S02.E06: Scents and Sensibility

[Door County Cherry]

Airs Jan, 22, 2021:

Quote

The five remaining contestants must design and exquisite perfume bottle with a sculpted stopper and render it in two sizes.

 

[Aulty]

Elliot did well, the 'bottles' looked very sleek and stylish, but I feel they are art pieces rather than something a perfumier would commission.

All the other bottles were really really bad. Kat's describing them as a feminine shape when they looked like a mismatched pair of testicles was hilarious. The basic shape and idea of Nao and Chris' pieces was elegant, but they cocked up the execution. And what as Andi thinking with those ugly cluncky leaves?

I think a variation of Kat and Chris' table centrepieces would have fared them well in this episode.

I hope the judges made them all clean up the workroom and think about what they have done.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Elliott was the clear winner. His was the only design that looked elegant and finished. They could have taken both his bottles and put them in shops immediately. The blue color he used was lovely and the tails were so graceful. I don't know if anyone's in the market for whale perfume, but mermaids would work!

Chris's bottles looked unfinished, clumsy, and amateur. It looked like a child glued Twizzlers or pipe cleaners to a bottle. And because he attached the cane to the outside of the bottle, it would not be comfortable to hold.

I didn't mind that Cat's black bottle was opaque. If you walk into a department store or Sephora, you'll see that there are definitely high end perfumes being sold in opaque bottles. My issue was more the weirdly phallic turkey leg shape.

I really liked Nao's concept of the rose petals inside the bottles. I just wish the execution had been better. But as Katherine said, this is the kind of technique that will improve after you make it and see what not to do next time.

Andi's beaker and leaf perfume bottles were fine in theory but I agreed that the leaves ended up being a bit too thick (instead of delicate) and the test tube stopper was too thick, heavy, and cumbersome.

Chris had BY FAR the worst piece this week. Elliott was obviously at the top, then there was the middle of the pack with Nao, Cat, and Andi, and then there was a canyon deep drop off and past that was what Chris made. It was so obvious that he should have been eliminated but apparently the judges can't bear to part with him. In no world is what he did on par with what everyone else did this week.

[Michichick]

Agreed, Chris had the worst piece and should have gone home, so the non-elimination sure felt convenient.

[Starry-Eyed]

So do they just build in a week for when their designated favorite should be the one eliminated to be the "no eliminations" week? Because that's sure what it feels like. While I agree, a lot of the work wasn't super great, Chris's was by far the worst. Last season, when they declared everyone safe from the "duality" challenge, I suspected they were doing it to save Januz, but I didn't mind because both pieces were legitimately so wonderful no one deserved to go home from them. This time...not so much

[Door County Cherry]

1 hour ago, Starry-Eyed said:

So do they just build in a week for when their designated favorite should be the one eliminated to be the "no eliminations" week? Because that's sure what it feels like. While I agree, a lot of the work wasn't super great, Chris's was by far the worst. Last season, when they declared everyone safe from the "duality" challenge, I suspected they were doing it to save Januz, but I didn't mind because both pieces were legitimately so wonderful no one deserved to go home from them. This time...not so much

I do think they build one in; otherwise they'd have 11 contestants instead of 10 for 10 weeks.   I'm okay with that but I'd rather see it used when everyone is great vs. Everyone has flaws.

[Starry-Eyed]

23 minutes ago, Door County Cherry said:

I do think they build one in; otherwise they'd have 11 contestants instead of 10 for 10 weeks.  

Yeah, that is a good point. I don't mind them building in a no-eliminations week, but I do mind them obviously using it to protect favorite contestants.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

9 hours ago, Door County Cherry said:

I do think they build one in; otherwise they'd have 11 contestants instead of 10 for 10 weeks.   I'm okay with that but I'd rather see it used when everyone is great vs. Everyone has flaws.

I agree.  There's a big difference between "everyone did such a great job that no one deserves to go home" and "you all sucked equally."

[GaT]

On 1/23/2021 at 9:48 AM, Michichick said:

Agreed, Chris had the worst piece and should have gone home, so the non-elimination sure felt convenient.

 

20 hours ago, Starry-Eyed said:

Yeah, that is a good point. I don't mind them building in a no-eliminations week, but I do mind them obviously using it to protect favorite contestants.

It's complete bullshit that the week when Chris' work was clearly the worst it turns out to be a non elimination week. Why don't they just declare him the winner & send them all home?

Edited January 25, 2021 by GaT
Forgot the don't

[ElectricBoogaloo]

1 hour ago, GaT said:

It's complete bullshit that the week when Chris' work was clearly the worst it turns out to be a non elimination week. Why they just declare him the winner & send them all home?

It's SO FRUSTRATING and makes this season hard for me to watch because the judges are bending over backwards not to eliminate him.

[chaifan]

Elliot's bottles were amazing, and he truly deserved the win without question.  For everyone else, I have to say there was an element about each that I liked, but the end product was just off in one way or another.

I loved Cat's concept - I loved the drawing and her idea behind it.  I loved the look of the glass, as she said she wanted it to look like metal, and it did.  I loved the golf ball indents.  I think the large bottle pretty much hit the mark, but the smaller one didn't and just looked weird. 

I actually liked Chris's bottles.  I loved the shape - incredibly elegant, classical.  I liked the idea of the colored rods, but they either needed to be dead on perfect or purposely imperfect on a grander scale. 

I liked the purposeful contradiction of Andi's chemical beakers with organic leaf stoppers.  But, as the judges noted, the leafs were too thick and clunky. 

And I liked Nao's concept of the roses inside the bottles.  Again, very classical bottle shape, and I liked the gold detail in the stoppers.  But again, not great execution. 

I don't like that this was a non-elimination episode.  As others said, save that for when everyone was equally wonderful, not equally meh.

[Iseut]

I thought it was pretty ballsy of Eliot to make such a strong statement about the use of ambergris and exploitation of whales in the perfume industry in front of the perfume industry guy. And to make the pieces so amazing that he had to win anyway! I thought the emphatic comment during judging about the perfume industry NOT doing that anymore was a good thing of course, and also kind of funny that they made sure to correct the artist's assertion to keep the guest judge happy.

[dleighg]

4 minutes ago, Iseut said:

I thought it was pretty ballsy of Eliot to make such a strong statement about the use of ambergris and exploitation of whales in the perfume industry in front of the perfume industry guy.

fun fact-- about 40 years ago I went to Egypt with my college boyfriend (his professor father was on sabbatical there). My BF was told that there was this amazing sexy perfume that we needed to find: "Amber". We bought a small lump at a shop. It did smell really nice and my BF said it WAS an aphrodisiac  LOL. I still have that little lump, and it still smells nice! I use regular perfume though.

[mmccpp]

I don't know if anyone is still reading this, but the perfume guy was full of it.  Light is actually bad for perfume, and there are a lot of fine scents that aren't in see thru bottles.   My favorite, Encre Noire (Black Ink) is in a black crystal cube from which no light ever escapes. Rive Gauche comes in a shiny metal cylinder, and if it's good enough for Yves St Laurent ...

[TVbitch]

I was actually thinking the same thing @mmccpp, that light degrades many things, including perfume.

On any other competition show, they might have a non-elimination week when the judges don't feel anyone deserves to go home. Not on this show! Chris has nine lives. I know he has won once or twice, but other than that he has been in the bottom every time.