By Lisa Marsh
Though it was a night for honoring makers of perfume, the chatter at the Fragrance Foundation's Fifi Awards took on a decidedly natural tone.
Take Cat Cora. If the celeb chef and soon-to-be show host (on OWN) could smell like anything, it's a truffle. “I want to smell like a white truffle,” she told TODAY.com at New York's Lincoln Center Wednesday evening.
But if she has to choose a perfume, it's anything from British scent maker Jo Malone. "They're fresh with fruits and are a little more earthy,” she said. “I also love regular essences and really good essential oils, like musk oil or lavender.”
New mom Tiffani Thiessen is in love with the scent of her 11-month-old daughter, Harper. “If I could bottle up what she smelled like, I’d be a billionaire,” she said, adding, “who wouldn’t want to smell like that? These days, her scent is what my scent is, which is quite fine with me.”
Padma Lakshmi, who famously mixes her own scents, sticks with the inconsistencies of her oils. “Today is Neroli, geranium and rose,” She told TODAY.com, offering an earthy-smelling wrist. “It’s never the same – it’s different every day.”
Actress Kate Walsh, on hand to support her fragrance called Boyfriend, is taking a natural approach to developing her next boyfriend, which is arriving on Valentine’s Day 2012. “I wanted to accomplish getting a men’s scent on a woman’s skin,” she told TODAY.com, “With masculine notes and feminine notes of floral as well. That’s what I got in the bottle.”
For some perfume etiquette, we turned to former White House Social Secretary Desiree Rogers. Her warning? Whatever you choose to wear, keep it to yourself. “I think it’s always important to keep your fragrance minimal,” she shared. “If a person two people away is smelling you, it’s too much. If they’re not hugging you and can smell it, it’s too much.” But, she added with a wink, “If someone is in your space, then certainly, they should be able to smell it.”
Also at the event were Halle Berry, being honored as Fragrance Celebrity of the Year, a newly blonde Fergie, being honored as New Fragrance Celebrity of the Year, and Mary J Blige, who is developing a new collection of complementary lip glosses.