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The Mouillette d'Argent International Perfumery Contest has held the sixth edition of its annual awards gala in Teià during the celebration of the fair ‘Maridatge dels Sentits’.
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In this edition it has had a hundred participants from 25 countries, who have created a perfume based on the olfactory note of the year: Bergamot.
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The jury is chaired by master perfumer Ramón Monegal, who celebrated the existence of a contest in which 'participants feel free to innovate and create what they imagine'.
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The finalist perfumes have been exhibited in the main perfumeries in Spain to be discovered by the public who have been able to discover them and vote for their favourite.
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The Contest is organized by the Beauty Cluster, the Teià Town Hall, Ainea Perfums and Noreste Studio, and has the sponsorship and support of the fragrance industry, represented by Bordas, Cosmo International Fragrances, CPL Aromas, Eurofragance, Iberchem, Lluch Essence, Ventós, Rafesa, Rosendo Mateu Perfums, Sandir and Scentmate by Firmenich.
On May 6, the Mouillette D'Argent awards gala was held, in which the 3 winners of the sixth edition were revealed. The Gala, framed as usual in the Maridatge dels Sentits, has consisted of an intimate ceremony in the centenary manor house of Ca l'Antiga and has had a hundred guests representing the organization, the jury, the finalists, sponsors, collaborators, and friends of the Contest.
The jury has awarded the French perfumer Sebastien Lacouture as the best perfume in the general category with his fragrance "Bergamote Torrefiee". As the winner of the best perfume Mouillette D'Argent 2023, he also received the Rosendo Mateu prize of €2,500 delivered by Joan Mateu CEO of Rosendo Mateu Perfums.
The award for best independent perfume went to the fragrance "Euforia" by the Argentine participant Nina Lamaison who, in addition to the silver award designed by the Majoral Jewelry Store in Barcelona, received the complete collection of “Nez+LMR – The Naturals Notebook”, released by Nez, a publishing house that promotes the culture of smell around the world.
The winning perfume chosen by the public vote was "Sole Calabrese" by junior perfumer from the United States Max Rossa, who in 2021 had already won the award for best independent perfume.
The 2023 edition of the Contest had more than 100 registered participants from 25 different countries. 80 fragrances were received and the 12 finalist perfumes, which were sent to the members of the jury, and which reached all the voting points, were obtained thanks to an exhaustive pre-selection led by the president of the jury.
The jury is chaired by the Master perfumer Ramón Monegal, who, in addition to treasuring a long and successful career in the industry, is a Number Academic at the prestigious Academia del Perfume, a non-profit Cultural Foundation with the mission of spreading the universe on perfume, with emphasis on its facet of artistic creation and which has a group of Academics among which are some of the best Spanish-speaking perfumers in the world.
The jury is completed by experts from the world of perfume, art, design, and gastronomy. It has had personalities such as the three winners of the 2022 edition, as well as Jessica Mignot from Nez magazine, Elizabeth Vidal de Puig, Irene Gisbert from Ainea Perfums, the sommelier César Canovas, the architect Susanna Cots, Charo Moreno director of Beautyprof magazine and the youtubers, experts in spreading perfumes, Andrés Croxatto (@AndresPerfumeMan) and Juan López Becerril (@huelememucho).
The event also included the participation of Rovena Raymo from the Simone Gatto company, one of the world's leading producers of Bergamot from Calabria, who gave an interesting explanation to the public about the characteristics and history of this olfactory note.
The International Perfumery Contest is consolidated in this sixth edition as a meeting event for lovers of olfactory culture and a space for the discovery of young talents who wish to make their creative capacity known.
In the words of the president of the jury, the master perfumer Ramón Monegal: 'The reason for a contest of this type is to provoke innovation. The participants have to feel free to do what they imagine, and we have to bet on daring and innovation'.
The growth of the Contest is also due to the perfumery points of sale that become voting points to bring the public closer to the possibility of smelling and voting for perfumes from all over the world and promoting the culture of smell. This year it was possible to vote in the perfumeries of Ruiz de Ocenda (Bilbao), Le Secret du Marais (Madrid), Regia, Les Topettes and Isidro Cosmetic Shop (Barcelona), the La Unión Cultural Center (Teià) and seven locations throughout Spain of Perfumerías Jùlia.
At the end of the event, it was announced that the olfactory note of the VII International Perfumery Contest will be leather, being a chord for the first time and responding to the desire of the president of the jury that the next edition becomes a great challenge for the participants and innovative proposals are received.