

@perfumepuffery A scented sketch that we simply enjoyed. ‘I’m over here on #nationalfragranceday… wearing the very austere Iris Silver Mist. Is she uplifting? Probably not, but I’m always very moved by its abject greyness and enjoy being shrouded in icy glamour. Best iris and best Serge (in my opinion). Wishing you all the best in these very scary and uncertain times.’

Thank you SO much to every single one of you who took part. We spent the whole of Saturday (and much of Sunday) liking, commenting and loving as many of your posts as we possibly could. With so many great entries it was a really tough decision, but please know we adored seeing every single one!

By Suzy Nightingale (with thanks to Hettie Jones for curating all the #smellfies)

We've looked through thousands of your #smellfies… did YOURS win a prize? Check out some of our fragrant faves!

Just a couple of years agao,  we had the idea to celebrate the long-established National Fragrance Day by getting people to post selfies with their favourite fragrances, and calling them a #smellfie.
The idea was to celebrate the importance of fragrance by putting a face to what can sometimes be a closed industry, and more than that, to see YOU – the people who actually buy the perfumes – hear why they love them, what they really mean.
This year our #smellfie competition became an international perfume phenomenon – with people all over the world who joined in our campaign. And what a diverse group you were… with some dressing in specially made outfits or painting their faces to match their favourite scents; pets, children and family members getting involved and celebs including Richard E Grant and even Little Mix (gawd bless ’em!) all joining in.
We’re not ashamed to say we all got a bit teary at Perfume Society Towers when the #smellfie photos kept on pouring in.
Just search for the hashtag #smellfie on Instagram to see how many brilliant entries we had to choose from!
But we’d made a rod for own backs by saying we’d choose some favourites to award prizes to, didn’t we? And, though it has caused us much anguish having to choose at all, choose we must. So here are our finalists…


@jadainga99 is our overall (geddit?) winner who cleaned up (okay, we’ll stop now) and will receive a full year’s print subscription to our award-winning magazine, The Scented Letter, worth £80. Congrats!
The following five winners all receive a signed copy of The Perfume Bible


So adorable, and we’d love to snuggle up with this perfume, too…

A veritable halo of scent from a fellow fragrance obsessive who just couldn’t pick one fave (we feel ya!)

Truly impressive makeup skills employed for this pretty in pink pic…

We were blown away with the elegant creativity of this paper-doll loving perfumista!

Beautifully shot, great selection, so much to love right here…

❤❤❤❤❤ Thank you SO much to everyone who took part – it means so much – we so loved seeing you share your favourite fragrances with us. And we simply cannot wait for next year’s #smellfie extravaganza. Let’s make sure it’s the most scent-sational year yet! ❤❤❤❤❤

Written by Suzy Nightingale

Sharing the #smellfie love: the day our fragrance frolics took over social media. And it's all thanks to you!

Three years ago we came up with an idea to celebrate National Fragrance Day that would bring the perfume industry and fragrance lovers together: the #smellfie. Simply put, it’s a “selfie” with scent, and each year has grown a little larger. But little did we know that this year, your combined #smellfie pictures would be streaming in by the thousands in an veritable avalanche of scented revelry!
Really the #smellfie-sharing is an extension of why we set up The Perfume Society in the first place – a mass merry-making that’s not only fun to take part in, but emphasises how important perfume is… the intense memories it can trigger, the moving stories behind people’s favourite fragrance choices and the sheer joy beaming from their faces as you shared each shot.
 

 
Celebrities, perfumers and industry greats alike rubbed noses with perfumistas and fragrance fanatics around the country (indeed – the world) yesterday, as we took to social media en masse. From Little Mix to Richard E. Grant, Guerlain’s Thierry Wasser, Atelier Cologne’s founders – the lovely Sylvie Ganter and Christophe Cervasel – who we got to hang out with at their latest launch event in Covent Garden and posed for #smellfie right then and there… to Liz Earle, Victoria Christian (of Clive Christian fame), countless others – and, of course, all of YOU!
 

 
Seriously, we were blown away by the response, and our fingers were worn to mere stubs with our frantic efforts to acknowledge, like and comment on as many pictures as possible. We still have people posting #smellfie pictures right now. And if you’re yet to take part, we’re keeping it open for the rest of this week. Remember to post the picture on Instagram with the hashtag #smellfie and tagging @theperfumesociety). We are working through the thousands of snaps to make a a selection of favourites to award prizes to very soon – but it’s taking forever!
 

 
In the meantime we want to give a huge shout-out to every single one of you who joined in the fragrance frolic fun of our #smellfie campaign. Thank you SO much for all your efforts – we have been thrilled beyond belief with the way people dressed up, filmed videos and snapped pictures of themselves. We love them all – and we can’t WAIT for next year’s #smelfie sharing extravaganza…!
Written by Suzy Nightingale