The unofficial Winner of the "Concours de Nez"

Yes, I have won the 2010 Nose Competition in Grasse yesterday.

...And directly have been disqualified too, since I am considered as professional.
( I should have shown them my paycheck, they would immediately restore my status as "exploited perfume fan"... )

I had a rendez-vous with my friends at 11:30 in front of the Grasse Palace of Congress. I was a few minutes late as usual so I received an sms while parking my car that the event starts only at 2 PM. I went to take a coffee in the city center, which is really only a small square with a few cafés and restaurant. The saturday market was still on, so before heading a café, I smelled some freshly cut flowers. I diagnosed again that I prefer the green -faceted Hyacinth's scent over the obligatory "all time favorite" Rose.

I already ordered the cappucino when remembered that I only like the smell of coffee, the juice itself makes me nervous. I only ate the cream from the top and made myself a note to order tea next time I want to play the Parisian...

It is definitely already Spring in Grasse, because on my 5 minutes walk back to the Congress Palace, I got more Bonjour from random men than ever and I even earned a Je t'aime from a possible future stalker.

The Concours de Nez is organised by The Rotary Club which is a charity association all around the world. The main goal of the event is to educate people on perfumery and raw materials as well as raising funds. The event was hardly advertised - I only knew about it because I got a flu and my doctor is part of the Rotary Club - but still a few hundred people attended the 12th annual Concours de Nez. This year's theme was "The 4 elements".

Mane's stand represented Fire, with Cinnamon from Ceylan, Pimento Leaves from Latin America and Cade wood, which is the hottest of them all with its deep dry scent reminding me of smoked ham.
A young lady and a men in his middle-age with cheer elfish eyes made the presentation of the raw materials. I think he flirted with me. When making us smell their theme perfume, Absolut Fahreinheit, I saw him looking at my mouth. Not my nose. I directly checked if he had a ring ( that just shows how old and desperate I am... ), and I found no rings, but a slightly lighter strip on his ring finger instead of a ring. I heard too many urban legends in the surroundings of Grasse about married male perfumers too much fond of women to know that it is truth... I sniffed bitterly a last one from the not so bitter Absolut Fahreinheit and went to the next stand.

Charabot standed for Earth, we could smell Patchouli, Veryver from Haiti ( amazes me every time how humid its scent is! ) Iris butter ( that is contrary to what everybody thinks is obtained by distillation! ) and Viridine, which is a synthetic raw material with the distinc odeur of mushroom with a slight touch of honey. The presentation was held by two lady and a third one joined them later and directly started a mini presentation of her own, addressing her words only to me. I think she flirted with me. I didn't check if she had a ring. Rather ran away just after smelling their theme perfume, Terre d'Hermes.

The third stand was for Robertet company. A mid age lady and a young man showed us synthetic raw materials such as Benzyl Salicylate ( introduced as the smell of beach, but all I could smell was tired plastic wheel... ), Helional ( nice mixture of airy watery notes and watermelon ), Floralozone ( smells just like Ozone, and I know how Ozone smells since at the age of 10 my father bought an Ozone-maker to my bedroom, from healthy reasons ) and Canthoxal ( sweet and sour anisic note ), the theme perfume was Kenzoair, suprisingly nicer than what I remembered.

The fourth stand had the Aqua theme, but we had no time for it since the competition was about to finish soon.
The concours had an olfactive and a theoretical part where questions targeted the information you could hear if you pay attention to the stands presentations. I personally think that they should call it more like "Competition of Memory" rather than Nose...
There was 2 question that needed some extra perfume knowledge and the olfactory part - in which 5 raw materials and 2 perfumes were chosen from the different presentations were only accountable for 25 % of the total score.

My doctor - Rotarist ( who probably also flirted with me and does have a ring... ) told me in advance that my test will be taken into consideration only outside the frame of the competition and mentioned that there are many professionals evey year trying their chances and getting disqualified too.

Well it seems among them I have the best memory...