Tom Ford- Private Blend

Interesting and more interesting. I had a nice conversation with Alessandro, the proprietor of All Purpose (the store in LA that stocks some CB I Hate Perfume), and we both commented that blog reactions have made us have to get over our initial (in my case somewhat snobby) reaction to Tom. I find him somewhat louche and when I read about these I kind of rolled my eyes. Even more so when I read the piece in The New York Times skewering his Madison Avenue boutique. Reading some of the reviews I realized that I was coming in with my own prejudices against Tom Ford: not just because he's cuter and way more successful than I (and somehow steadfastly refuses to date me..), but because it seems unbearably.. showy I guess is the word to pop up with so many new releases. It gets an automatic "oh really?" from me.

Having written that I will try to keep an open mind. As open as it's rusty hinges will allow: since everyone else has covered these pretty exhaustively, I'll keep this short.

Velvet Gardenia

Intense gardenia, but not as intense as say, Fracas is intense in its tuberose. It's certainly not something that I would recommend wearing to a meeting with the boss, unless you two have a very interesting relationship. I can see where some people get the blue cheese bit- it skates that edge of decay that gardenias do in real life. I like this, but it cries out to be dialed up- Tom cranks the dial to 7, and I wish he had dialed it to 11. But god love him for even going up that far on the dial in this world over-run by fruity floral.

Black Violet

Candied violets (which Fran Lebowitz wrote of as "the Necco Wafers of the overbred"), woods and a plummy sweetness. I don't get much that's "black" here, and at just the point I start to get actual violets, it gets a case of the vapors and heads off to its boudoir.

Tuscan Leather

Really, they could call this one Eau de Coach Store. Just the smell of a new Coach bag, that slightly berry-sweet leather smell. It becomes harsher further on (which I think is a good thing), losing some of the sweetness and becoming more biker jacket than clutch.

Moss Breches

Earthy green Old-School Chypre with an unexpected bit of sweetness and... mint? Easily my hands-down favorite. Would I buy? Perhaps not.

Bois Rouge

Rather cologney citrus opening that frankly doesn't go very far on me until the drydown, with its woody leathery goodness. Perhaps the biggest "meh" of the group.

Purple Patchouli

For me opens with a brief blast that reminds me of Chypre Rouge, which drops immediately and becomes a weird combination of soap and...crystal meth? (don't ask) Becomes more and more "purple" in the drydown, in a "purple prose" kind of way- there is patchouli in there but it's buried under that tickle-the-back-of-the-throat iodiney note that reminds me club days before I woke up and decided to be an adult. Great cover for some of the girls at Hyde "No officer, it's Tom Ford"

Japon Noir

Seems as light as Florida Water after some of the others: light leathered amber. Keeps doing a sort of Lutens thing, somewhat like smelling the ghost of Fumerie Turque on a sweater you wore last week.

Noir de Noir

Sweet saffron and gentle roses. Not showy but quite luscious. Like Colombina, I can see where this will become the best seller of the line. I can't say it's my favorite, but it's the most approachable.

Amber Absolute

Delightfully smoky amber: incense, woods and rich amber goodness. If Moss Britches weren't here with its wonderful weirdness, this would be my favorite. It has fairly intense sillage, so another one that's not for the office, unless you work in the Playboy mansion.

Oud Wood

Marvelous sly oud and vetiver. Like Colombina I get leather in there- that new purse smell. It has a lovely woody amber drydown. Certainly the most "unisex" leaning toward masculine smelling one for me. Kelley, I think this Oud is for you..

Tobacco Vanille

Not nearly enough tobacco or for that matter vanille. I get March's Play-Doh, candy, and something that smells like the scent from that Christmas Tree shaped air-freshener you get at the car wash over the holidays. No thanks.

Neroli Portofino

4711 on steroids. Check, please!

