To anyone still checking in (no, I don’t mean you,
mom): yes, I’m still alive. But life got in the way, in the form of a friend’s
grave illness, so that I had to work punishing deadlines around visits to the
hospital.
But I couldn’t not
make time last Saturday for Olfactorama 2012, a set of awards organized by a
group of French bloggers and fragrance aficionados. And one that is already on
the radar of the perfume industry, since no less that Mathilde Laurent and
Thierry Wasser showed up, as well as representatives from Frédéric Malle, Guerlain,
Cartier, Serge Lutens and Chanel, and niche brand owners Ann Gérard and Anaïs
Biguine (Jardins d’Écrivains).
Though I am not part of the organizing committee, they
were sweet enough to invite me to sit on the jury. I felt a bit conflicted
about this since Séville à l’aube was
among the finalists for an award – can’t say I was a paragon of objectivity and
serenity when it was critiqued, but I did man up and volunteered a few
critiques of my own, quite the schizophrenic experience…
The process was interesting, since we smelled all the
finalists blind, not in their own category but mixed. The committee also threw
a few curve balls, in the form of almost-finalists and mainstream best-sellers
launched in 2012 (their fruitchouli and ethyl maltol-fest made them stand out
like a sore scent strip). I also realized at that point that most of these
people, including the non-bloggers, could actually identify all of the scents
in a few sniffs!
I am happy to say that Séville à l’aube did win in its category, the “Prix de l’Enthousiasme”,
though I hope it’s not because they didn’t want to see me cry… that said, it
was a secret vote and I didn’t notice any let’s-be-nice-to-Denyse huddles. I
was also overjoyed, after being called out to hand the award for best
mainstream masculine, to discover Déclaration
d’un soir written on a mouillette.
Grand Féminin 2012
Best mainstream feminine fragrance
Shalimar Parfum Initial
L’Eau by Thiery Wasser for Guerlain
The
finalists:
Alien Essence
Absolue by Dominique Ropion for Thierry Mugler
Baiser Volé
EDT by Mathilde Laurent for Cartier
Grand Masculin 2012
Best mainstream masculine fragrance
Déclaration
d’un soir by Mathilde Laurent for Cartier
The
finalists:
Noir by Olivier Gillotin for Tom Ford
Virtuosité 2012
Most impressive niche fragrance
Mito by Vero Kern for Vero Profumo
The finalists:
L’Heure Vertueuse by Mathilde Laurent for
Cartier
Musc Tonkin by Marc-Antoine Corticchiato for
Parfum d’Empire
Enthousiasme 2012
Best-loved
niche fragrance
Séville à l’aube
by Bertrand Duchaufour for L’Artisan Parfumeur
The
finalists:
Lumière Blanche
by Sidonie Lancesseur for Olfactive Studio
Bijou
Romantique by Mathilde Bijaoui for État Libre d’Orange
Atmosphère 2012
Home
fragrances
Tubéreuse candle by Dominique Ropion for
Frédéric Malle
The finalists:
Feuille de Tomate spray,
Lostmarc’h
Tilleul en fleurs candle, Parfums d’Orsay
Focus 2012
Perfume-related
events or activities
The French Ministry of Culture giving out medals
to 5 perfumers
The finalists:
L'actu 
Articles
Congratulations, Denyse!And sending you hugs in respect of the difficult time you are going through with your sick friend.
RépondreSupprimerNicola
Nicola, thank you! Sending hugs back, it's been ages...
RépondreSupprimerI have checked your blog regularly and was worried. I'm sorry to hear of the ordeal with your friend, but thrilled by the news of your victory in the Olfactorama. Congratulations!
RépondreSupprimerAriane
Ariane, sorry to have worried you. There was just too much to handle at once, and there still will be for a while, especially since my book is coming out in France in a couple of weeks... It was great though to spend a while with the Olfactarama team on Saturday. And great to see Mathilde and Vero win as well!
RépondreSupprimerNice to see you back! And please remember to look after your own health. it's very very tough when someone is ill.
RépondreSupprimerThe radio (CBC) interview you did with anna maria must have garnered so much attention-i had so many friends email me, to tell me about it! It was an intelligent interview, with many romantic stories.
Sincerely,
Carole
Thanks, Carole. Looking after myself means hanging out with friends, taking time to watch a movie, read a book -- it all somehow feels more important than feeding the blog just to feed it! I did get a lot of good echoes from that interview when I was in Canada. I'm particularly glad because it's not a typical subject for the show: the producer went for it after stumbling on the blog while researching regulatory issues, and speaking with me on the phone.
RépondreSupprimerBravo to you and Vero! Sending my love to you and C with healing prayers for her.
RépondreSupprimerJust echoing everybody else's thoughts - so glad you're back, but sad for you and your friend. Really pleased about your win. I hope life will soon improve for you.
RépondreSupprimerLife in all it's iterations all at once. What a lovely post to be able to write. Thrilled for you about for this award, very special. Waft on.
RépondreSupprimerThank you Tara. C seems to be on the mend, but only time will tell...
RépondreSupprimerAnonymous, life's not treating me too badly personally, it's just difficult to have to focus on such different issues at the same time... Thanks for your thoughts.
RépondreSupprimerJordan, yes, that's what I told myself when I first got the news: the pretty good and the pretty bad, all at once. Life.
RépondreSupprimerToday I'm wearing Séville, I worn Mito the last few days as I was on a short holiday in Rome- the perfect fragrance for that city in this time of the year: lush, monumental, a bit decadent... Many congratulations to you and thanks for letting us know all these great fragrances.
RépondreSupprimerHugs to you and your friend.
Iodine, sounds like a perfect fragrant match! Wish I were in Rome too...
RépondreSupprimerSo glad to see you back here -- and in honor of your Prix de l'Enthousiasme, I am taking my bit of Seville up to the Hills of Sabina this weekend. Will let you know what the wine and olive oil aficionados have to say. Un abbraccio.
RépondreSupprimerGrazie mille, Moira. Enjoy your weekend! Un bacione.
RépondreSupprimerI WAS starting to worry about you! I've tried about half the perfumes listed here, and Seville is definitely my favorite. I liked Alien Essence Absolue more than most things I've tried recently, so I was sorry to hear that Thierry Mugler is leaving the brand.
RépondreSupprimerHuge congratulations on the recognition for Seville a l'Aube, and wishing strength to you and your friend. ~~nozknoz
Thanks Nozknoz! Sorry for causing concerns... it was, and still is, a matter of priorities.
RépondreSupprimerThere was some debate in the committee about including flankers, apparently, but their argument was the year wasn't very rich in impressive new launches. I quite like the Alien too. It's just so powerful I can't help laughing!
Bravo, dear Denyse!
RépondreSupprimerMy enthousiastic congratulations to you!!! Sounds like a "subliminal urge" to continue the adventure, hmmm? :D
Saxo
Thank you Saxo. The urge is there!
RépondreSupprimer