Private Blend: Atelier d'Orient

Shanghai Lily 2013

Shanghai Lily by Tom Ford
We may earn a commission when you buy from links on our site, including the eBay Partner Network and Amazon.
7.9 / 10 244 Ratings
A popular perfume by Tom Ford for women and men, released in 2013. The scent is spicy-floral. The longevity is above-average. It was last marketed by Estēe Lauder Companies.
Pronunciation
We may earn a commission when you buy from links on our site, including the eBay Partner Network and Amazon.

Main accords

Spicy
Floral
Oriental
Sweet
Resinous

Fragrance Notes

CloveClove TuberoseTuberose Benzoin SiamBenzoin Siam Black pepperBlack pepper Cashmere woodCashmere wood FrankincenseFrankincense JasmineJasmine Pink pepperPink pepper RoseRose VanillaVanilla Bitter orangeBitter orange CastoreumCastoreum CistusCistus Gaiac woodGaiac wood VetiverVetiver
Ratings
Scent
7.9244 Ratings
Longevity
8.2197 Ratings
Sillage
7.5200 Ratings
Bottle
8.3191 Ratings
Value for money
6.539 Ratings
Submitted by DonVanVliet, last update on 18.04.2024.
Interesting Facts
The fragrance was part of the collection "Private Blend: Atelier d'Orient".

Reviews

6 in-depth fragrance descriptions
10
Pricing
9
Bottle
7
Sillage
7
Longevity
10
Scent
VintageGold

1 Review
Translated Show original Show translation
VintageGold
VintageGold
Top Review 93  
Lily - my Shanghai Lily
Semester abroad. USA. The first time I visited the States and the first time I lived in such a multicultural place like my dormitory, where there were so many different nationalities that no one was itching for the subject anymore and everyone was just human. Nowhere was anyone asked where they came from, what kind of accent that was, but, "what are your dreams?", "what places on this planet have you traveled to?", "what do you want to create and achieve in life? An ambitious and yet totally human atmosphere. And so was Lily. Lily, the exchange student from Shanghai. On the very first day, she caught my eye and sparked my interest. Her skin was so pure, smooth, like porcelain with a light tan. Her eyes, large and dark, her long, straight, deep black hair kept gliding over her shoulders as if made of silk. The hosts, i.e. the students living there, who helped us exchange students during our semester to find their way in, organized a first shopping spree at the nearest Wallmart on the first evening. There we gathered our utensils and again and again I tried to be close to Lily. She didn't make it easy for me because she was in clearly defined ladies' departments and I had my difficulties to pretend that there was something I needed. Again and again I sniffed a pleasant and unique scent on her, so that I quickly found her again when I walked along the neighbouring corridors to look for my things together.

But I soon noticed the numerous rivals who had the same intentions as I did. One of them had obviously taken a liking to her, Alejo, a spirited Ecuadorian who had been sticking out of the group all the time because he carried his guitar everywhere to strum it. On the way back she sat next to him in the bus and a mixture of jealousy, disappointment and despair made me stew the ride with a thick toilet in my throat. During the ride I tried to cheer myself up, there were so many other pretty girls sitting there in the bus with us. The Irish and British girls were dressed very revealingly and made it very clear how they wanted to spend their semester abroad. It would have been so easy, but their heads wouldn't allow it. They were sexy and pretty, but too easy to get and on top of that they smelled like shit - compared to Lily.

The first week went by, there was a lot of partying, here and there kisses were exchanged with the light girls, my roommate was a bourgeois, always went to bed at 10 pm on the dot and wouldn't let me take a girl to my room. So I spent more time in the girls' wing of our dormitory than with us boys. Lily was still present in my head and whenever I saw her with Alejo, jealousy would rise, but the jealousy was gone. I avoided being around her because I knew it would make me feel worse. But then in the second week, it became inevitable. We were partying again and on the way back from the club to the dormitory I boarded the same shuttle as Lily and Alejo, as well as a few others of our guys. Alejo sat in front, directed the shuttle driver and Lily took a seat next to me. Slightly drunk, she put her legs in my lap and leaned her back against the door. The heat rose into my head, my hands lay on her legs and I knew nothing better to do with them than to stroke them. Alejo kept looking back worried, asked Lily if she was all right. Slightly annoyed, she let him know that everything was okay. At some point, she leaned forward and whispered "shrine" in my ear. I asked her what she was trying to tell me. "Pig" was the answer. "Aaah, you mean pig..." I said. Yes, that was the word she meant, nibbling at my earlobe. Whole-body goose bumps spread through me and I probably sounded like an idiot when I started cackling about it irritated. When I was finally able to stop the ridiculous cackling and started to ignore Alejo's punishing look, I turned my head to Lily. The moment i went to ask her what she was actually doing, she kissed me. Explosion. In my head, my chest, my pants. Alejo didn't exist anymore at that moment and everyone else didn't seem to care about what was going on anyway. With my arrival at the dormitory, my consciousness came back, until then it was a whirlpool of passion in which I was caught, like a dream that lasted forever. Alejo ripped open the door, reached out to Lily and led her out. To this day I don't know how much he had seen, I felt as if he hadn't seen anything of the kiss, realistically speaking it borders on impossibility.

