Come with us as we go inside the Fragrance Foundation’s 30th award ceremony!

Listed notes

Glitz, glamour, the cream of the fragrance industry and lots of champagne!

Top notes

It was my incredible honour to be invited to the Fragrance Foundation Awards as a Jasmine Award finalist this year. Although this was my third finalist place, it was the first time I had been able to attend the awards in person and I was in equal parts super excited and very nervous to find out what the evening would be like.

Held at The Brewery in the city of London, the awards ceremony combines the Jasmine Awards with the Fragrance Foundation Awards. The Jasmine Awards are presented to fragrance writers, bloggers and content creators who undertake the job of translating scent to the public. The Foundation Awards themselves are presented to specific fragrances and brands who represent the pinnacle of innovation and creativity in their releases.

Heart notes

The evening began with a champagne reception. I took the opportunity to chat to some of the fellow guests and found them an interesting and vivacious crowd which included brand managers, manufacturers and folks from across the whole spectrum of the fragrance industry.

Once the reception was over, we headed into the main hall to take our seats for dinner and the event itself. We were seated on tables of 12 and my table included wonderful creators such as Sam Scriven, Sarah McCartney, Alice du Parcq and Suzy Nightingale as well as Josephine Fairley and Lorna McKay from The Perfume Society – all pillars of the fragrance community in their own rights.

It’s fair to say that by this point in the evening both the wine and the conversation were flowing. Julian Macdonald was sat just a few seats away from our table, and he looked like he was having a brilliant time, the whole crowd of 600 people or so seemed to be having an awful lot of fun and the energy in the room was electric.

Whilst we ate dinner, a number of speeches took place from the Chairman of the Fragrance Foundation, Annalise Fard and Linda Key Jackson, the Foundation’s CEO. During her speech, Annalise announced that she would be retiring from her position as Chairman to hand over to Roja Dove before the next award ceremony.

Once the formalities were out of the way, and whilst we were still tucking into wine and dessert, the Jasmine Awards began.

Base notes

The winners of the Jasmine Awards this year were as follows:

Literary award – Josephine Fairley
Creativity award – Alice du Parcq
Practical guide – Amanda Carr and Tamara Fulton
Short piece (under 500 words) – Carla Seipp
Rising star (for someone who has been in the industry less than two years) – Haydn Williams

The winners of the Fragrance Foundation Awards were:

Best Media Campaign – Juliette Has A Gun, Pear Inc
Design and Packaging – Chanel No 5
Interior Fragrance – Liberty, Hera (candle)
Independent Fragrance – Experimental Perfume Club, Iris Carmin
Perfume Extraordinaire – Editions de Parfums Frederic Malle, Synthetic Jungle (submitted by IFF)
Readers Choice (as voted for by readers of the Evening Standard) – Dior, Miss Dior
People’s Choice (as voted for by users of the Perfumist app) – Dior, Sauvage Elixir
Innovation Award – Paco Rabanne, Phantom
Limited Distribution – Chanel, Le Lion de Chanel
Online Retailer of the Year – The Perfume Shop
Retailer of the Year – Harrods
Best New Fragrance – Paco Rabanne, Phantom
Best New Fragrance Collection – Maison Francis Kurkdjian, Collection Cologne Forte
Ultimate Launch – Paco Rabanne, Phantom
Best New Fragrance in the Last 30 Years (in celebration of the UK Fragrance Foundation’s anniversary) – Chanel, Coco Mademoiselle

The other stuff

Although The Sniff didn’t quite make it as a winner this year, we still had an absolutely amazing time at the event. It was a delight to be out in public again after what felt like the longest time and the wine, amazing food, delightful company and novelty of the whole thing made for a very special evening indeed!

Photos by The Sniff.