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.