The Candies 2013: The Very Best and Very Worst Perfumes of 2013

The Candies 2013: The Very Best and the Very Worst Perfumes of the Year

Can you believe that 2013 is coming to a close already? I certainly can’t! It only feels like yesterday that I was sat at my laptop, tapping away at the first reviews of the year and looking forward to the exciting new smells that next 365 days would bring. It has, all-in-all, been a very good year, with lots of interesting new perfumes launched, and on a more personal note too, as this year I took on the exciting role of Fragrance Expert for Escentual.com.

The perfumes have come thick and fast over the year, and once again the industry has seen an increase in the overall number of perfumes launched. Over the year we’ve seen our fair share of masterpieces, duds, flankers and celebrity money makers in, and as with any other year it has been a roller coaster ride of an experience sifting through just a tiny portion of what has been released.

In this post – my annual perfume awards (‘The Candies’) – I’m taking a look at my fragrant highlights of the year and those perfumes that have impressed, moved and surprised me. I’m also highlighting the specific scents that have failed to meet the mark this year and are disappointing enough to warrant naming and shaming. So sit back, don your red carpet gown (or suit), pop the champagne and enjoy The Candies 2013.

[Please also head over to my fragrant brothers and sisters who are sharing their very best perfumes of 2013; Persolaise, Olfactoria’s Travels, Eyeliner on a Cat, Fragrant Moments, Perfume Shrine, I Smell Therefore I Am, SmellyBlog and The Fragrant Man.]

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New Escentual Post: C is for Celebuscents…

Apologies once again for the lack of posts over the last few weeks, our little cat Paddington has been quite poorly, which mixed with a very hectic work schedule has meant that my head hasn’t really been in the right space for blogging.

Tomorrow I shall return with the next instalment in my ‘Guide to’ series, in the meantime please click on the image above to head over to Escentual.com to read the latest in the Escentual A-Z of Fragrance; ‘C is for Celebuscents…’

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The Candies 2012: The Very Best and Very Worst Perfumes of 2012

I can’t believe it but it’s the end of 2012 already, which means that it’s time for us perfume bloggers to put together our lists of the very best and very worst perfumes of the year, honestly, where did the time go?! This year I’m affectionately entitling my awards ‘The Candies’ as a short, punchy alternative to The Candy Perfume Boy Awards. Neat huh?

Across all genres there have been many interesting, exciting and unique perfumes unleashed on to the market along with the usual amount of celebrity dreck, dud flankers and down-right-bizarre niche offerings. All-in-all it’s been a busy year with over 1,300 launches. Impressive but exhausting!

Below you will find my awards for Best Masculine, Best Feminine and Best Unisex Fragrances for both niche and mainstream houses. In addition to this I’ve also included awards for Best Flanker, Best Celebrity Fragrance and Best Ad Campaign. But we’re not just celebrating the very best of perfumery in 2012 here, no sir, we’re also highlighting the very worst with the Sour Candy Award, reserved solely for the naffest perfume of the year.

So I hope you’re wearing your very best frock (or tux for the boys, or frock if you prefer, it’s up to you really) and sipping on some fine Champagne as The Candies 2012 are underway…

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The Candy Perfume Boy’s Gaga Giveaway

Following yesterday’s review of Lady Gaga’s debut fragrance Fame I thought I would continue the Gaga theme and appeal to everyone’s inner little monster by offering a giveaway.

As a thank you for pre-ordering Fame, The Perfume Shop sent me some Lady Gaga swag, namely; a veil, some Gaga tattoos and two sets of Fame bottle-esque acrylic nails. Now I have mentioned before that I may like to smell like a hooker on the odd occasion but I draw the line at looking like one, so I thought I would pass my Bag O’ Gaga Swag on to one lucky winner. I’ll even throw in a 2.5ml spray sample of fame because I’m nice/evil like that (it depends on what you think of Fame).

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The Black Soul of Celebrity Fragrances – Lady Gaga Fame Perfume Review

Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, or Lady Gaga as she is more commonly known, is undeniably one of the more interesting pop stars around today. Forget Britney, Christina, Miley and all those other pretenders, Gaga is a true visionary and a real star. Oozing with talent and more than her fair share of batshit-craziness, Gaga is like the rebellious love child spawned from the spliced DNA of David Bowie and Madonna.

OK you get it, I’m a fan and whilst I refuse to class myself as a ‘little monster’ I must admit that I was genuinely excited about Fame, I mean if anyone was going to do an interesting fragrance then it would be Gaga.

