Perfume Reviews – Tom Ford Private Blends Black Violet & Jasmin Rouge

The famous French author, Stendhal, once said “Beauty is nothing other than the promise of happiness.” I think that quote applies to perfume, too. Stendhal’s quote and his brilliant classic, Le Rouge et Le Noir (“The Red and The Black”) came to mind when I decided to review Tom Ford‘s Red and Black perfumes in his Private Blend collection: Jasmin Rouge & Black Violet. Good perfume can lead to happiness but, alas, only one of Tom Ford’s fragrances holds that promise.

BLACK VIOLET:

TF Black VioletPrivate Blend Black Violet was released in 2007, the creation of perfumer, Clement Gavarry, and is classified on Fragrantica as Chypre Floral. Personally, I would call it more an Aromatic Woody scent, for reasons that will soon become apparent. Tom Ford’s press release for the perfume, as quoted in part by Nordstrom, describes Black Violet and its notes as follows:

Crisp citrus surrounds a modern pulpy fruit accord fused with black violets. Woody accents fold into oak moss, adding the universally comforting sensation of warmth.

Notes: lemon, lime, mandarin, orchid, violet, cedarwood, torchwood, vetiver, oakmoss.

Black Violet‘s opening phase is going to be a shock to anyone who expects the name to actually live up to its promise, because there is nary a violet in sight. Not one. Even more surprising, Black Violet starts as the most classic of men’s colognes. There is tart lemon juice, lime, and bergamot that is exactly like a man’s cologne or aftershave in its thinness and lightness.

Source: hdiphonewallpapers.us

Source: hdiphonewallpapers.us

Lurking below is vetiver and, even further below, is the faintest touch of some woody note. At first, it’s not spicy, peppered, or smoky, but just something vague. Ten minutes later, however, it starts to take on form and some weight, becoming a quiet dryness. If you’re wondering what the hell this has to do with violets, you’re not alone. There’s certainly none at the start. Same story with the mandarin notes which may have provided some beneficial juiciness or sweetness. There is also no oakmoss (the foundational element for a true “chypre”) that I can smell. While that is not surprising in this day and age of IFRA/EU restrictions on perfume ingredients (especially oakmoss), I don’t smell even a synthetic version in any concrete, substantial, distinctive form. If it’s there, it’s not detectable to my nose.

Vetiver roots, the primary source of the essential oil. Photo:  Herbariasoap.com

Vetiver roots, the primary source of the essential oil. Photo: Herbariasoap.com

Thirty minutes into its development, Black Violet slowly becomes a dry citrus scent with vetiver and flickers of a lightly smoked wood accord. The lime, lemon and bergamot no longer feel individually distinct or separate; they’ve just morphed into an overall “citrus” note. The entire perfume feels incredibly thin in weight and low in sillage. I have the hardest time accepting that this is an “eau de parfum” — the second strongest concentration of fragrance after pure parfum — instead of eau de cologne, the very lightest concentration. In fact, I’ve smelled a number of men’s eau colognes that are significantly more potent than Black Violet. 

Source: Lovetextures.com

Source: Lovetextures.com

Then, exactly at the one hour mark, Black Violet suddenly changes completely. The citrus men’s cologne aspect retreats and, in its place, is a dewy, earthy floral in the most muted, generalized, amorphous of ways. The floral tone is delicate, damp and green, never feeling quite like violets, but more like some random, delicate, purple flower mixed with what feels like a dash of lilac or hyacinth. It’s a ghostly note that pops up, only to dart away, before eventually returning to start the whole tease all over again. The lingering traces of citrus are similarly subtle, hiding in the background, too. More easily apparent is a cool, earthy note that is just like the dark, damp garden soil first thing in the morning. It’s not rooty, dirty, or dank, but lightly floral.

For the span of the second hour, Black Violet remains as a translucent mix of earthiness, dewy florals, and microscopic flickers of citrus — all muted, indistinct, and so close to the skin that it’s extremely hard to detect. It becomes softer and softer with every moment, turning floral muskiness atop some creamy, woody element tinged with a tiny drop of amber, before finally ending as nothing more than musky woodiness. All in all, Black Violet lasted 3 hours and 10 minutes on my skin with at least 90 minutes of that time being essentially so translucent that I thought it had vanished completely. When I say this perfume is thin in weight, hazy in feel, and close to the skin, I’m really not kidding.

