Norleans

Dear Tom Ford has not only made a name for himself as a fashion designer, scriptwriter and film director, but has also constantly brought out scents in recent years. If I would have to summarize these smells in their entirety under a term, then I would think of it here most "pompously".
My first exposure by Tom (inadvertent allusion) was through Oud Wood, which was one of my main perfumes for all time. This was before my registration here when I thought that two perfumes would be quite sufficient. Meanwhile I know that flacons are capable of cell division and can multiply in no time at all.
At some point, a bottle of Ombré Leather from Ford was added, which did not book the title "lightness" for itself either. But this was all still in the cold season 2018.

In the meantime, I've come to the funnel that I feel most at home in the freshness store and that fresh scents usually hit my olfactory nerve the hardest in a positive sense. Since I was still attracted to Tom as a brand, I rummaged in his freshness department and see there, there are so many things that can be kept in the freshies warehouse by smell description.
I ordered a sample of Mandarino di Amalfi (recommended as a "freshness bomb" by my dear Schoork) and found it great right away. After that I took part in a sharing and could only confirm my impression.

Even though the mandarin itself is not one of my favourite fruits, let alone my favourite smells, it is so well captured in Mandarino di Amalfi that you want to bite your wrist. I'm not starting to dream of reproducing any landscapes now, but can simply say that MdA is an unparalleled good mood scent. A kind of prescription-free mood brightener, which I can imagine well in the wet and cold autumn, when you need some sun for your nose.
Portable to all everyday occasions, absolutely sociable and little polarizing, but still not boring!
Some here criticize the non-existent development of the fragrance. That's true, the scent remains pretty much the same, although I find that you perceive the musk sometimes stronger and sometimes weaker. But a fragrance that smells special creamy from the beginning doesn't have to change for my taste to be good. As a counterexample I will mention Dior AHEB. I wouldn't like it so much if it didn't develop, because the initially obtrusive candied orange peel doesn't flatter my nostrils.

In summary, Tom Fords Mandarino di Amalfi is certainly not unique on the citric fragrance market, but it is of high quality, consistent throughout the fragrance process, with a slightly above-average shelf life in freshness. For me my next or next but one purchase candidate, or I just have to wait for the next cell division in my shelf :-)

Thanks for reading.

So...boah...what's...nä...hui... Hammer!
This is how my inner monologue turned out when I first got a taste of Tom Ford's Noir Anthracite.
I immediately had Harvey Specter from the series "Suits" in mind*. For those of you who don't know him: A highly successful, highly intelligent, arrogant, self-involved lawyer and senior partner in a New York law firm. Middle 40, stroke in women and quite handsome.
Noir Anthracite would definitely be the fragrance of his choice. Because NA has that certain something that has never been smelled before. At the beginning slightly pungent, indescribably spicy and hot. In the further course a little more gentle, but really only a little bit more gentle. Freshness (which I can't read out in the components) is added, but obediently hides behind the dominant spice, because the spice wants to make an impression and doesn't tolerate any other nuances next to it. After all, there are cases to win, to intimidate opponents and to signal olfactorically to your own client that everything is going exactly as planned, the process is won!!

This scent is not for quiet walkers, disco goers or promenade walkers, this scent is for executives, lawyers, commanders of infantry battalions and for Darth Vader himself. Where I smelled more and more Aventus in the business world a few years ago, this NA could spread in the next few years. He has what it takes to become a mass phenomenon within a certain social sphere. For youngsters looking for a compliment getter and panties-remover, the fabric here is nothing.
Who else he could stand for: the Wolf of Wall Street, Michael Douglas in almost all roles, Captain Pike, Chancellor Gowron, Billy Russo, and Agent Smith.

Chapeau in front of this splendid specimen of fragrance. So far I have not dared to wear it in the truest sense of the word. But I've set myself a date for tomorrow. I hope I don't scare anybody. My wife finds him terrible by the way - what I don't really care about in this case for the first time :-)


*Only recently started the series.

Tom Ford does not usually try to find meaningful names for his fragrances. It usually says what's in it. Oud Wood, Plum Japonaise, Grey Vetiver, and so on
With "For Men" a Tom is already heating up the fantasy by his standards. Many pre-commentators agreed that this is a restrained fragrance for the office. "Class" I thought to myself, in the office I am a lot, and already for a while on the search for "the" office smell.

I didn't torch long and renounced the obligatory order of a bottling or sample and ordered directly on my favorite perfume portal. My first blind buy, so to speak. Well, what can I say: You, the previous speakers were of course absolutely right!
This fragrance is made for events where you don't want to be too present, rather for events where you ask your counterpart for a favor or a courtesy. Male, but rather tender and conditionally unisex-suitable.
The fragrance greets you with a strong citric (orange in my nose), but weakens in the course of time in favor of soft woods with a hint of sweetness.

