Old niche favorites in new packaging: Isabey Gardenia (shown above left, $165 at Beautyhabit, Your Cosmetics or Luckyscent in the US, Les Senteurs in the UK, First in Fragrance in Germany) and Amouage Ubar (shown above right, $250 at Aedes, Four Seasons, Luckyscent or Parfums Raffy in the US, Harrods or Les Senteurs in the UK)…
At the 2009 FiFi Finalists Awards
Thanks to a friend with ample airline miles and a niece with an apartment in New York City, I went to the FiFi Finalists award breakfast on Friday. So, instead of the usual Monday perfume review, I’ll give you an inside peek at all the important aspects of the breakfast: what it is about, who was there, and what was in the goody bag.
The Fragrance Foundation bills the FiFis as the fragrance industry’s Oscars. At the finalists breakfast, the top five entries for each of the awards categories are announced along with the winners of the awards for editorial excellence and for technological breakthrough. Although both the Oscars and the FiFis incorporate celebrities and prizes for excellence, the FiFis are less about art and more about sales. After all, the Oscars don’t offer prizes for Best Packaging and Best National Media Campaign. As an executive for Cosmpolitan magazine said in her opening remarks at the breakfast, “The creative marketing talent in this room can create the sweetest smell of all: the smell of success.”
That said, for the perfume industry to survive, it needs to be strong. Plus, the FiFis do include prizes for best fragrances in several categories and for editorial excellence. I submitted work to be considered for an award, and that’s how I ended up receiving an invitation to attend the breakfast…
My mother’s perfume, Opium…
Like many people it was my mother’s perfume, Opium. Then it was the cologne given to me by my first love - Mûres et Musc de Laporte - when I was 13. Later I was going to the boutiques - the only places where one could find rare perfumes of that time, like Jicky or Mouchoir de Monsieur de Guerlain …
— Gérald Ghislain of niche line Histoires de Parfums, talking about his first memories of perfume, at the Histoires de Parfums blog.
Kenzo L’Eau Par Kenzo Eau Indigo, Cacharel Noa Dream ~ new fragrances
Kenzo has launched L’Eau Par Kenzo Eau Indigo, a duo of limited edition fragrances: “between purple and blue, there exists a singular color; indigo. At the end of the day, it stays a moment on the surface of the water…”
L’Eau Par Kenzo Eau Indigo Pour Femme ~ a sensual floral with notes of bergamot, mandarin, jasmine, orange blossom, ylang, tonka bean and amber…
Last call for PXA tickets…
There are still plenty of PXA tickets left! I'll be sending them out later today, so if you want to be on the email list, act now.