Photo: George Holz
Five years ago, I was told by a prominent perfumer that 75% of all fragrances are created by white, French men (he only met the gender qualifier). I am not sure if that statistic was accurate but we had a serious conversation about who is buying fine fragrance and niche perfumes and only a tiny percentage are white, male and French! I am fairly certain that our "perfumista" readers would recognize the faces of male perfumers more easily than their female colleagues (many of our readers would recognize his face). Yet, the women below have created many of the scents which sit on our bureaus or have influenced contempory perfumery.
Try to identify the nine woman perfumers whose photos appear below.
#1
#2 Mane
#3 Robertet
#4 Symrise
#5
#6
#7 Firmenich
#8
#9 "she had me from hello" Givaudaun
I have a feeling that this test will challenge quite a few of you. Maybe in a couple years it won't. There are a few hints and six of the nine women are senior or master perfumers with large Fragrance and Flavor companies. All nine are "noses" and have created niche and designer perfumes we have written about on CaFleureBon.
Our Nine spilled perfume prizes have a common thread…. women perfumers!
Robert Piguet 100 ml of Futur (Hint)
40notes Perfumes and Miriam Vareldzis Spring Vetiver
L'Artisan Parfumeur for 100 ml Coeur de Vétiver Sacré by Karine Vinchon Spehner of Robertet
50 ml Cognoscenti #1 by Dannielle Sergent
10 ml lab sample of Maggie Mahboubian premier perfume, La Lune de Miel
Christi Meshell 10ml of Alpha by House of Matriarch
Yosh Han 50 ml of Ginger Ciao EDP and 3ml of Sombre Negra (which is back-ordered until November)
Persephenie Lea of Persephenie Leatherwood
50 ml of Swarovski Edition Sonia Constant of Givaudaun and Pierre Aules
The first reader to guess the names of all nine perfumers (or the most correct responses) shown in this post can win two fragrances of their choice. Even if you cannot guess a single perfumer, you are eligible to win a fragrance just by leaving a comment about your favorite woman perfumer.
Draw ends September 17, 2012
–Michelyn Camen, Editor in Chief