One of the best perfume collections of the last few years have been the Tom Ford Private Blends. Really I could just say Tom Ford fragrances as the entire Signature Series has also been memorable. I believe that Tom Ford really does practice a high level of quality control on anything which bears his name and the fragrances are exemplars of that philosophy.
The latest venture is to branch out into cosmetics and to combine those with the fragrances under the umbrella of Tom Ford Beauty. The lipstick colors of the new line are especially intense and they are completely on trend for this fall of 2011. The whole line is intriguing to me as I expect this to be a big winner.
Along with the new cosmetics there were three new fragrances to go with the new products. Violet Blonde was the new Signature Series fragrance of 2011 and Senior Editor Ida Meister reviewed that recently. What was so good about Violet Blonde was that after a string of lighter compositions Violet Blonde was no shrinking violet. In my opinion the last few Private Blend releases have also suffered from a lightness of being that left me wanting more. So the intensity of Violet Blonde had me hopeful for the two new Private Blends. When I found out that Rodrigo Flores-Roux was behind Jasmin Rouge and Yann Vasnier created Santal Blush hope turned into desire. These two Friends-in-Fragrance have been a couple of the most creative perfumers working over the last two years and I can’t wait to try their latest creations because they rarely disappoint me. In the case of these two new Tom Ford Private Blends I got both the creativity married to a fragrant intensity I was wishing for.
Too often when jasmine is used as a focal point for a fragrance the perfumer feels the need to clean it up; they will take the floral reprobate and scrub away all that makes it interesting leaving only sweetness and light behind. Rodrigo Flores-Roux clearly joins me in liking the bad girl version of jasmine better than the cleaned-up debutante version. Jasmin Rouge has a core of intense indolic jasmine at its heart and it held my attention for the entire day each time I wore it. Surrounding this is an equally intense clary sage, along with a trio of spices in hot cinnamon, zesty cardamom, and fresh ginger. Jasmin Rouge eventually settles down to a base of benzoin and amber which is a soft place for this fragrance to land.
When it comes to sandalwood there are many variations on this versatile perfume note. What I believe Yann Vasnier has done with Santal Blush is to find a way to take the well-behaved softly sweet and woody sandalwood so familiar and send it in to bad jasmine’s neighborhood. By the time M Vasnier gets him back he has gained some rough edges and an unusual intensity I don’t often find in sandalwood centered fragrances. When I first received Santal Blush for testing I expected something soft and demure. What met my nose was sandalwood dusted in strong spice and herbal notes. Cinnamon, cumin, fenugreek, and carrot all combine with the sandalwood to take all of the smoothness away and actually make this sandalwood accord remind me of the more medicinal aspects of agarwood. By adding in the spicy herbal mélange to sandalwood M Vasnier has created something very unique. The heart is made up of rose, ylang-ylang, and even bad jasmine makes an appearance. As with Jasmin Rouge, Santal Blush comes to rest on a soft bed of benzoin and musk.
Both Jasmin Rouge and Santal Blush have overnight longevity and average sillage.
Jasmin Rouge and Santal Blush are the best Tom Ford Private Blends of the past two years. The reason they are so good is both perfumers were unafraid to create darker deeper explorations of their titular notes proving that if you get underneath the obvious you can discover something fabulous.
Disclosure: This review was based on bottles of Jasmin Rouge and Santal Blush provided by Tom Ford Beauty.
Who are your favorite innovators in fragrance who work on both niche and commerical scents? Or who is THE Baddest perfumer in town Let us know in the comments.
–Mark Behnke, Managing Editor