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.

Tobacco Fragances - Tom Ford Tobacco Oud

When I started this series on tobacco perfumes, Tom Ford's Tobacco Oud wasn't even on my radar. The only reason I have included it (other than the fact I really like it) is because it is fresh in my memory and immediate.

The interesting thing for me is that to my nose Tobacco Oud is not really very much about tobacco or oud. Persolaise alluded to it in a recent post, and he was spot on in saying that it is has a lot in common with the also fairly recent Sahara Noir (I am paraphrasing).

Therefore, I think Tobacco Oud is more about incense and labdanum, at least in the opening, heart and into the early dry down. Mixed in with these notes are hints of tobacco, amber, a light smokiness and woods. It smells fantastic.

Where's the oud, you ask? Well, a more sophisticated or trained nose might detect this clearly, for all I know, but in my opinion it is evident for all of two minutes or so, when it manifests itself in a glorious, skanky barnyard smell, suffused with a slightly sweet wood accord, before the incense seeps in and it changes direction. I really loved this opening on first application. On subsequent wearing I didn't pick it up as much, so perhaps it is dependent on skin chemistry, weather, mood and who knows what else.

It was only in the late dry down that tobacco became more of a feature note, albeit fairly subtle.

In summary, I think Tobacco Oud is a fantastic fragrance and well worth sampling, particularly if you like incense. In case you're wondering, I didn't think it is anything like the original Oud Wood.

Image credit - http://fimgs.net/ (Fragrantica)   

Tobacco perfumes - Tom Ford Tobacco Vanille

I've done quite a few online searches for tobacco perfumes and reviews in recent weeks. One perfume that seems to be consistently mentioned is Tom Ford's Tobacco Vanille. It appears to be a crowd pleaser. 

It took me a long time to try. The line only came to Tunbridge Wells a few months ago and my first encounter with this perfume took place on a slightly humid, quite warm August day. A mistake, if you ask me. I mentioned previously that tobacco perfumes can become quite cloying and oppressive on warmer days and Tobacco Vanille bloomed on my skin in a slightly sickening fashion. Since then I have worn it a few times as the weather has cooled and I am pleased to say that it is a lot more tolerable now.

However, I am still not entirely seduced by Tobacco Vanille and I think the reason for this is the use of the vanilla note. I like rich vanilla notes in perfume, provided they are balanced by other strong notes that temper the sweetness, such as smoke, incense or dry woods. A case in point would be Serge Lutens' Un Bois Vanille, which I love. Tobacco Vanille is a very sweet perfume, no getting away from it. Longer standing readers of my blog may recall my aversion to L'Artisan's Havana Vanille, which literally reduced me to nausea when I wore it. I think it has been renamed and I haven't tried it in a long time, but there is a similar accord in the Tom Ford perfume that at times almost tilts me over the edge. Fortunately it never does, but therein lies my reservation with this perfume, which despite its lovely tobacco note, is too sweet for my taste. 

Various websites mention the following notes: tobacco leaf, spicy notes, tonka bean, tobacco blossom, vanilla, cacao, dried fruits and wood notes.

I can understand why many people would be attracted to Tobacco Vanille. It is warm, comforting and cozy and is undeniably smooth and rich. I do like it, but not enough to sing its praises too highly.

Image credit: http://fimgs.net/ (Fragrantica)

Tom Ford Sahara Noir

Before I even try to carry out any sort of review of Sahara Noir, let me start by saying that I think it is my favourite Tom Ford fragrance. I haven't tried a lot of the Private Blends to date, to be fair (although this is set to change, as Fenwicks in Tunbridge Wells is about to stock some of the PB range) but certainly Sahara Noir comes up trumps in the main line.

That's not to say that I dislike Tom Ford's main line, in fact I quite like all of them, but Sahara Noir smells like a niche perfume that somehow got misplaced and ended up in mainstream by mistake. Again, I should make it very clear that none of the TF perfumes in the main line smell ubiquitously mainstream, to their credit.

I have read a few reviews of Sahara Noir, and it seems like some people felt it smelt good, but at the end of the day was an incense perfume that smelt just like that: incense. Perhaps that is the case, but the question I would ask is how many full on incense perfumes are you likely to find in your local department store? I'd hazard a guess that it would be very few, if  any at all. Now, I also have to accept that Sahara Noir is priced very high, and that may give you an indication as to the quality of the creation and the ingredients, although I realise that price and quality do not always correlate.

One other thing that struck me is that while Sahara Noir is marketed as a feminine perfume, it does not smell remotely gender specific. Take the picture of the sultry woman off the packaging and advertising and I would never have remotely guessed.

