The 2009 fragrance awards season is over*, and we have a winner: Chloé Eau de Parfum, a perfume that Chandler Burr of The New York Times characterized as “an uninteresting, clichéd floral”. Chloé took a grand total of 5 awards for best fragrance, including a US Fifi Award, a People’s Choice Award from the UK Fifis, and awards from the Canadian Fragrance Awards, the Grand Prix du Parfum (France) and Cosmetic Executive Women UK.
The runner-up: Gwen Stefani’s Harajuku Lovers, which took 3 awards for best fragrance.
On the men’s front, Paco Rabanne 1 Million was the “most honored”, taking a total of 3 awards.
See also: the Fragrance Awards page, The 2008 fragrance awards season ~ the big winners
*Although I should point out that Basenotes has not yet tabulated their results this year, and I haven’t seen the winners from Spain’s Academia del Perfume — I’m not even sure if they are doing an awards ceremony for 2009.
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Has anyone smelled Chloe? Able to comment? Comparisons on the boring scale?
However, I will say that after hearing a couple things recently, I’m curious to smell 1 Million (I had forgotten Kevin reviewed it… and now I want to smell Omnia Granato too! ack!).
Joe, Chloe is pretty darned dull. I never reviewed it because a) I took forever to get around to smelling it, and b) I couldn’t think of anything to say about it that Burr hadn’t already said.
Hm, well, the SA at Nordie’s said Chloe was her favorite. She then expressed shock that I didn’t love Flowerbomb, wrinkled up her nose at Bel Respiro, and described D&G Anthology #1 as “really spicy” (see K’s review of that one). Does that help?
I think the SA is representative of the target market for these types of fragrances – seems to be why “boring” fragrances win all the awards. Last year it was MJ’s Daisy – cute bottle, but the scent is…DULL! Perfectly inoffensive office-type scent. Can’t say anything about Chloe cause I haven’t smelled it, but sounds like it’s in the same category.
Maybe the SA said Chloe was her favorite because it was in visual and they had a contest on it….?
seriously, some of the contest prizes are amazing – D&G handbags, cruises, $1000 Amex cards, even the little $5 cash-under-the-perfume-counter spiffs – some serious enticement goes into promoting sales numbers.
Once again, I’m in the minority.
I really liked Chloe. I won’t buy a full bottle of it any time soon, but I wouldn’t say it was boring. I thought it was sort of powdery and old-fashioned.
Hey, we’re all in the minority on one fragrance or another — stick to your guns, I say.
I just seem to have more that fall in the “bad taste” category than others.
I guess I just need to own it!
But “bad taste”…I mean, this is all subjective, right? Who’s to say what’s good or bad taste, and anyway, the whole point is to wear what makes you happy.
Bad taste? perhaps you didn’t notice that I’m currently wearing crocs….
I don’t stray terribly far from the mainstream either, it’s just that lately (and I use that term loosely), mainstream has been so sickeningly sweet and bland. And we’ve certainly proven here that skin chemistry as well as personal preference come into play…maybe Chloe smells fantastic on you. Just not on me.
Yep… I’m in the minority with some of my faves, that’s for sure. Wear what you love, love what you wear… no rules.
Yeah, i went to smell 1 Million after i saw all the hype. It really shouldnt have won any awards either. Personally, Paco Rabanne Pour Homme is much better.
I really can’t wait till basenotes publishes their results! Seems like their taking forever but I suppose thats normal?
I think they’re much later than usual this year.
I’m a newbie with perfume. I thought it was nice, soft, and elegant until I get to the musty rose base note. Rose scent and I don’t get along quite well.
Ah well, plenty of perfumes out there w/o rose
It seems to boil down to
lots of sales = awards
doesn’t it?
I don’t know, really…it definitely isn’t about excellence of the juice, but I think it might take other things into account: packaging, advertising, etc. I mean, Chloe was not the top selling new women’s perfume last year, I’m sure.
Chloe? Goodness, the best I could say is that it’s inoffensive. On the other hand, it seems to get a lot of love on MUA, from people who don’t sound as if they’re mad nichistas. I’m guessing it hits the spot for younger people who want to smell sophisticated without getting into ‘old-lady’ territory like Chanel. And it is a classy bottle.
It’s a great bottle, and I liked the advertising too.
Oh, oh. Now
…I want to smell it. I like Daisy. It makes me feel kinda carefree. I don’t looove it. But I often like some mainstream scents, like Beautiful from E.L. I am not a seasoned perfumista yet. I hope I don’t get bored by simple things. I can understand if it smells like everything else.
Well said. It’s a great thing, not to be bored by simple things. I’m not a fan of Chloe b/c I just don’t like the smell, but I can see that plenty of people would like it. Packaging and advertising are most elegant.
Beautiful is a very well constructed scent…miles & away better than Chloe, IMHO. But there’s also nothing wrong with liking whatever you like…who cares?
Yes, sexy bottle, but the juice is disappointing on me. I wanted something honeyed and David Yurman-ish or Gucci by Gucci-ish…
It Chloe was not the top selling women’s perfume last year, with this award it will probably get up there, no? I wonder how much an award such as this improves the sales on a perfume. Do people play attention to them or is it just for the industry itself?
I’d be really surprised if it had more than a minor effect on sales — I think the industry pays more attention than the public. But just guessing…
I tried Chloe edp in a store and couldn´t smell much. I was given a sample and some days later I sptritzed like 4 times thinking it was not going to be enough…It has been the first time in my life I have to come back home and have a shower, it was so intense!
Oh dear!
I sniffed this for the first time last weekend. Just a quick sniff at Nordies. It was better than expected but still just decent.
These award winners are always such a snooze.
I’m sure there’s plenty of politicking, back patting, and punishment to guiding the selection process, just like with any other major award. Oscars anyone?
I take it this is NOT the same Chloe that came out decades ago? Wasn’tthere one named Chloe, though?
It´s absolutely different, when Coty Prestige bought Chloe, they decided to start over and discontinue the previous ones. I remember the former Chloe as quite heavy floral
Yep, a totally different scent.
Perhaps growing up in the ’70s, I was a child of the era. I thought the original Chloe (under Karl Lagerfeld) was unique and stunning. But I also preferred smelling it on someone else than on myself.
Oh, I thought it was a great scent too. Haven’t smelled it in eons.
The new Chloe smells like Fabric Softener. There’s nothing more to say about it.
I just bought a bottle of the old Chloe two weeks ago, but haven’t opened it yet. Why would a perfume company pick a name that is still in use? That sounds super stupid to me.
Did this Chloe win because it was good or did it win just because someone wanted to rub Chandler Burr’s face in it? Denise
I guess they figure most young people today don’t know the old Chloe anyway?
I really liked the original Chloe, too, an upbeat floral with a fruity impression (but no fruit in the notes as per Basenotes). Haven’t smelled the remake, but the notes are almost identical to those of Miracle by Lancome (lychee, freesia, magnolia, amber, musk). Miracle smelled like dryer sheets to me, an extremely “fresh” floral, and the comments make me think the new Chloe is a clone.
It’s rosier than Miracle if my memory serves, but it *is* very fresh.
I consider Chloe to be mini-worthy, and that is what I have of it. It is very sweet, but has a nice perfumey texture to it that smacks of a higher level of quality/luxuriousness than I expected.
Glad to see the fans sticking up for Chloe!