oriental floral | The Scented Hound

October 22, 2014
by The Scented Hound 5 Comments

Tom Ford Velvet Orchid

WHAT I SMELL: Velvet Orchid opens with a sweet, rather honeyed opening that quickly moves to an odd combination of honey and graham crackers. Yes, that’s it…like honey graham crackers. After a few minutes, the orchid reveals itself and the honey graham cracker note leaves the room. This is sugared and sweet and very rounded with florals that feel like they’re manufactured in a Chinese factory. After around 15 minutes, the fragrance settles down a bit to become slightly woody with some added radiant warmth, but overall, it feels like a sweet and big Everlasting Gobstopper. OK…maybe I spoke to soon. After around an hour and a half, Velvet Orchid becomes creamy and lighter with a smooth sandalwood finish. At this point, the fragrance finally finds it’s “pretty.” Oh, but what a horrific ride to get there.

After reading what I wrote above, I had to give this fragrance another shake to see if I was being fair to the perfume. So I pulled out the tester a couple of days later. Let’s take a look at round two…

Testing Round 2: Maybe it’s the weather (it’s cooler the 2nd time I tested this) or maybe it’s just my disposition, but the 2nd time I wore this I spritzed on just a bit less which I should always remember to do with a Tom Ford fragrance. In any case, the harshness that I first experience was much more toned down. I didn’t get the honey-graham cracker aspect that I did at first and albeit being sweet, the florals were far less manufactured. The perfume is sweet and somewhat powdery, but much more palatable. There’s a rather tropical feel to the fragrance this time as if the florals are hanging off of a vine and radiating in the sun. There still is a honeyed note, but it’s light, not thick and just adds a sheen to the overall composition, like a layer of fine shellac. This time there’s a slight hair spray aspect that I didn’t get at first, but it’s not offending and it adds just a tad of sharpness to the mix, but as soon as I smell that, a creaminess comes in with a radiant warmth. The fragrance seems to transform much quicker than it did earlier, but that’s a good thing as it moved much faster to the stage of where I want it to be; a creamy orchid that’s soft, a little powdery and very smooth and pretty.

From the Tom Ford website:

INTRODUCING TOM FORD’S NEW SIGNATURE FRAGRANCE. VELVET ORCHID LIVES IN A WORLD OF GLAMOROUS MYSTIQUE, EVOLVING THE CARNAL GRANDEUR AND SEDUCTIVE POWER OF TOM FORD’S ORIGINAL BLACK ORCHID INTO A HARMONIOUS AND UBER-FEMININE FRAGRANCE. LAVISHED WITH COOL FRESHNESS, DRAMATIC PETALS, HONEY AND RUM, TOM FORD VELVET ORCHID IS AN ORIENTAL FLORAL FRAGRANCE THAT TEASES AND CARESSES WITH ENVELOPING AND BRILLIANT WARMTH.

From Fragrantica:

The fragrance opens itself with bergamot, mandarin, Succan absolute (purified rum extract) and honey. At the core of this creation (made of “corporeal floral notes.”) isTom Ford’s distinctive, “timeless” signature – an imaginary accord of black orchid blended with notes of velvet orchid, which gives the perfume its name, with intense Turkish rose oil and jasmine and a new accord of purple orchid that grows in the wilds of southern Brazilian coast. There are also additional floral notes of orange blossom, rose absolute, narcissus, hyacinth and heliotrope. The base is warm due to the rich flavors of Peru balsam, myrrh, labdanum, sandalwood, suede and vanilla.

Trouble in the cul de sac…the cast of Knots Landing.

WHAT IT SMELLS LIKE TO ME: What I got the first time I test was a “Knots Landing” kind of big 80’s glamour stuck in a cul-de-sac perfume. The 2nd time, what I got was just Donna Mills in Knots Landing, the prettier and more glamorous of the show’s entourage.

Donna Mills…the eyes have it!

THREE ADJECTIVES THAT DESCRIBE VELVET ORCHID: Test 1: artificial, over-the-top, relentless…Test 2: velvety, fuzzy , pretty

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING ABOUT VELVET ORCHID: Kafkaesque, Now Smell This, CaFleureBon

BOTTOM LINE: I never said that I was infallible and I try to keep an open mind when testing fragrances. Tom Ford and I don’t always mix well with each other and I thought maybe this was one of those cases. But I found that my review was rather harsh so I had a give the perfume another visit since my words were over the top even for me. Whatever the reason, the difference between the 1st and 2nd wear was like night and day. I loved Black Orchid and couldn’t imagine that this would be so polar opposite. In any case, Velvet Orchid really is pretty…just remember to use a light application so you don’t get full on Everlasting Gobstopper!