TF For Men is truly not a masterpiece of perfumery, but it gives me a pleasant day in the office and is perfect for a special kind of appointment. For the extendable durability Tom came up with something really great, because the beautiful and noble bottle (in my case 50ml) is flat and slightly rounded like a flask, so that you could carry it in your jacket pocket for spraying - which makes the attribute "always cool stored" obsolete in an advertisement in the souk

Fun by the side, this fragrance is a little Tom "Fort", because it takes a pretty quick break. But as with many other fragrances, I take it in the morning with me in my briefcase, so that nothing stands in the way of a repeated after-spraying .
Not my discovery of the year, but very portable, pleasant and wonderful for the office, but also a companion for the weekend everyday life if it should not be so exciting.

I like him.

Since I joined Parfumo at the end of last year, I've been getting my sense of smell up to speed. I've always been a fragrance enthusiast, but I've only had such a real interest in brands, fragrance components and fragrances since I joined Parfumo at the end of 2018
What I found out very quickly was that I generally prefer fresh fragrances. A bit of wood, fruit and green is also well tolerated. But they must not be too heavy and oriental- phew Deiwel!

Since I had "unfortunately" found very fast interest in the so-called niche fragrances, the first sample of the house Amouage followed sometime also. It was Reflection, which attracted me with its proximity to Le Male (yes, not everyone wants to sign it like that, completely ok). I also enjoyed bathing in Le Male in the late nineties and I myself have my share in the present reputation of this still good, but for me now unwearable fragrance. Even if Reflection is an excellent drop, there are too few possibilities for me to wear the fragrance in everyday life. In my scheme Reflection is not an everyday scent that I want to have around me all the time, but rather the scent for special occasions. There are however only few times per year and for it he is too expensive for me then nevertheless in the acquisition.

I then devoted myself to testing fresh/citric/aquatic fragrances again and unfortunately found "exactly my" fragrance far too often and have now also included it in my constantly increasing bottle collection.
Last week, however, I was sent another Amouage specimen. This time anniversary XXV.

…. I was stunned at first! For the first time I had associations with the perfumer masters with their little plants, the oils, the pistons and tubes in which the essences find their way into the flacons, even for the first time I perceived a perfume as a true masterpiece and work of art

The smell itself is not as heavy as I had expected and "feared". Jubilation wraps you up warm and makes you feel protected and comfortable. I find the incense in the top note only very discreet, the orange quite pleasantly strong. As the fragrance progresses, it loses some of its radiance, but still remains warm and caressing. In the base note I find a certain proximity to Reflection - here Jubilation becomes a bit cooler, but still cuddly.

For me a masterpiece of the very first quality and not at all as oriental as feared. However, the heat vibrating with me has something oppressive on me permanently - yes, I feel almost too protected. Perhaps it simply turns out that my preferences are too much in the area of freshness and I miss this splashing, clean feeling of freshness in the long run. That's why Jubilation XXV will be denied entry to my bottle area.

But dear Amouage perfumers: You really have it in you!

Originally, I ordered a Bleecker Street bottling plant, because people often read here that it was like a green Aventus and I just wanted to try it out. When the test was due, I didn't smell any resemblance to Aventus, which wasn't tragic at all, because without the alleged green Aventus twin (which by the way existed five years before Aventus, so Aventus would have been more of a fruity and bitter Bleecker Street twin) I would have come to Bleecker Street much later

For me, this fragrance is so special and different that my enthusiasm for this fragrance immediately led to a search for a bottle in the souk. Thanks to a really more than fair offer from davegahan101 I got a great bottle with at least as nice OVP.

To my scent:
Sniffing at the sprayer I find BSt a bit stinking, almost like fermented fruit, but this is only suitable for the category "useless knowledge".
The top note smells so strongly of fresh (lawn) grass, on which every few meters a few, not too sweet flowers and berry bushes have joined in. I find this smell so authentic that as a pollen and grass allergy sufferer I have had sneeze irritation from it several times, as my body seems to feel compelled not to let the allergens that this park landscape threatens to release on me affect me in the first place. I must add that a few weeks ago the allergen load was really as extreme as never before, and no over-the-counter remedies helped me any more, so my body was probably a bit over-cautious - but this is not about my hay fever! What I want to express is that Bond No. 9 has managed to create a true grass and fruit monster here, which I wouldn't have thought I could be excited about if I just read about it.
In the heart note a little tangerine skin is added for me, the fragrance now becomes a bit more masculine and loses its unisexuality for me. The base note gets a bit more wood, but hardly changes its character.
The shelf life is about 5 hours, which is why I carry the bottle in my briefcase on the days when I spray my eyes. Since I perceive the smell strongly in this time, however, the Sillage is really top.

The bottle is not a spawn of stylish elegance and restraint, but - like almost all Bonds - shrill, garish and obtrusive (in the positive sense). A real eye-catcher. Together with the quite opulent OVP this results in an extravagant set that you can expect in this price category, but as the look at other "very pricey" brands shows, it is very special.

Since I'm only travelling a few months with the Parfumo steamer, there are certainly still many discoveries to make, but for me Bleecker Street is still my discovery of the (still young) year.

Thanks for reading until the end, I hope one or the other (m/f/d) liked it :-)