Top Notes 
Heart Notes 
Base Notes 
10/24/2023
Exciter76
78 Reviews
Exciter76
3
Tropical Vacation Relics Locked Away In A Long Forgotten Attic
Originally reviewed on April 13, 2012:
One day I was spritzing myself silly at Ulta. I had had my fill of fragrances for the day but I decided to sniff one more blotter strip. I’ve mentioned before my weakness for anything typified as ‘tropical’. I’ve also mentioned the consequences of blindly buying fragrances based on such prejudices in other reviews. This particular time I did not get ensnared in the blind buying trap, only testing out Tommy Bahama. It was fabric-flowers-and-string-lei love at first sniff… on a blotter strip. I vowed to purchase this full price. As fate would have it I found it several months later at Marshall’s for a song and a dance. It was my lucky day.
I got home, showered, and put on my new big bottle of Tommy Bahama. Immediately, I felt a sense of familiarity and disappointment. It smelled very similar to Bora Bora and Christina Aguilera's Inspire, two fragrances I already had. It also reminded me of some tropical Escada scents along with a faint reference to Estee Lauder’s Beyond Paradise. It smelled amazing and uniquely tropical on the blotter strip but somehow smelled ordinary on me. I was disheartened.
The real heartbreaker was in the drydown. It ceased to be tropical and turned to an aldehydic, powdery bore. I was far more impressed with the unswerving tropical nuances in Bora Bora than I was with this. To quote Madonna, this long-lasting sillage monster was sadly, “Reductive.” It is not a bad fragrance but I can think of at least five tropical ‘fumes with more originality and better composition from beginning to end than this. I’m glad I didn’t commit to this one at full price, and though this is pleasant, I will not be making a repeat purchase of this one again.
Updated review on October 24, 2023:
I went to visit my aunt last week and forgot that I'd given her my bottle. It looked lovely on her vanity: an ethereal, opalescent stone sitting among a sea of ornate bottles. I sniffed it and wondered aloud why I was so adamant in my need to rid myself of it. I stole a quick spritz and remembered why.
The opening and middle stages were lovely—my nose is more fine-tuned to discern what florals I was smelling. The frangipani, tuberose, and honeysuckle are loud and proud, if not a little artificial, here. I'm in the middle of a tuberose obsession so I was digging this, but I require something more narcotic and zaftig these days. Nevertheless, I enjoyed this part of the fragrance, similar as it was to other candied floral scents from the turn of the 21st century.
Oh, but that intrusive, claustrophobic drydown that smothers the wearer for hours... yikes. I don't think there are actual aldehydes in Tommy Bahama for Women but there's something that has the same cloying effect, possibly the woody notes? Maybe the subpar musk? It recalled aldehydic scents of the past, that indefinable essence of a neglected and locked attic. It was jarring back when I owned this. It's not as jarring now, just disappointing.
Have you ever read a book where the plot, predictable and implausible as it is, has you enthralled and invested, only to end in a sloppy, hasty, disappointing manner? Tommy Bahama for Women suffers this fate. If the musk was cleaner and driftwood was used, maybe this would have been better? I'm not sure, but it's a pity it suffered for its thoughtless basenotes.
Clearly, I'm not alone in my opinion, as the perfume bottle remains as full today as it was when I handed it over to my aunt.
One day I was spritzing myself silly at Ulta. I had had my fill of fragrances for the day but I decided to sniff one more blotter strip. I’ve mentioned before my weakness for anything typified as ‘tropical’. I’ve also mentioned the consequences of blindly buying fragrances based on such prejudices in other reviews. This particular time I did not get ensnared in the blind buying trap, only testing out Tommy Bahama. It was fabric-flowers-and-string-lei love at first sniff… on a blotter strip. I vowed to purchase this full price. As fate would have it I found it several months later at Marshall’s for a song and a dance. It was my lucky day.
I got home, showered, and put on my new big bottle of Tommy Bahama. Immediately, I felt a sense of familiarity and disappointment. It smelled very similar to Bora Bora and Christina Aguilera's Inspire, two fragrances I already had. It also reminded me of some tropical Escada scents along with a faint reference to Estee Lauder’s Beyond Paradise. It smelled amazing and uniquely tropical on the blotter strip but somehow smelled ordinary on me. I was disheartened.
The real heartbreaker was in the drydown. It ceased to be tropical and turned to an aldehydic, powdery bore. I was far more impressed with the unswerving tropical nuances in Bora Bora than I was with this. To quote Madonna, this long-lasting sillage monster was sadly, “Reductive.” It is not a bad fragrance but I can think of at least five tropical ‘fumes with more originality and better composition from beginning to end than this. I’m glad I didn’t commit to this one at full price, and though this is pleasant, I will not be making a repeat purchase of this one again.
Updated review on October 24, 2023:
I went to visit my aunt last week and forgot that I'd given her my bottle. It looked lovely on her vanity: an ethereal, opalescent stone sitting among a sea of ornate bottles. I sniffed it and wondered aloud why I was so adamant in my need to rid myself of it. I stole a quick spritz and remembered why.
The opening and middle stages were lovely—my nose is more fine-tuned to discern what florals I was smelling. The frangipani, tuberose, and honeysuckle are loud and proud, if not a little artificial, here. I'm in the middle of a tuberose obsession so I was digging this, but I require something more narcotic and zaftig these days. Nevertheless, I enjoyed this part of the fragrance, similar as it was to other candied floral scents from the turn of the 21st century.
Oh, but that intrusive, claustrophobic drydown that smothers the wearer for hours... yikes. I don't think there are actual aldehydes in Tommy Bahama for Women but there's something that has the same cloying effect, possibly the woody notes? Maybe the subpar musk? It recalled aldehydic scents of the past, that indefinable essence of a neglected and locked attic. It was jarring back when I owned this. It's not as jarring now, just disappointing.
Have you ever read a book where the plot, predictable and implausible as it is, has you enthralled and invested, only to end in a sloppy, hasty, disappointing manner? Tommy Bahama for Women suffers this fate. If the musk was cleaner and driftwood was used, maybe this would have been better? I'm not sure, but it's a pity it suffered for its thoughtless basenotes.
Clearly, I'm not alone in my opinion, as the perfume bottle remains as full today as it was when I handed it over to my aunt.