Okay, I went through all of these in a period of two weeks and I have to write that I don't quite know what to think. On the one hand, I have to applaud both the achievement and the chutzpah: putting out three or four scents at once must be a daunting thing to attempt, but 12? I also kind of wonder if there is a reason that I kind of found most of these a bit wanting: it seems that Tom wants to be out there, testing the limits, but also wants to keep a stylish, loafer clad set of tootsies firmly in a realm where everyday shoppers will feel comfortable. Of course, kudos to him for doing anything that would try to reintroduce glamor back into the perfume world (and some of these are pretty glam). I just kind of wish that he could have cranked up the volume a bit. Jump in Tom honey, the water's fine.

Tom Ford-Black Orchid

Black Orchid is the debut fragrance release from designer Tom Ford, whose eponymous beauty line under the Estee Lauder brand has been awaited with anticipation since it was announced last year. It is an "oriental chypre" and the notes include black truffle, ylang ylang, bergamot, effervescent citrus, black currant, jasmine, Tom Ford black orchid, "spicy floral and fruit accords", lotus wood, patchouli, incense, vetiver, vanilla, balsam and sandalwood.

Black Orchid starts right off with a bang — it is a statement fragrance, make no mistake about it. There is citrus, there is lots of sugar, there are heady floral notes, there is jammy fruit. Tempering all of that is a strong undertone of something earthy and dark (the black truffle accord, presumably) and vaguely off-kilter, in a good way.

As it dries down, the earthy-dark stuff fades, the vanilla steps up and the florals turn creamy and smooth. It manages to simultaneously remind me of ice cream (it is sweet and creamy and rich) without being exactly foody (there are way too many heady floral notes here to think about eating). Later still, the creamy vanilla part calms a bit, the woods warm up and some of the earthiness shines through again.

Black Orchid immediately called to mind Viktor & Rolf's Flowerbomb, but not because they smell the same; they share little other than a persistent sweetness. But when Flowerbomb was released last year, it struck me as a surprisingly conventional fragrance from two designers who were known for their unconventional approach to fashion. One year and 400 insipid fragrances later, it doesn't smell quite so conventional to me. It is still far sweeter than I like personally, and I still wouldn't go so far as to call it groundbreaking or wildly risky, but it has way more personality than I initially gave it credit for.

My feelings about Black Orchid are similar. If you were looking for Tom Ford to go way out on a limb, you may end up disappointed: this isn'tM7. Like Flowerbomb, Black Orchid is sweeter than I like personally, and I wish the fun stuff in the top notes had some counterpart in the base — a little bit of something off-kilter at the end would have been a nice touch. But it is very well done, has personality to spare, and evokes a kind of grownup glamour that is very appealing after this year's onslaught of lackluster fruity florals geared towards the under-20 set. If there was a more impressive mainstream release this year, I can't think of what it was.

The packaging is just fabulous, and even better in person than in pictures: a retro-glam fluted black glass bottle with an engraved metal plate, very femme fatale, and sure to push you over the edge if you're waffling over whether to buy or not. The bottle for the Parfum is even better: a limited edition (signed and numbered, 5000 bottles) by Lalique, but for that you'll have to save your pennies.

The Tom Ford Black Orchid range currently includes 50 ($90) and 100 ml ($135) bottles of Eau de Parfum and a 15 ml ($600) bottle of Parfum. Coming soon: Luminous Hair Perfume, Hydrating Emulsion, Body Cleansing Oil and Finishing Oil Spray, along with a 30 ml Eau de Parfum.

Black Orchid is available at neimanmarcus. If you don't love it, no worries, Tom Ford has more plans for 2007: Tom Ford Private Blend (a collection of 12 unisex mix 'n match fragrances for "fragrance connoisseurs", rumored to have connoisseur-worthy price tags) and a men's fragrance, and then a color cosmetics line to debut in the fall. A second women's fragrance will follow in 2008.

