The Fragrance Foundation UK held their 16th annual Fifi Awards ceremony last night in London, and the winners are:
Best New Prestige Fragrance
Women's: Marc Jacobs Daisy
Men's: Tom Ford for Men
Best New Fragrance in Limited Distribution
Women's: Gucci by Gucci
Men's: Jo Malone White Jasmine & Mint
The Perfume Shop ‘People’s Choice’ Awards
Women's: Giorgio Armani Emporio Armani Diamonds
Men's: Carolina Herrera 212 Sexy Men
Celebrity fragrance: Christina Aguilera
(via cosmeticsint.co.uk, where you can also find the winners in other categories)
See also: the Fragrance Awards page.
Tom Ford for Men? Why? It's not bad, but hardly exceptional.
The various awards from the various country-specific Fragrance Foundations do not necessarily award what perfume fans would consider excellence — think of them as the Oscars, and you'll get the general idea. Each country also tends to favor home-grown fragrances, so for instance, it is not surprising that Jo Malone took a UK Fifi award.
Interesting that the the Malone Jasmine is listed as a men's scent.
I was thinking the same thing as ahtx. Interesting categorization.
I haven't smelled it (though I'm eager to), but I'm thinking White Jasmine & Mint is one of only a few Jo Malone scents (Tuberose, Nectarine Blossom) that seem particularly “feminine”, at least in my mind.
Agree — a man could certainly wear it, but I'd classify it as feminine. Perhaps they are marketing it as unisex — and the Fifis don't have a unisex category.
A man who would wear L'Artisan The Pour Un Ete could wear the JM, but as I said above, I'd classify it as feminine too.
I think maybe there should be a revision of the way the fragrance industry looks at “unisex” fragrances.
I recently acquired “Un Jardin Sur Le Nil” which is gorgeous (but should definitely not be over applied, it's really potent). That has all of the “fresh” notes that most of the mainstream male frags seem to lust after, but is distinctive enough to offer a difference.
A lot of guys I talk to on the forums are getting bored of obviously “male” scents and are looking more the Mitsoukos and Jickys of this world.
As I've mentioned elsewhere, I have fallen head over heals for L'Occitane's Ambre which is marketed as a female fragrance which is frankly ridiculous.
HDS: I think that anyone, anywhere, anytime can wear Sur le Nil and it would be totally appropriate. It's fresh! It's fruity! It's zingy! It's male! It's female! But it's complex and elegant too. I think it's the reason I got so into loving fragrances after taking a hiatus from using them at all for six or seven years. However, I recently got some samples of what I'm assuming was supposed to be the “nontraditional” JPG Fleur du Male and thought it was a boring, overly sweet orange blossom scent — nothing outrageous about it at all except slapping the word “Male” on it.
I love a lot of L'Occitane scents, and while a few might be considered “overtly feminine”, so many of them seem easily unisex at least — yet they have the “men's line” tucked in a corner in staid dark green bottles. Still, it's much easier for a man to browse there than in the “Women's Fragrance” sections of chain department stores without raising eyebrows. (“No, ma'am, I'm spraying the No. 19 on my arm because I'm curious about it for MYSELF, not for any woman in my life.”). I think Kevin wrote a good entry on this here recently. In general, anyone who's serious about scent soon realizes that the gender classifications are pretty much arbitrary.
Why Daisy? I just do not get the appeal of Daisy, but it keeps winning these awards! Someone please explain it to me!
HDS, agree, everyone should wear what they like.
I really like the FdM, but think I'm in the minority on that one! But Sur Le Nil beats it by a mile.
It's easy to wear, has a great bottle, sold well, and is from a major name brand. That is about all it takes to win fragrance awards.
FdM is “nice” to me I guess — can't say I dislike it — but just sweet sweet orange floral to my nose, and it annoys me that someone thought, “maybe it will be *outré* to market this toward MEN.” I guess I was expecting something more daring when I ordered the sample.
HA — that is true, there is nothing terribly daring about the scent itself. Still, it's nicer than 90% of the new mainstream releases for women, so look at it that way!
I was wearing Jardin sur le Nil the other day, loving it, and thinking it would also be a delightful scent on a man – much better than many of the so-called masculines!