It’s not just me and my perfume-consuming skin, either. The Non-Blonde had an extremely similar experience to mine, from the men’s cologne aspect right down to saying “I can barely smell it after three hours.” She’s much kinder and more generous to the perfume than I am — calling it an “abstract ‘smells good’ veil” at the end — but then, I think she’s probably a nicer, more diplomatic person as a whole. My problem with the scent is this: 1) that it is so vague in form and definition that it’s practically nebulous after the men’s cologne opening; 2) I was disappointed by the generic woodiness which followed; 3) the damp, abstract floral stage was pretty, but too translucent and brief to justify the price of the perfume; and 4) given all these issues, along with the microscopic sillage and terrible longevity, it feels completely outrageous to ask $205 for the smallest bottle of this supposed “eau de parfum.” (Yes, I tend to get peevish about perfume prices when the fragrance is so generically vague, fleeting, and sheer.) Even if you purchased Black Violet off eBay for a lower price than retail, I simply don’t think it’s all that special.

JASMIN ROUGE:

Tom Ford Jasmine RougeA significantly better perfume, in my opinion, is Tom Ford‘s Jasmin Rouge which was released in 2011 as part of his Private Blend collection. (As a side note, Fragrantica lists it as being part of Tom Ford’s lower-level, cheaper Signature Collection, but that is not how Tom Ford categorizes it on his website.) Jasmin Rouge was created by Rodrigo Flores-Roux, and was the winner of the 2012 Fragrance Foundation FiFi Award for “Best New Fragrance for Women” in the “Speciality Luxe” category. It’s a sophisticated, refined scent that is beautiful in its opening, smells very expensive, and is definitely worth a sniff, even if its full development isn’t perfect enough to perhaps warrant a full bottle. 

Tom Ford describes Jasmin Rouge as follows:

Voluptuous.  Sensuous. Audacious. Tom Ford Jasmin Rouge is a voluptuous, saturated, spiced floral. An unexpected blend of precious sambac jasmine sepals absolute, an ingredient never used before in perfumery with dusky clary sage and rich spices, it unveils a new facet of jasmine’s erotic decadence. Jasmin Rouge is as audacious as lacquered red lips. Its deep red bottle evokes lush and hedonistic glamour.

It’s a bit of hyperbole but, as one who love jasmine fragrances, I think it’s generally quite accurate, at least for Jasmin Rouge’s opening stage. There is definitely a voluptuous sensuality to the perfume; and its concentrated, saturated nature takes jasmine to both hedonist levels and very glamourous ones. 

According to Fragrantica, the notes in Jasmin Rouge include:

Top notes: bergamot, mandarin, cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, black and white pepper.

Heart: Sambac jasmine, broom, neroli, ylang-ylang, clary sage.

Base: Mexican vanilla, labdanum, leather, wood and amber notes.

Source: Hdwallpaperes.com

Source: Hdwallpaperes.com

Despite this plethora of notes, Jasmin Rouge is a soliflore: a fragrance centered around one main note. Yes, there are varying nuances from start to finish, but it’s primarily a super-concentrated jasmine perfume in nature, so those who can’t stand the note or find that jasmine turns plastic-y on their skin should probably stop reading here.

Jasmine peacock created from jasmine flowers. Source: Hdwallpaperes.com

Jasmine peacock created from jasmine flowers. Source: Hdwallpaperes.com

Jasmin Rouge opens on my skin with seemingly every possible variation of the flower: green and fresh; spicy; indolic, lush and heady; fruity; and lightly musky. The very first minutes are filled with a surprising purple note that is exactly like very dark, Concord grapes. The note soon disappears, replaced by flickers of citrus and mandarin dancing about in the background. The heady, rich, velvety jasmine is the one, true star, however, evoking a summer’s evening when the night-blooming jasmine cast out their fragrant tendrils across the sky like sirens calling to Odysseus. It’s sweet but also airy, potently strongly, and spectacularly stunning.

Jasmin Rouge calls to mind what would be my favorite jasmine soliflore, if it actually lasted on my skin: Serge LutensÀ La Nuit. It is a perfume that many consider to be the gold standard for jasmine soliflores, and it’s truly an exquisite fragrance. Unfortunately, it has the lifespan of a squashed gnat on my skin. (Seriously. 30 minutes tops!) Like the Lutens, Jasmin Rouge is a super-charged, rich, heady jasmine fragrance. Unlike the Lutens, the opening of the Tom Ford perfume has beautiful touches of orange blossom, mandarin and slightly bitter, dry neroli underlying its star. I also detect something that feels like ylang-ylang, though it’s not listed in the notes. And, unlike the Lutens, Jasmin Rouge actually lasts on the skin.

