Finalists For Fragance Of The Year

Alec Baldwin will make his debut as emcee for The Fragrance Foundation Awards on Wednesday, June 17th at Lincoln Center.

Sylvia Bustamante Gubbins. 17/04/2015

Christine Baranski, Jill Belasco, Ann Gottlieb, Elizabeth Musmanno, Cos Policastro — Christine Baranski, Jill Belasco, Ann Gottlieb, Elizabeth Musmanno and Cos Policastro (Photo: Casey Kelbaugh)

The top five finalists for The Fragrance Foundation Awards and Editorial Excellence winners were announced at The Finalists’ Breakfast hosted by Christine Baranski. Alec Baldwin, Emmy Award Winning actor and film producer, will make his debut as emcee for The Fragrance Foundation Awards on Wednesday, June 17th at Lincoln Center, Alice Tully Hall. Model, and newly-minted fragrance designer, Anja Rubik will co-chair.

The winners for Fragrance of the Year and all other categories will be announced on that night. Editorial Excellence in Fragrance Coverage awards were handed out to three different publications in an exciting race. Town & Country magazine won the feature category for “In the Mood for Oud?” , Cosmopolitan magazine’s “Fire Starters” was awarded best article, and fragrance blog Cafleurebon.com won the online category with “Smoky Eyes and Smoky Perfumes: The Allure of Scents that Smoulder.”

Jerome Epinette, Mathieu Nardin and Christophe Maubert (Photo: Casey Kelbaugh)

For the third year, breakfast attendees were given the opportunity to vote for the Popular, Prestige and Luxury categories for Fragrance of the Year, and – new this year – for Men’s and Women’s Packaging of the Year, adding a competitive edge to one of the year’s marquis events. “The individual votes can change the outcome of Fragrance of the Year and Packaging of the Year”, said Elizabeth Musmanno, President of the Fragrance Foundation.“We are shifting some of the power from corporations to members”.

The Fragrance Foundation also recognized John Demsey, group president of The Estée Lauder Companies, as this year’s Hall of Fame honoree. Demsey has long been admired as a creative visionary, strategic thinker and accomplished brand builder. Annie Buzantian, master perfumer at Firmenich, is the recipient of the Perfumer of the Year, Lifetime Achievement Award. This honor will be presented during the Fragrance Foundation Awards event.