Here's a list of the best-selling 2012 launches in France, as forwarded by the Fragrance Foundation France: these are the products the public will be asked to vote on for the 2013 Fifis. Five out of fifteen are flankers. Personally, the only one I've really liked is L'Eau de Chloé. I'm still absolutely floored by the success of La Vie est Belle, basically a rehash of Flowerbomb, which means L'Oréal have been cannibalizing one of their own products. On the men's side, big bunch'o'flankers as well.... Frankly, I could be more excited by my compatriots' tastes.
The French Fifis do have a category for niche and exclusive launches, the Experts' Award, which is judged by a jury of beauty editors, bloggers and evaluators, as well as a series of awards for mainstream products given out by members of the Fragrance Foundation.
Best-selling launches for women in 2012
Ange ou Démon le Secret Élixir, Givenchy
Black Excess L'Excès pour Elle, Paco Rabanne
Catch Me, Cacharel
Coco Noir, Chanel
Dolce & Gabbana pour Femme
Dior Addict L'Eau Fraîche, Dior
L'Eau de Chloé, Chloé
La Petite Robe Noire, Guerlain
La Vie est Belle, Lancôme
Mademoiselle Ricci, Nina Ricci
Miss Dior Le Parfum, Dior
Opium Vapeurs de Parfum, YSL
Sexy Graffiti, Escada
Very Irrésistible Electric Rose, Givenchy
Manifesto, YSL
Best-selling launches for men in 2012
Best-selling launches for men in 2012
Black Excess L'Excès, Paco Rabanne
Acqua di Gio Essenza Homme, Armani
Allure Homme Sport Eau Extrême, Chanel
Armani Code Ultimate, Armani
Azzaro pour Homme L'Eau, Azzaro
Hugo Boss Bottled Sport, Hugo Boss
Boss Orange Man, Hugo Boss
Eau Lacoste Rouge, Lacoste
Eau Sauvage Parfum, Dior
Gucci Guilty Homme, Gucci
Guess Seductive Homme, Guess
Kenzo Homme Sport, Kenzo
Only the Brave Tattoo, Diesel
Spicebomb, Viktor & Rolf
The One Sport, Dolce & Gabbana
L'actu 
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To clarify... are these the best-selling overall fragrances, or just the best-selling new releases of 2012? It seems more like a list of new releases. Although Sexy Graffiti was a re-introduction.
RépondreSupprimerI'd vote for L'Eau de Chloe out of that list.
Susan, thanks for pointing out the potential for confusion. I've edited the post accordingly: these are of course the 2012 launches. But La Vie est Belle and La Petite Robe Noire are in the overall top sellers too.
RépondreSupprimerI'm sprayin' and I'm sleepin', I'm sleepin' and I'm sprayin'....
RépondreSupprimerYou've reviewed some exciting launches during 2012, none of which are here. There has been a lot of buzz about the Fifis in the Indies category on the American Indies blogs, so I'm not surprised to see your post, it fits right with the others....
Marla, these are the best-sellers the public will vote for: they were not selected by the Fragrance Foundation France, they come from sales figures. In other words, consumers have already voted with their wallets.
RépondreSupprimerThe niche fragrances are in another category, called the "Experts' Award". The long list is based on the number of points of sale of a fragrance in France (under 50 I think), which means it includes exclusive lines as well as smaller brands. The products are smelled "blind" by a jury of journalists, bloggers and evaluators. Of course this doesn't guarantee that the most interesting fragrance will win, but it does level the playing field.
Thank you for clarifying that. I'm sorry the big sellers were so boring, but I'm not at all surprised.
RépondreSupprimerMarla, I added a little paragraph in the post: since the rules for the awards vary from one country to another, it's easy to get confused! I just thought it was interesting to see the new products that sold best in France last year... if only to moan.
RépondreSupprimerBah. Excessively secret black elixirs. Whatever. We've seen them all before
RépondreSupprimerI offered a tester of La Petite Robe Noire to my 10-year-old daughter but she sniffed the cap and rejected it. Not interested berries, or cherries, or whatever is in it.
Annemarie, obviously your daughter takes after her mother! It's so great to be able to offer a child an olfactory culture -- they can be very receptive.
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