Source: 4coolpics.com

Source: 4coolpics.com

In that lovely opening stage, the fruity-floral bouquet sits upon a base that is, at first, creamily sweet and daintily touched by a milky, light vanilla. Slowly, slowly, the base starts to turn drier, woodier, and spicier; it minimizes the fruited elements and helps prevent any excessive sweetness. So, too, does the slightly green feel of the perfume. It’s almost as if leaves have been brought in to keep the jasmine from turning ripe, over-blown, cloying, or with that feeling of decayed excess that truly indolic flowers (like jasmine, tuberose or gardenia) can sometimes project. Don’t get me wrong, Jasmin Rouge is indolic and heavy — almost boozy in its initial extremeness — but it’s also simultaneously green, fresh and light. It’s a marvelous tight-rope act, and I could not stop sniffing my arm.

Diane Millsap painting, "White Floral I" via Ebsqart.com. (Link to retail page embedded within.)

Diane Millsap painting, “White Floral I” via Ebsqart.com. (Link to retail page embedded within.)

Two hours into the perfume’s development, Jasmin Rouge starts to lose some of its flair. It’s now woodier, drier, lighter, and sits much closer to the skin. There is still a spicy green nuance to the flower, but much of the perfume’s depth (and most of its powerful projection) has dropped out. The citrus, mandarin, orange blossom, and neroli touches seem more nebulous; the perfume’s body seems less lushly opulent and juicy; and there is a slight (just slight) tinge of smokiness at the very edges. I’m not quite as obsessed with the scent now, though I suspect those who want a dry, less purely floral element to their fragrance may be happier.

Catherine Jeltes Painting, "Modern Brown Abstract Painting WinterScape." Etsy Store, GalleryZooArt, linked within. (Click on photo.)

Catherine Jeltes Painting, “Modern Brown Abstract Painting WinterScape.” Etsy Store, GalleryZooArt, linked within. (Click on photo.)

Jasmin Rouge’s drydown begins midway around the fifth hour, when the perfume quietly emits woody notes with touches of smoke, pepper and musk. The jasmine is no longer the dominant note; it feels just as green and spicy as before, but it’s sheer and muted. Jasmin Rouge is now more of a bland, abstract woody fragrance where the light, beige notes just happen to be infused with jasmine, rather than the other way around. In its dying moments, just over 8.25 hours in, Jasmin Rouge is simply an amorphous, vaguely ambered, woody scent. All in all, it has good longevity, especially for a soliflore. It has extremely intense sillage at first, but the projection starts to drop after the first hour and the perfume becomes a skin scent by the start of the third hour.

I liked Jasmin Noir a lot more than most of the critics and bloggers out there. Their main issue is with the bland final stage, and I agree with them to an extent. However, I don’t dismiss the perfume as readily as they do. Bois de Jasmin‘s summation pretty much encapsulates the overall perspective of the blogosphere: “Jasmin Rouge is simply an up-market version of a familiar crisp fruity floral. Though it is lovely, it does not offer any revelations.” I think the perfume is better than that. It smells rich, doesn’t smell cheap or synthetic, screams luxury, is both green and lush, and oozes sex appeal and sensuality. I haven’t found a ton of jasmine soliflores to do that — with the exception of the stunning À La Nuit (with its zero longevity on my skin). And I can’t get over how beautiful the green spiciness is! I do wish Jasmin Rouge had retained more of its juicy, opulent, heady beginning for longer (since I prefer my pure florals to remain as such), and I would have also preferred less woods, but all that is a matter of personal taste.

The real question is whether Jasmin Rouge is special enough for the cost. I can only say that I think it’s worth the cost more than most of the other pure florals I’ve tried from Tom Ford. (For example, I thought the Jardin Noir Collection was terribly over-priced for the scents in question. I couldn’t stand Ombre de Hyacinth, and I thought Café Rose was both cloying and exhausting.) In short, it’s all relative. I would absolutely wear Jasmin Rouge if a bottle fell into my lap, but would I actually buy it? I don’t know, especially as I have issues with Tom Ford’s retail prices. If it means anything, I definitely plan on looking on eBay, since Private Blend fragrances can be found there for much more reasonable rates.