Again, only a hint of Shanghai Lily remained in my nose. She always wore it, it was her signature scent, her identification mark, her personal scent mark. The next day I met her in the communal kitchen. I asked her if she remembered anything about yesterday. Her smile, the lowered look down and silence told me that what she had experienced was real and not a drunken accident. Her cheeks turned slightly red and I knew that if you didn't show her now what the moment the previous evening meant to you, you would never play a bigger role than a short, passionate moment in her life. I grazed her cheeks with both thumbs, pointed her head up and kissed her like I had never kissed a woman before. She tasted, she smelled good, like an aphrodisiac that releases powers, I grabbed her by the hip and lifted her onto the table. If there hadn't been others in the room, I don't know if I would have known any limits there.

It made my semester very turbulent. I wanted to spend every spare minute with Lily, unfortunately it wasn't 100% reciprocal. She was still spending time with Alejo. Alejo and I had become sort of frenemies. We actually liked each other, and I thought his personality was cool, and I was impressed by her. He also liked my relaxed and open-minded nature. We came to terms with the fact that Lily was a free spirit and didn't want to commit. We also got along with other girls when she let us down. When I look back on that time today, I miss her like nothing else. It was the best time of my life. Lily's married now, and she has a kid. Her husband looks just like me... me and not Alejo. Sometimes, no, quite often still, I think I should've just tried asking her to be my girlfriend. I'm sure I would've married her someday. All I have left now is this scent of Tom Ford
Now I have told a long story, but the information how I actually found out about Shanghai Lily is still missing. At first I didn't know that Lily wore a perfume and thought it was her own body scent, which just smells so fantastic. Because she tasted good too and I attributed it to her body chemistry. In her room, I noticed the bottle, and I asked her if it was a coincidence that...
18 Comments
8
Bottle
8
Sillage
8
Longevity
7
Scent
Dawn00

1 Review
Translated Show original Show translation
Dawn00
Dawn00
Very helpful Review 9  
Fauch Miau
So, first comment, please be gracious, and let's go:

Shanghai Lily was a blind run. But I dared it despite all doubts, I like quite a lot of TF scents. I like the character of the house or the scents basically.
As soon as the scent was there and torn from the packaging, the first sprayer came... and a little disappointment right after that. The first fragrance impression was pludgy, a bit old-fashioned, not mine at all. Scandalous, I thought to myself, and that with a Ford fragrance that is otherwise as far away from old-fashioned as the geisha from the chastity belt....
Well, I figured stay brave and let him develop.
Shortly afterwards I added a soapy and spicy note, I know it from the Süleyman le Magnifique by Fort and Manle, but I also like sexy but it's different. That's the first 10 minutes.
After that the scent becomes warm and spicy quite fast, clove and vanilla/benzoin I take was clear in the core, the pludrig-seifige remains clearly perceptible in the head but nevertheless and in the underground the darkness of beaver horny, guaiac and frankincense floats. The flowers meander through the other notes and bind together, the jasmine being the most perceptible, but no stuffy, no worry and also not dominant.
So matured the fragrance remains clearly perceptible for hours. The overall impression is then: somewhat scratchy, pludrig-seifig-würzig-warm scent with a hint of dirty for people with a certain maturity that leaves me somewhat perplexed. If I close my eyes and try to associate people who wear the scent, everything comes from the well-groomed older person to the dominatrix, but it doesn't suit anybody right. Funny...