Bone Rating: 3.5 out of possible 5 bones
Scent: Oriental Floral
Noses: Yann Vasnier, Calice Becker, Shyamala Maisondieu and Antoine Maisondieu
Classification: Feminine
Expense: $112 for 1.7 oz. Eau de Parfum

September 29, 2014
by The Scented Hound 4 Comments

Ambra di Venezia by Montgomery Taylor

WHAT I SMELL: Ambra de Venezia opens with a soft delicate floral citrus in gauze-like sheerness; it feels like perfume that’s sitting upon fluffy light cotton balls. Hidden beneath the cotton balls is a warm sandalwood that after around 10 minutes becomes lightly soapy. Thankfully, around this same time, the projection pick up steam because in the first 10 minutes I almost felt like this was going to fade away on my skin. After another 15 minutes, it begins to project some more and the soapiness has for the most part, left the scene. What exists now is a lightly spiced jasmine warm floral that’s really very pretty. And here your journey ends…the fragrance stays in this pretty floral warmth for the rest of the ride.

Ambra di Venezia Notes: a blend of French narcissus, jasmine, mandarin orange, mango, lime and sandalwood.

The Gondolier, Venice – Guy Rose 1894

WHAT IT SMELLS LIKE TO ME: A Venitian gondolier ride at the end of a lovely summer day.

THREE ADJECTIVES THAT DESCRIBE AMBRA DI VENEZIA: soft, uncomplicated, semi-radiant

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING ABOUT AMBRA DI VENEZIA: Nathan Branch

BOTTOM LINE: A very nice perfume when you don’t want to wear something that’s going to be a roller coaster of a ride. There’s not a lot of projection in play here so it would be a great office scent because it’s not going to offend anyone around you. My review is based on the parfum extrait version, but there’s also an eau de parfum that is almost as pretty, but lighter and without the depth of the parfum extrait version.

Bone Rating: 3 out of possible 5 bones
Scent: Oriental Floral
Nose: Rayda Vega
Classification: Leans feminine, but could work for a man.
Expense: $130 for 1 oz. Parfum Extrait

September 8, 2014
by The Scented Hound 16 Comments

New Release: Mojave Ghost by Byredo

WHAT I SMELL: Mojave Ghost has a sweetened and slightly sour tangy opening that’s bright and slightly warmed, like the warmth from sheets drying on a clothesline in the sun. There’s something very sheer and clean about the fragrance and it’s also relatively sweet but in a floral sense, not in a sugary way. There are no distinguishing notes that I can detect as it’s blended seamlessly. As it develops, the slight warmth that was once present, disappears and instead a coolness, like a subtle breeze moves in. After around 30 minutes, Mojave Ghost starts to lift in its projection, but only in the way that it starts to slightly swirl off the skin as if you’ll catch a whiff as another breeze comes through. The musk, combined with a lightest of amber make for crisp base for the pretty florals. Mojave Ghost doesn’t transform or change much, but it is a fragrance that seems to swirl off the skin like it’s lifting to greet you like a desert spirit. Longevity is good, but this is a skin scent that is primarily meant for you and your inner shaman.

Ghost Flower

From the Byredo website:

In the xeric wilderness of the Mojave Desert, trees and vegetation more ancient than many civilizations defy conditions that prey on human vulnerability. The Ghost Flower is a rare species that dares to bloom above this baked, hard ground. Despite its arid surroundings and inability to produce nectar, the Ghost Flower or Mohavea Confertiflora, maintains its perfect, majestic beauty and thrives year after year. In an astonishing feat of ingenuity, the flower uses mimicry to attract the pollinators of a neighboring plant species by developing markings that resemble those of a female bee genus attracted to its subject and duping the male bee into following suite. This moving human-like behavior and captivated tale of survival lies int he foundation that inspired “Mojave Ghost,” an homage to this most bewitching flower.

Mojave Ghost notes:

Top: Ambrette, Jamaican Nesberry

Heart: Violet, Sandalwood, Magnolia

Base: Chantilly Musk, Crisp Amber, Cedarwood

Mojave Desert Morning

WHAT IT SMELLS LIKE TO ME: For me, this perfume is named perfectly. However, this is not the Mojave Desert of high noon. Instead, it’s the desert as it quietly awakens from a cool evening, ready to once again spring to life.

THREE ADJECTIVES THAT DESCRIBE MOJAVE GHOST: windswept, delicate, haunting

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING ABOUT MOJAVE GHOST: No reviews found thus far.

BOTTOM LINE: Mojave Ghost is different from anything else out there. It’s a clean, sheer and pretty floral that although light, isn’t dainty or feminine. And the name, Mojave Ghost, is perfect in its naming convention – in two words, it clearly sets the tone for the fragrance.

Bone Rating: 3.5 out of possible 5 bones
Scent: Oriental Floral
Classification: Unisex
Expense: $145 for 50ml EdP, via Barneys or the Byredo website

Perfume courtesy of Byredo.