Thoughts on Tom Ford Private Blend Collection

It took me ages to try Tom Ford's more exclusive line. It isn't particularly easy to find in the UK outside of London, at least in my experience, and it only came to my home town just under a year ago.

Since then I have sampled the line extensively and below have set out my thoughts on some of (not all) the Private Blends. These are really just snap shots, in most cases the first feeling that comes to mind, so don't take any of what follows as balanced and overly objective.

Santal Blush - reviews I've read are fairly mixed. Quite a few harp on about Australian Sandalwood, blah blah blah, how it can't compare to Mysore, but in my opinion the perfume smells good and uplifting, a bit how the Le Labo Sandalwood makes me feel. It is slightly synthetic but enjoyable.

Cafe Rose - not overly complex, but smells rosy with a hint of the Tuscan Leather accord. Again, it smells really good and I can happily wear it.

Noir de Noir - I thought this would be one of my favourites, but for some reason I find it a little dull. Not in the sense of boring, but rather slightly murky and muddled. It does't perform particularly well with my skin chemistry.

Plum Japonais - this one is Lutenesque, in my opinion. It is essentially fruit and woods, with some spice. I think it is a bit of a nod towards Feminite du Bois, but perhaps a bit spicier.

Italian Cypress - one of my favourites. It is one of those rare perfumes that manages to balance the coniferous notes, without being a pine overdose. It is sophisticated, even-keeled and perfect for a summer day, as it has more heft than citrus, but stays fairly cool and fresh, if you know what I mean.

Tuscan Leather - I admit I like it. It is strong and quite forceful, a bit of a hairy chest, but is in my opinion a lovely leather fragrance. I'd be surprised if this is not one of Tom Ford's best sellers.

Tobacco Vanille - I've reviewed this one before. It is best worn with restraint, especially in warmer weather, as it can be overpowering and frankly quite overwhelming at times. Having said that, it is a lovely tobacco perfume and again, I think it is one of Tom Ford's best sellers and I can understand why. It tends to sweetness, with the vanilla.

Arabian Wood - I don't like it at all. There is no logic to this necessarily, but my gut churns when I smell it. I think this is another that is well-loved in the perfume community.

Tobacco Oud - yum yum. I love its slightly animalic opening. It wears beautifully on my skin. It has incense as well, and this balances the oud and tobacco, making it a joy to my nose.

Visit to Paris

For someone who is a fan of perfume, Paris is probably the top destination; some might even argue that it is the spiritual home of perfume.

Some readers may be surprised that I haven't been to Paris on a perfume jaunt, considering it is only two and a half hours away from Kent, where I live, but for one reason or another, the last time I visited the City of Light was in 2005, almost ten years ago.

Anyway, my family and I spent a few days in Paris at the start of April, ostensibly to celebrate my wife and younger daughter's birthdays, both of which are in early April. I'm not going to go into any detail of our holiday, save to say that we were based not far from the Eiffel Tower, and did the usual touristy things that most visitors to Paris do, taking in a lot of the famous sights, including the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame Cathedral, Sacre Coeur and Mont Martre, Musee d'Orsay, etc, etc. We did a lot of walking too, strolling along the Seine, the Tuillerie Gardens, Ile Saint Louis and so forth.

As a perfume fan, there was no way that I was going to visit Paris without at least some perfume experiences, and I managed to slip away from the family twice to visit the flagship Guerlain store on the Champs Elysees and Serge Lutens at the Palais Royal.

Starting with Guerlain, it was a pleasing experience to be shown around the store. When I arrived they were conducting a skin clinic of some sort, and I thought they wouldn't let me in to that part of the store (there is a more bog standard sort of Guerlain shop right next door that you first enter) but a sweet lady took me upstairs to show me around. The decor is very impressive, and I loved seeing some of the rare bottles behind the glass, some dating back to the eighteen hundreds, which is rather impressive. The lady wouldn't let me take any photographs, which is a shame, although I can understand why, and she struggled to speak English, and my French was even worse, so most of our discussion was conducted with signals and slightly embarrassed exchanges! I'm glad I went, although I have to confess that I am not a Guerlain obsessive. The prices of some of the more exclusive perfumes are astronomical. I had my eye on Arsene Lupin but couldn't commit to buying a bottle.

My second visit was to Serge Lutens, in the Palais Royal complex on the other side of the Rue de Rivoli, close to the Louvre. One thing that surprised me was how big the courtyard and gardens are. I was expecting, for whatever reason, a tiny, dark cloister, shaded by trees, tucked away mysteriously, to be expected from a man like Lutens. In reality, it is not quite like that, but the area is a delight anyway, and quiet compared to the mania just across the road and elsewhere. The Lutens shop itself was small, dark and quite mysterious, painted black and kitted out in a lot of purple. When I first entered the store I was the only person there, and I struck up a conversation with a charming lady who spoke decent English, so we were able to talk about the perfumes at some length. You may have guessed it by now - yes, I did shell out 150 Euros for a bell jar of perfume! I feel guilty paying that sort of money for perfume, but my reasoning was that the bell jar is iconic (although overpriced really) and I don't know when next I will return to Paris, let along Serge Lutens, so I wanted to be able to say that I bought it from the Salon itself. I purchased Muscs Koublai Khan, my favourite musk perfume.