Wode by Boudicca

In the works for years now, Boudicca's WODE has been launched. The Art Fragrance from Boudicca explores the myth around Queen Boadicea. Legend had it that she and her tribe wore a cobalt blue war 'paint' on their skin to frighten off their enemies. When the Romans defeated Queen Boadicea, she killed herself by swallowing hemlock, an extract of which is included in WODE. When WODE is sprayed a vibrant cobalt blue mist appears and settles on the skin or clothing and then disappears. Through rare elements like black hemlock extract and the smell of raw opium, with tuberose absolute, tonka bean, treemoss and animalistic notes like synthetic castoreum and cistus ladanum you get the lingering impression of warm and radiant flesh. Wode is packaged in a classic spray paint can. Graffiti is the modern war paint, the most public of all art forms, wrapped around the can is an engraved steel label tied with black braided ribbon tipped in metal; a detail synonymous with BOUDICCA team's highly refined finishing details on their garments. The Collaborators: The nose : Geza Schoen of Escentric Molecules The oils : International Flavors & Fragrances.(IFF) Fragrance consultant : Susan Aurora Irvine “IFF first met Brian when he won the IFF/RCA Project in 1994. We have followed Boudicca in the years since with admiration not only for their incredible talent, but also for their integrity and uncompromising work ethic. We are delighted to be part of Boudicca's first fragrance venture which is, as one would expect, exciting, challenging and glorious!" Catherine Mitchell IFF “Wode has been a magnificent journey for us. We have not only learnt so much about the science and technology around creating an idea to its conclusions, but to have had the education of olfactory with beauty and meaning from both Geza Schoen and Susan Aurora Irvine has been 

amazingly inspiring.”

Karl lagerfeld Kaspule

Celebrated fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld’s first collaboration with Coty take the form of a trio of capsule fragrances, collectively called Kapsule, which debuts this fall. Lagerfeld was inspired by the concept of mix-and-match capsule wardrobe, the same way one matches different pieces of apparel. This means that the fragrances have been deliberately designed to be unisex as Lagerfeld was quoted in an interview with Women's Wear Daily that “there is no gender in perfumes anymore”. Lagerfeld was hands-on in every step of Kapsule’s developmental process, working with Symrise perfumers Max Buxton and Emilie Coppermann, and Firmenich’s Olivier Cresp, to develop Kapsule Light, Kapsule Floriental, and Kapsule Woody respectively. Kapsule Light features notes of bitter orange, jasmine, nutmeg, clove and musk while Floriental has notes of ivy leaf, violet and black tea leaf. Finally, Woody is made up of cedar, moss and plum notes. Lagerfeld even conceptualized and took his own photographs for the advertising visual. The fragrances will come in 30 and 75 ml eau de toilette in flacons designed by Luz Herrmann, and made to resemble slipcases with books. Each fragrance bears Lagerfeld’s signature at the bottom of each bottle. The scents are slated to launch, for the first time, at Colette and Parfumeries Maionnaud in France at the end of October.

