The Jasmine Awards 2015
The Jasmine Awards 2014

I absolutely cannot believe my luck! After receiving four nominations (for five articles) in the 2014 Jasmine Awards, I am completely extremely excited to announce that at the ceremony yesterday, I was lucky enough to win the ‘Digital Award’ for the second year in a row. I took the award home for my Escentual article ‘M is for Mugler‘ – an instalment in my Escentual A-Z of fragrance that was dedicated entirely to my favourite perfume brand, Thierry Mugler. To say I’m chuffed, would be an understatement and I absolutely must send a massive thank you to the team at Escentual, especially Emma, for all of their support and hard work.

I wasn’t the only one to pick up an award though and congratulations must also go out to Persolaise, who took home the ‘Blogger Award’ for his Basenotes piece, ‘Guardians Of The Past – A Trip To The Osmotheque‘. I’d also like to congratulate Lee Kynaston, who won the ‘Digital Experience’ award for his article, ‘How to Get the Most Out of Your Fragrance’ for fashionbeans.com, and I mustn’t also forget Liam Moore of ODOU Magazine and Dana El Masri for taking home the ‘Literary Award’ for the piece, ‘Reflection Eterna’l. This is the second year in a row that ODOU has won the much-coveted Literary Award, so massive congrats are due!

“It is a unique magazine; there are no other publications that explore the sense of smell alone.”

– Liam Moore

ODOU, the magazine dedicated to the world of smell and fragrance, has taken to kickstarter to help launch its fourth issue. The brainchild of Liam Moore, ODOU explores smell through poetry, photography, personal stories and interviews, just to name a few of its mediums, and is already gaining a massive following. Last year, the magazine won the much-coveted Jasmine Literary Award, and this year it has gained no less than six nominations (requesting permission to brag – including an article of mine in issue three) – and that’s all by the third issue. ODOU has got off to an impressive start, for sure.

I’ve had the privilege of writing for ODOU and I have faith that issue four will be just as fascinating and moving as the first three. I will definitely be backing the kickstarter, not only because I think it will be a success, but because there is nothing quite like it on the market. This magazine beautifully outlays some of the best olfactory content out there, in a way that nobody else does. It deserves to be huge. For more info on ODOU and Liam’s crowdfunding, or to back the project, click here to visit the magazine’s kickstarter page. Also, for a quote from Liam re the project, just head below the jump.

ODOU, Issue Three
ODOU, Issue Three

“What is a perfume’s story? What smells do explorers experience? And what do dreamers imagine when smelling perfume? Aren’t we each making our own story?”

– ODOU, Issue Three

ODOU, the Jasmine Award winning magazine dedicated exclusively to the world of smell, has just released its third issue, and it’s a good one! Obviously, this is no real surprise as the first two issues curated by Editor Liam Moore, were absolutely fantastic (with the first gaining a number of Jasmine Award nominations and a win, I hasten to add) and approached the art of perfume, and olfaction from an entirely new angle.

Issue three sees articles from esteemed writers such as Persolaise, Neil Chapman of The Black Narcissus (whose article in Issue one took the Jasmine Literary Award last year) and Joshua Ang of The Smelly Vagabond. This is the story issue, and it takes a look at a diverse range of tales from a perfumer, a dreamer, an addict, and many more. Through this issue of ODOU, we can take a look at many lives and how the world of smell interacts with them, painting a picture of the human condition through breathtaking imagery, fascinating stories, and of course, beautiful smells.

I’ve contributed a small piece to Issue three, detailing my very own perfume story, specifically the tale of how I fell in love with the world of fragrance. The piece is called ‘My Kingdom for McQueen’ and I’m very proud of it, but if you want to know more you’re going to have to read all about it in ODOU. To pick up digital or hard copies of ODOU Issue three, or the other two issues, you simply need to click here to visit the magazine’s website.

The Jasmine Awards 2013
The Jasmine Awards 2013

Well, yesterday was an absolute of whirlwind of a day! After the joy of being shortlisted in the 2013 Jasmine Digital Award category for my Guide to Violet (in very esteemed company I must add) I am thrilled to announce that I was lucky enough to win the prize at yesterday’s ceremony held at BAFTA. I am of course, incredibly chuffed to have been bestowed with such an award and am very thankful to the Jasmine judges and the Fragrance Foundation for considering me – it truly is an honour.

I wasn’t the only one to pick up an award though and congratulations must go out to Liam Moore whose magazine ‘ODOU‘ received three nominations and was awarded the coveted Literary Award (Magazine) prize for Neil Chapman’s (he of The Black Narcissus) piece ‘Perfume Haters‘. A hearty well done, congratulations and hooray for both Neil, Liam and all of the other winners – a full list of which can be found at the Jasmine Awards website.

ODOU - Issue 1
ODOU – Issue 1

“Stop and smell the roses” urges the first line of new smell and perfume publication ODOU Magazine, and it’s a good mantra for print that approaches perfume and scent in a new and more personal way. Curated by web/graphic designer and Personal Odour blogger Liam Moore, ODOU explores the world of olfaction from every angle and is an exciting new project for perfume lovers.

Within the 58 pages of Issue 1, ODOU proves that it is more than just a perfume magazine, combining poetry, striking visuals and thought provoking (and even touching) articles from the likes of Sarah McCartney (of 4160 Tuesdays fame), Pia Long (of Volatile Fiction and Lush fame) and Callum Langston-Bolt (he of Les Senteurs) for a wonderful olfactory experience.

This reader sat down with a cup of Earl Grey (or two) this weekend and very quickly digested and worked his way through the entirety of Issue 1 (and he will most definitely be reading it all over again I’m sure) and very much looks forward to more from ODOU in its very bright future. You can find more about ODOU and Issue 1 here.