It's that time of year again...and once again, I am unable to wrap my brain around a simple list of great finds. I'm sticking with last year's format, highlighting the good and the bad, the fragrant and the not so fragrant.
Best perfume news of the year: New niche lines are sprouting like mushrooms these days. Le Labo & LesNEZ are two standouts in this crowded field, and both have been added to my "I want to try whatever they do next" list. Honorable mention in the good-news-but-delayed-gratification category goes to the upcoming perfume book from Luca Turin and Tania Sanchez.
Worst perfume news of the year: Serious perfume fans lamented the disappearance of Olivia Giacobetti's IUNX line. I didn't adore all of the fragrances, but they were interesting, and I was just falling in love with L'Ether when they closed up shop for good.
Best celebrity scent: I tried to keep up with the celebrity releases this year, but hey, there are only so many hours in a day. I couldn't smell them all. I missed Phat Farm Atman and Kylie Minogue Darling, and I'm sure there are numerous others. Of what I did manage to try, With Love Hilary Duff stands out as the best, but it can't beat 2005's Lovely by Sarah Jessica Parker.
Fragrances that lived up to the hype: Terre d'Hermes and Tom Ford Black Orchid. I adore Terre d'Hermes and don't adore Black Orchid, but they both basically delivered what they promised, and that is rare enough these days. If I was on the panel voting for the 2006 Fifi Awards (and as you no doubt guessed, I'm not), these two would get my votes. Honorable mention goes to Prada Man and Guerlain Insolence.
Fragrances that didn't: Most of them, I suppose, but my biggest disappointments were Hermès Paprika Brasil and the Comme des Garçons Guerilla Series.
Perfumer of the Year: Bertrand Duchaufour, who made three of my favorite finds of the year — L'Artisan Dzongkha, L'Artisan Aedes de Venustas, and Eau d'Italie Paestum Rose.
Best concept and packaging: No contest, the Le Parfum Coffret by Thierry Mugler.
Prettiest perfume bottle: If there was a standout this year on the order of last year's Chinatown, I can't think of what it was, but I liked the bottles for Donna Karan Gold, Black Orchid and Kenzo Amour.
Fickle, fickle, fickle: My about-face for 2006 was Hermès Eau de Merveilles. I have no idea how I missed how lovely this was the first time around.
These are a few of my favorite things: An entirely random and almost certainly incomplete list of new-found loves from the past year, though not all are 2006 releases ~ Donna Karan Gold, Christian Dior Jules and Dior Dior, CB I Hate Perfume Memory of Kindness, Knize Ten, Le Labo Rose 31, LesNEZ The Unicorn Spell, Czech & Speake Dark Rose, Annick Goutal Songes, Crazylibellule & The Poppies Encens Mystic.
Was it a better year for perfume than 2005? Would love to hear your votes, do comment.
And be sure to check out these blogs for more 2006 Favorite Things:
Afrobella :: All About The Pretty :: Aromascope :: Beauty Addict :: Beauty Blogging Junkie :: Beauty by Nadine :: Beautiful Makeup Search & Beauty Blog :: Beauty Hatchery :: Beauty Jones :: Blogdorf Goodman :: Bois de Jasmin :: BonBons in the Bath :: Brain Trapped in Girl's Body :: Capital Hill Barbie :: C'est Chic :: Coquette :: Crazy Jay Blue :: eBeautyDaily :: Girl's Handbook :: Hautemommastuff :: Koneko's *Mostly* Beauty Diary! :: Legerdenez :: Makeup Bag :: Monkeyposh :: My Muse :: No one knows why the wolf laughs :: Perfume Smellin' Things :: Peppermint Patty's Perfume Posse :: Platinum Blonde Life :: Product Girl :: Scentzilla! :: She'll Be Feverish After So Much Thinking :: Slap of the Day :: The Customer Is Always Right :: The Daily Obsession :: The Great She Elephant :: The Life Of A Ladybug :: The Non-Blonde :: Urbane Girl :: Victoria's Own
Special thanks to Annie of Blogdorf Goodman for organizing this year's "Best Of" event!
The streamlined product list of 
The year is almost over. For those lucky souls who live in the moment, or who look ahead with hope and excitement, this time of year can be joyous. I’m the sort who glances back at the about-to-end year, who thinks of the good things the year brought and the things it took away. For me, New Year’s Day is always a pensive time, but in my last post of 2006, I’d like to keep things light, or should I say pink, and eulogize a frivolous thing: a candle. 