On the subject of MKK, I must say that I am surprised by how subdued it is dabbed on from the bell jar, which has no spray nozzle. I don't know if MKK has been reformulated, because it lacks some of that famous animalic kick it had from a few years ago in my opinion. When I got home I decanted some into a spray bottle and I must admit that it performed much better sprayed, and had more character, but still lacks a little something compared to years gone by. It is still a lovely perfume mind you.

I could have visited a lot more perfume places, but time was limited and I could desert my family for so long. I thoroughly enjoyed Paris itself, and don't regret my visits to Guerlain and Serge Lutens.

Bottega Veneta Pour Homme

I first tried Bottega Veneta Pour Homme months ago, thought it was decent, but sort of filed it away in my mind as 'come back to one day'. I remember writing a few notes about it, jotted down hastily on a scrap of paper, which I came across the other day when I was clearing a drawer at my work.

I can't say that I have worn it a lot since then, but based on my thoughts at the time, this perfume struck me as being quite peppery, with a hint of pine and an element of soapiness, but not overbearingly so. The pepper is not anywhere near as intense as say Frederic Malle's Noir Epices, for example. There is a spicy edge to it, smoothed by what I perceive as possibly nutmeg or even cardamom, but when I say edge, it is really quite smooth.

The fragrance is surprisingly light on my skin as it moves into its heart and dry down. I can sense more of a leathery note emerging and at this stage the spice and pepper has almost completely faded. If this is leather, it is definitely not animalic or forceful. In the dry down Bottega Veneta sweetens a little and there is more of a leathery presence, with perhaps a hint of patchouli, and a return of light, slightly dusty spice. 

Now that I've written this, I've looked up the notes, which according to Fragrantica include Calabrian bergamot, pine, juniper, Jamaican pepper, fir resins, clary sage, labdanum, leather and patchouli. Anyone reading this will probably think I'm fibbing, and that I read the note before jotting down my thoughts, but I honestly didn't!

Overall, I think this is a good perfume, particularly for the mainstream, but personally I would have liked a bit more of a prickle; an edge. Nevertheless, it is well done.

Image credit: http://www.dmarge.com/

4th Blog anniversary

I've been blogging so infrequently over the last 6-9 months that it should come as no surprise that I missed my own blogoversary, the 4th. I first posted on 29 March 2010, which seems like an awfully long time ago. 

Back then, I was full of enthusiasm, and judging by my output over the last year, it would seem that this joie de vivre has waned, to say the least. 

I'm not saying that I am going to stop blogging, necessarily, but it would not surprise me if this is my last year - time shall tell.

In the meantime, here's to all things perfume. I'm wearing Muscs Kublai Khan today, still my favourite musk perfume.  

The Exotic Island Perfumer - Santal Exotique

Juan Perez's Exotic Island Perfumer line is wonderful. They are different, stand out from a lot of other perfume lines, and to my nose smell well made and well thought out.

Santal Exotique is no exception. Perez's Etsy listing mentions notes of sandalwood (Mysore, Hawaiian and New Caledonian), black vanilla, elemi, incense, tonka, massoia, cinnamon and rosewood barks, pandanus leaf, cardamom, civet and musk.

In execution, Santal Exotique for all of five minutes smells quite foody, in a similar vein to Luten's Jeu De Peux, but after that it quickly transforms into an incensy, slightly milky sandalwood perfume, suffused with light spices. It is deliciously calming and meditative, subtle, but beautiful. The spices are not overpowering, and to my nose the perfume does not descend into a Christmas-fest, luckily.

I was fortunate to be gifted a generous sample of this by a good friend of mine (thank you!) and I can certainly recommend it without hesitation. Equally, this applies to the rest of the line too.

A briefest of overviews - the week that was

You know you've had a great week (not) when you get to Friday and need to refer to text messages you sent to a fellow perfume fan to remember the perfumes you wore.

For the record, I wore Mona Di Orio Oud, Juan Perez Oud Nawab, Neil Morris A Rose is A Rose and another Di Orio, Eau Absolue. They are all perfectly lovely perfumes and I can highly recommend trying any or all of them. I think that Eau Absolue was probably the most in tune with an early spring day, with its citrusy, herbal notes and undercut with musk. 

Friday was scentless, sadly. I hate it when I go through days without wearing or even thinking much about perfume.

If it is springlike where you are, what have you been wearing this week? 

SOTD - Alexander McQueen Kingdom

I'm not sure what compelled me to wear Kingdom today, other than it was staring at me from my top drawer and I hadn't worn it in a long time.

I snapped up probably the last bottle I ever saw in Tunbridge Wells (and elsewhere for that matter) and don't regret it one single bit. It is a fine and slightly unusual rose perfume, packed with cumin, a note which tends to either attract people, or repel them. I've never had an issue with cumin and enjoy it in food and as a perfume note, so Kingdom is very wearable for me.

I find the dry down quite comforting actually, with a warm sandalwood note that softens the cuminy rose and jasmine. It was marketed as a feminine fragrance, but I actually think it can be worn fairly easily by a man too.

I would strongly recommend trying Kingdom at least once.