Serge Lutens - Pleasure Chic

The luxury of the Beauty

Serge Lutens was born in Lille in 1942. In the early 1960s, he went to Paris and started working as a makeup artist and creative stylist. He became the creative director at Shiseido in 1980, and released his first perfume for Shiseido in 1981: the now legendary Nombre Noir. The Salons du Palais Royal Shiseido, described by Lutens as “more of a refined salon for perfumes than a boutique”, opened in Paris in 1992, shortly after the release of Shiseido Féminité du Bois. Subsequent releases appear under the name Serge Lutens instead of Shiseido. In the late 1990s, Lutens decided to entirely devote his time to perfumery. There are two Serge Lutens lines: the export line (50 ml rectangular bottle, which you can buy all over the world) and the exclusive 75 ml bell jar bottle. A typical Serge Lutens fragrance conjures an almost mystical kind of feeling on its wearers. One of my favourites is Tuberose Criminelle. Tuberose Criminelle is a very interesting note. For a long time, I thought it was a piercingly sweet floral, and perhaps the flower is extraordinarily sweet in real life. Not so real tuberose absolute. Rather, it carries a heavy aroma like rotten flowers and rubber. Perfume being what it is (a recreation of natural smells) the method for putting the sweetness into the tuberose absolute is to add it back via chemicals--or the few sweet natural substances that are strong enough to compete with it. That is why perfume that uses tuberose absolute is always sweet. Without these additives, it would be ghastly. No one would wear it. No more deviating from the point, on to the review of Serge Lutens Tuberose Criminalle. My favorite aspect about this house is that the perfumers often avoid side-stepping the natural smell of the main accord. Instead, they ramp it up with supporting notes. This perfume is no exception. Dispite all other notes, it still smells like natural tuberose absolute. Another beautiful example is Iris Silver Mist, which smells very nearly exactly like orris butter. So, if you like tuberose, you must try this one before you can claim any familiarity with the note. Either that, or buy a sample vial of the absolute--but you'll never wear it. Photographer, make-up artist, interior and set designer, creator of perfumes, fashion designer and designer of extraordinary objects, autodidact Serge Lutens is an "image maker" of genius. He first began working for French "Vogue" in 1963 where he worked with, among others, Bob Richardson, Richard Avedon, Guy Bourdin and Irving Penn. At the age of only 27, already acclaimed for his inimitable style, he moved to Dior to develop the company's image and create their make-up lines, after which he transferred his talents to Shiseido, where he has been "image creator" for over 15 years. He divides his time between Paris and Ben Youssef, the medina in Marrakech, and his work reflects a sophisticated blend of European refinement and rich orientalism, taking the femme ideale, or ideal woman, as its central motif. His first book - published in 1992 and now a collector's item - was an "event" in the publishing world. Today, with his second book, produced in luxury edition, Serge Lutens returns to reconfirm his art, which brings together pure aesthetics and a quest for perfection.[Photo]

Amouage - Arabian Royal Perfume

The search for a perfection beyond reality; the rare and exquisite nature of the lyric-spinto voice that inspires both awe and envy; the sacrifice made in the quest for immortality..." No, you are not reading a synopsis of a Lloyd Webber musical. This is how Amouage introduce their new "deliciously dramatic" fragrance, Lyric Woman. To be fair, the perfume is in fact dramatic. And delicious, in that tantalizingly odd way in which roses can be delicious when they are blended with spices and vanilla. According to Amouage, "Lyric is a floral fragrance, but one that introduces dark intensity" to the genre. Simply put, it is a floral-oriental scent. Or rather oriental-floral, because the spices, the resins and the woods rule the composition. Do not expect a pure, naturalistic rose scent. When the (lyric-spinto?) voice of the rose IS heard in the passionate and perfectly harmonious chorus of other notes, it does sound wonderfully realistic. Those are the glimpses of roses in their natural habitat, in a luxurious garden, with dew glistening alluringly on their crimson petals (hey, I can do over-the-top marketing copy with the best of them!)...but most of the time, Lyric is a masterfully-woven tapestry, or perhaps more appropriately in this case - a carpet. At times you can recognize the flowers in the abstract ornaments but mostly they blend into the ornate, magnificently intricate design. It may or may not be apparent from this review, but I am in love with Lyric. I don't like naturalistic rose scents and, as those close to me would unhappily confirm, I love drama. I also appreciate complex compositions. Lyric has a multitude of facets: there is a fresh, slightly sharp floral part fronted by jasmine and geranium, the mouthwatering spicy side of cardamom, cinnamon and ginger, the sweet, edible fluffiness of vanilla, tonka bean and orris, the dark sensuality of wood and frankincense...And this host of voices is tied together with the velvety ribbon of rose, and what could have been cacophony becomes breathtaking harmony. Lyric Woman was created by Daniel Maurel. I would be curious to find out what other perfumes were done by Maurel and from now on will be eagerly awaiting his new scents. Lyric collection also includes a masculine scent, Lyric Man, by Daniel Visentin: a fresher, spicier and equally beautiful blend, which continues the Phantom of the Opera theme by recounting "the myth of a beautiful young woman and a powerful, mysterious man who seeks to immortalise the beauty of her voice." But more on that at a later date...
Lyric Woman and Man are available at amouage.com, for €185-€220 and €165-€205 respectively.