Apparently cooked up in a laboratory deep within the bowels of the Haus of Gaga (Lady Gaga’s fashion collective) Fame is described as an “opulent, crushed floral” [1] that, with it’s black coloured juice that is invisible once air born, represents the black soul of fame. Crazy huh? – Not really because Fame is all style and no substance…

Fame had the makings of a truly great celebrity fragrance; great bottle? Yep! massive gimick (the black liquid)? Yep again! and amazing ad campaign? Hell to the yep! But the one area that Fame disappoints is most definitely the most crucial, that’s right folks I’m talking about the smell and as much as it pains me to say it one cannot hide the fact that in terms of scent, Fame is a complete dud.

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Smelly News: Watch the Trailer for Lady Gaga’s Fame Fragrance Commercial

What do you think?

If the scent is anywhere near as awesome as the Steven Klein directed commercial looks like it might be then I know that I will be a happy boy. But until I smell it I am firmly reserving all judgement on the juice.

Whilst we’re on the subject of the actual juice, I have pre-ordered my bottle and am led to believe that it should arrive next week. Not long to wait now!

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“Perfume Sets the Mood…and I am In the Mood For Glamour” – Dita Von Teese Eau de Parfum Perfume Review

I have a list in my head of celebrities that I think should release a fragrance. I know that I really shouldn’t be encouraging the stars to explore the world of perfume, after all the majority of their fragrant output is utterly dreadful, but I do believe that there are a good few schlebs out there who would invest enough time and artistic integrity to make an exceptional fragrance.

One such celebrity sitting on my mental celebrity fragrance list was Dita Von Teese (along with others such as Björk and Kate Bush FYI) and it seems that she may have read my mind having decided to take the plunge into the world of celebrity perfume. As expected the result is a perfume that perfectly captures the style and personality of the celebrity for which it represents.

Dita Von Teese Eau de Parfum officially launched in 2011 but we didn’t see it in the UK until May 2012. It is described as a “timeless” perfume and it very much draws on the old school glamorous florals of the past, specifically those of brands such as Houbigant and Caron. Dita is reputed to have been very involved with the creation of her Eau de Parfum and for an entire year spent almost every day working with perfumer Nathalie Lorson in the lab.

“I wanted it to be a perfume that smelled exactly how I imagined it. A scent needs to reflect all the different facets of my personality. It had to be elegant, glamorous, sophisticated, sexy, dark and mysterious.”

Dita Von Teese

Written inside the perfume’s box is a quote from Dita that reads; “Perfume sets the mood…and I am in the mood for glamour.” and that very much sets the tone for a scent chock full of glamour, style and classic beauty. With Dita Von Teese Eau de Parfum, the world’s favourite burlesque star presents a perfume that the “femme totale”, a woman in full form.

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Smelly News: Madonna Truth or Dare Perfume Commercial

Put the bondage mask down Madge – it’s for your own good!

After a brief hiatus due to a big wooly mammoth-sized dose of university work I am very pleased to be returning to the blogosphere once again and apologise for the huge lack of posts over the last few weeks. Before my full comeback tomorrow, which will kick of with a write-up of last week’s Perfume Lovers London Leather Event, I thought I would share the commercial for Madonna’s highly anticipated debut fragrance ‘Truth or Dare’.

Now, I am a Madonna fan, I have been for years and despite the fact that my interest in the Queen of Pop may have wained since her last album (I refuse to acknowledge Hard Candy as a legitimate Madonna album – it’s just better that way) I must confess that I am back in full M-obsession mode since the release of her latest album MDNA. This, plus the impending release of her first fragrance has me breaking into spontaneous fits of gay hysteria, so please do humour me slightly with this post.

Truth or Dare is reported to be a big white floral and seeing as it is coming from a woman who’s favourite fragrance is Fracas, I rest assured that it will be a relatively-decent perfume. That aside, I think we can all agree that the commercial for said fragrance is absolutely diabolical. Sometimes Madonna just tries to hard and whilst the whole look (and name) seems to be straight out of the Blond Ambition era (when she was at the height of her fame), I can’t help but feel that it seems dated and pointlessly ‘erotic’. I mean, was there really a need for the bondage mask?! Oh, and don’t get me started on the fact that she has used her worst ever single as the soundtrack! C’mon Madge – you’re better than that!

Shoddy TV commercial aside I am still VERY excited about Truth or Dare and cannot wait to get my greedy little hands on a bottle. More info on Truth or Dare below the jump…

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