The Fragrance Foundation of France has announced the winners of the 2010 Grand Prix du Parfum, the French version of the Fifi Awards. And the winners are:
Best women's fragrance: Ricci Ricci by Nina Ricci
Best men's fragrance: Ego Facto Jamais le Dimanche
Marie Claire Editors favorite: Hermès Eau de Gentiane Blanche
Marie Claire Readers favorite: Guerlain Idylle
Prix des Spécialistes (panel of bloggers, evaluators & journalists): Cartier XIII La Treizième Heure
Prix des Parfumeurs (panel of perfumers): Cartier XIII La Treizième Heure
(via Osmoz on Twitter)
See also: the Fragrance Awards page.
Go Gentiane Blanche! I’m wearing a small bit of that today.
I really wish I knew where they were keeping those Cartiers….
They’re keeping them at Saks. And Cartier boutiques, I think.
Oh? I know what I’m doing tomorrow night. And I’m bringing sample vials. Thanks for the tip.
Good luck!
I was soooooooo happy Mathilde Laurent won two awards, especially since I was a member of the Prix des Spécialistes jury and I went in determined to sway my fellow jurors in favor of La Treizième Heure! Mind you, a lot of them were already convinced, though Géranium pour Monsieur (Frédéric Malle), Dover Street Market (Comme des Garçons) and Havana Vanille (L’Artisan) also made it to the short list.
Our choice of La Treizième Heure was vindicated by the perfumers who also gave her the award they voted on, which makes me twice as happy.
In her acceptance speech, Mathilde insisted on the importance of real perfume criticism and the role of the blogs. The journalists who were present in the room were not amused, apparently. But I’m glad she talked about it to the biggest players in the French perfume industry!
Nice, thanks D.
It’s sad that fashion journalism has to be so ruled by advertising dollars. You can write honest book, music and movie reviews, but I guess there is not advertising revenue to worry about when you pan Brittney Spears.
Wow I feel out of the loop. I haven’t smelled *any* of these… *hides face*
Oh well! It isn’t that long a list.
Has anyone tried Ricci Ricci? Haven’t seen this one…
It has not launched in the US. I haven’t smelled it either.
Adorable ad, but the scent…meh. Pleasant enough but sweeeeet. Like I got a cavity smelling this sweet.
I wasn’t that excited about La Treizième Heure when I sniffed it.
I feel bad that I have not smelled these yet. But Saks is not my favorite place in the world.
Oh, it was the only “heure” I liked, but I sniffed only twice.
It smelled Guerlainish and a bit bitter on top, nothing groudbreaking, but would have loved to sample it better.
I personally found the most surprising and complex 2009 French release to be Ropion’s Geranium For Monsieur… I do not wear it, but I think it deserved a prize.
I can’t imagine a perfumer choosing XIII over GPM by any stretch of imagination, but apparently I am wrong!
I am just happy that they had a perfumer prize at all. The US Fifis are so market-driven.
Well it wasn’t only *a* perfumer, but twelve of them, and another jury of six perfume evaluators, two journalists and four bloggers. Géranium pour Monsieur is, I agree, outstanding and it was hard to select one winner. I can’t speak for the perfumers, but in the jury where I was, the argument that won the day for XIII over Géranium was that the latter was so overdosed with mint it felt a little unbalanced, unlike Dominique Ropion’s usually finely calibrated work.
I usually appreciate a slight “unbalance” in compositions, like a slightly rude but passionate individual, and I also can understand a blogger or perfume amateur/connaisseur choosing XIII over GPM, because it is overall more pleasing and less challenging ( it is just my opinion, of course!). I thought the perfumers board would choose the uniqueness instead, but of course I am wrong (I did understand the board was attended by more than one professional, though
). And maybe GPM is less innovative than I think: I just wore it twice, like XIII, so… But it makes a lot of pirouettes, and unexpected turns, and the ride was a very interesting and pleasurable one!
Uncharacteristically, I have actually tried two of these. Thanks to ebay, I have travel sizes of Eau de Gentiane Blanche and Geranium pour Monsieur. I think I will wear them often in spring and summer. I welcome the Geranium as an alternative in the same register as vetiver – and it’s not every day someone invents a new vetiver, so I can understand why that was one of the finalists. I MUST find a way to try that Cartier!
Get thee to Saks!