I'm not aware of the exact notes for Sahara Noir, but other than incense, there is a fair amount of labdanum in here. Some people have commented that the perfume smells only of incense, and comes across as one-dimensional. Perhaps they are right, but I love incense in any form, and on my skin the ambery accord does come to the fore in the dry down, when labdanum is very clear to my nose. There is a slight sweetening too in the base, possibly by a touch of vanilla, but it is true that Sahara Noir is a fairly dry perfume, which suits me fine, as I love that style.

I have to be honest and say that I think this is a lovely perfume, although it is by no means cheap. Someone commented that it smelt like it belongs in the Private Blend collection and perhaps that is true. 

Sunday scent of the day - Tom Ford Grey Vetiver

Do you ever wear a perfume that smells perfectly decent, has a good following and reputation and should tick all the boxes, but ultimately never does? 

Well that is my experience with Tom Ford's Grey Vetiver. I wore it today and like the other times I've worn it, it smells fine. However, it is forgettable on my skin because it just doesn't do anything. It doesn't offend, it doesn't excite, it isn't different enough to stand out. That's perfectly fine of course. Not all perfumes need to stand out that much. Sometimes its great just to wear something that becomes part of your skin and just hums along. To me though, that seems the antithesis of what Tom Ford is meant to be (or maybe not - perhaps I've got the wrong end of the stick with regards to Tom Ford). In fact, almost all the perfumes I've smelled from the Tom Ford line (admittedly I haven't tried many from his more exclusive range) have a similar effect on me - nice, but almost forgettable. Perhaps I am being harsh, but the only one that I can actually 'smell' in my head thinking about it is Black Orchid.

I'm a Tom Ford winner

Now, I'm not sure what you are thinking, but the title of this post does not mean that I've embraced Tom Ford as a Dale-Carnegie type guru. All it means is that I have won a coffret of Tom Ford mainstream samples, pictured here. These are a fairly generous size, 4ml each. The only one not included is Grey Vetiver, so what  I have are Black Orchid, Black Orchid Voile de Fleur, Tom Ford for Men, Tom Ford for Men Intense and White Patchouli. One of our local department stores, Fenwick, was offering this as part of their Beauty Week promotions and on a whim I entered the free draw. I do a lot of this these days; I'm such an opportunist. I've tried these all before, as they are readily available here in the UK, but I thought 4ml of each would be a nice thing to have. One thing that strikes me writing this is how difficult it is to find the Tom Ford Private Blend perfumes here. I assume one of the major London stores carries the line, possibly Harrods or Selfridges, but I'm not sure. If any of you know, please let me know.

So not really a major perfume review today, but I was quite chuffed at winning this. I hardly ever win anything. Although I did win a round of cheddar cheese once. It came in the post wrapped in its big old cheesy bandage. I must have been the only entrant.... Have a good week everyone.

Image credit: punmirls.com

Plague or perfume?

Guess what folks? I is a sick puppy. I started getting some severe stabbing pain in my ribs on Wednesday and shortness of breath. At first I thought I'd pulled a muscle between the ribs, but after seeing the doctor I have ben diagnosed with pleurisy! Yikes, this sounds like TB or the plague no? Well, in actual fact pleurisy is an infection and inflammation of the fluid and lining of the lungs. The pain, which feels like being stabbed in the ribs, is caused by the friction of the rubbing of the two membranes or linings. Believe me, not nice. So now I am on a course of strong antibiotics and have been ordered to take plenty of rest and painkillers too. The weirdest thing is that nothing preceded this and I am perfectly healthy (I think). If it hasn't cleared up by Monday I might need to have a chest x-ray and a blood test.

On a brighter note, I've finally ordered some samples from Sonoma Scent Studio in California and I eagerly await them. Dammit, why aren't they here already? I haven't been doing much ordering recently, due to budget constraints, but for some reason sales associates at my local department stores have been flinging samples my way, but a lot of them are duplications of what I already have. I should say no thank you, but I appear to have a compulsive need to collect samples! This week I was given all the Tom Ford masculines (not the private blends), Aqua Di Parma, VC&A Oriens, Dior Miss Cheri, some of the Pradas and I'm sure there's more.

I haven't done a lot of testing the last few days for obvious reasons, but I did try Uncle Serge's Douce Amere and Tom Ford Black Orchid. I like Douce Amere and there are rumours that this is to be discontinued, which is a shame, because it is a well-crafted scent, with absinthe, anise and a nice herby kick. I think it's perfect for a spring day as it is quite refreshing. Black Orchid is interesting. Although a feminine scent, I found it quite wearable for a man, with a very interesting opening. Its quite floral, and the opening packs a punch, but the dry down is smooth and lovely.

I had a look in my wife's closet the other day (as one does, ha ha) and found a couple of perfumes I forgot she had. One is Poeme by Lancome and the other is Volupte by Oscar De La Renta. I might just give them a go, although I suspect they will be too much for me to wear in public, but that won't be a problem considering my current condition. All I need to get now is a bell to wear around my neck, or is that a millstone!

Have a good weekend y'all.