I like him: jein
Trage-Setting: good question, rather still work, believe it or not; I don't think it's scented out (see next point...)
Sexy: Yep, the powder makes it less sexy for me than if I couldn't smell the powder like that
Sex: unisex from my point of view, has to spray a man once, would interest me
Season: except midsummer at noon always
Age: hm, rather so from 30, is for me from the character no "young" fragrance

H + S good, well perceptible for 7-8 hrs

Hm, I'll keep wearing it and see if I can get smarter out of it.
4 Comments
9
Bottle
7
Sillage
8
Longevity
8
Scent
Mansoury

7 Reviews
Translated Show original Show translation
Mansoury
Mansoury
5  
The excluded Tom Ford
Unfortunately, you have been banned from the private blend of Tom Ford, although in my opinion he is one of the best Tom Fords
first we come to the shelf life and silage:

When it comes to silage, TF SL shows a good performance, it is not a silage monster, but you can already smell it, in a gentle way.
The situation is different with the durability, where you can calculate with the average of 8h plus minus.

The fragrance composition:
As for the fragrance itself, I can say that it goes in the direction of Noir de Noir, Shanghai Lilly is a rose-wrapped vanilla that produces a light sweetness, even the incense is noticeable.
When wearing the fragrance, it can happen that you smell it permanently while wearing it, which I sometimes find penetrating.

Why this scent was discontinued I can't explain, because it has its own scent DNA and is also commented by many with compliments (in my experience).

At which season:
I can recommend this fragrance in spring or autumn at temperatures around 10-15 degrees.
In summer it would be too sweet for me and in winter it can't assert itself, all in all I appreciate this scent and regret that it is no longer among the Tom Fords.

Keep your mansoury healthy
0 Comments
6
Bottle
7
Sillage
8
Longevity
9
Scent
Oswina

15 Reviews
Translated Show original Show translation
Oswina
Oswina
7  
Ladylike - Grand Madame- Spotlight
First thing that stands out is something spicier. In the warmth, the fragrance unfolds in its entirety. Great rounded, enveloping, creamy-spicy, with hinted sweetness, carries and lasts long through the day. Leaves something hidden in the dark, arouses curiosity. Interesting mixture of spice and sweetness without losing femininity. It emphasizes rather other sides of it ...... Discover for yourself !
0 Comments
7
Sillage
7
Longevity
8.5
Scent
Ostara

61 Reviews
Ostara
Ostara
3  
Gorgeous Spice Floral Incense
Shanghai Lily is amazingly well blended, so well blended in fact that its almost hard to pick out individual notes. On my skin it opened woody and spicy and then quickly developed into a muddled, thick, rich, floralized spiced incense. The scent is interesting and distinctive, full bodied but not actually lush since the spicy elements balance and dry the floral elements.

Many in the community have said it smells like YSL's Opium. I can see where they are coming from. I can't say that I think it actually smells like Opium myself, but it does remind me of it a bit. Though SL is complex, spicy and incensey, it is much more subdued. Opium relies heavily on spice and incense where this is more balanced between spice, floral, wood and incense. The underlying creamy florals change the timbre of the fragrance from Opium's throaty purr to something just as pleasant but a bit higher on the register.

I can see SL's potential as a unique but accessible signature scent for a particularly fashionable and polished person.
0 Comments
More reviews

Statements

1 short view on the fragrance
Lily3013Lily3013 2 years ago
9
Bottle
9
Sillage
10
Longevity
6
Scent
After a strong floral-spicy opening, the scent gets softer. While flowery-spicy, it is not sweet. Strong Jasmine. Special, test before buy!
0 Comments

Charts

This is how the community classifies the fragrance.
Pie Chart Radar Chart

Images

9 fragrance photos of the community
More images

Popular by Tom Ford

Oud Wood (Eau de Parfum) by Tom Ford Tobacco Vanille (Eau de Parfum) by Tom Ford Noir Extreme (Eau de Parfum) by Tom Ford Ombré Leather (2018) (Eau de Parfum) by Tom Ford Lost Cherry (Eau de Parfum) by Tom Ford Tuscan Leather (Eau de Parfum) by Tom Ford Fucking Fabulous / Fabulous (Eau de Parfum) by Tom Ford Noir de Noir (Eau de Parfum) by Tom Ford Mandarino di Amalfi (Eau de Parfum) by Tom Ford Beau de Jour (Eau de Parfum) by Tom Ford Black Orchid (Eau de Parfum) by Tom Ford Soleil Blanc (Eau de Parfum) by Tom Ford Eau de Soleil Blanc by Tom Ford Grey Vetiver (Eau de Parfum) by Tom Ford Tobacco Oud by Tom Ford Noir pour Femme by Tom Ford Ombré Leather Parfum by Tom Ford Noir Extreme Parfum by Tom Ford Oud Minérale by Tom Ford Plum Japonais by Tom Ford Noir (Eau de Parfum) by Tom Ford