The bottom line for Jasmin Rouge is that you have to really love jasmine to wear it. Those who don’t may find the perfume to be the equivalent of death by white flowers, especially if their skin chemistry tends to turn jasmine plastic-y or sour. Those who love the note will undoubtedly adore Jasmin Rouge’s opening, and the unusual spicy greenness underlying such a lush, concentrated, heady bouquet. I’m less certain as to how they’d feel about the drydown, however, or the perfume’s linearity — it all depends on one’s taste. But Jasmin Rouge is absolutely worth a test sniff, so skip the Black and go for the Red. If perfume is nothing other than the promise of happiness (to paraphrase Stendhal), then Jasmin Rouge’s opulently heady, spicy florals and very feminine, sensual, sophisticated, refined manner might possibly be your ticket there.

DETAILS:
BLACK VIOLET – Cost & Availability: Private Blend Black Violet is an eau de parfum and retails for: $205 for a 50 ml/1.7 oz bottle, $280 for a 100 ml/3.4 oz bottle or $495 for a 200 ml/8.45 oz bottle. It is listed on the Tom Ford website. (However, it doesn’t seem clear how you can purchase it from there as I don’t see a shopping cart capability for the perfume.) In the U.S.: You can also find Black Violet at fine department stores such as Nordstrom, BloomingdalesNeiman MarcusSaks Fifth Avenue, and Bergdorf Goodman. Outside the U.S.: In Canada, I believe Tom Ford is carried at Holt Renfrew, but I don’t see Black Violet listed as one of their 2 Tom Ford fragrances on the online website. In the UK, you can find it at Harrods or House of Fraser. Both stores sell the small 1.7 oz/50 ml size for £135.00, or £300.00 for the super-large 250 ml bottle. The Selfridges website is currently out of stock of the perfume, but you may want to check later. For the rest of Europe, Premiere Avenue is one of the few online retailers that I’ve seen carry Tom Ford fragrances, and it sells Black Violet for €180, €260 or €420, depending on the size.  It is a French site that ships worldwide. I know that Tom Ford Beauty is carried in-store at a number of other retailers throughout Europe, from Denmark and Belgium to the Russian Federation. You can use the store locator linked below on the website to find a retailer near you. In Australia, I saw Black Violet listed on a number of retail sites via the GetPrice website, with prices starting at AUD$220. It is also listed on the Feeling Sexy Australia website for AUD$249.95, but I have no clue if that’s a reputable site or not. The Tom Ford line is supposedly carried at David Jones stores, but Black Violet is not one of the handful of Tom Ford fragrances carried on the its website. Elsewhere, Tom Ford fragrances are carried in numerous different countries; hopefully, you can find one near you using the store locator on the Tom Ford website. Samples: You can probably get free samples of Black Violet from any of the department stores listed above, in-store, but you can also order a sample from Surrender to Chance, starting at $3 for a 1/2 ml vial.
JASMIN ROUGE – Cost & Availability: Private Blend Jasmin Rouge is an eau de parfum and retails for: $205, £135.00 or €180 for a 50 ml/1.7 oz bottle; $280, €260, £300.00 for a 100 ml/3.4 oz bottle; or $495 for a 200 ml/8.45 oz bottle. It is listed on the Tom Ford website, but it doesn’t look as though you can buy it directly off of there. In the U.S.: Jasmin Rouge is carried at department stores such as NordstromBloomingdalesNeiman MarcusSaks Fifth Avenue, and Bergdorf GoodmanOutside the U.S.: In the UK, you can find Jasmin Rouge at Selfridges or Harrods, both of which sell all three sizes of the bottles: the small 1.7 oz/50 ml size for £135.00, the 100 ml bottle for £195, or £300.00 for the super-large 250 ml bottle. For the rest of Europe, Premiere Avenue is the first online website that I’ve found to carry the full Tom Ford line, including all three sizes of Jasmin Rouge. Here is the link for the smallest cheapest size, the 1.7 oz/50 ml bottle which retails for €180. The company ships worldwide, I believe, but you need to email them to ask for the full details. (I did find an Italian vendor, Vittoria Profumi, but it’s selling the same bottle for way over retail at €265.) In the UAE and Dubai, I found Jasmin Rouge at Souq.com. Australian vendors of Jasmin Rouge proved to be hard to track down, especially as Fresh was out of stock of the perfume (which it sells for AUD$259), but I’m sure there are others out there. For all other countries, you can use the Tom Ford’s Store Locator guide linked up above in the Black Violet section. Samples: You can probably get free samples of Jasmin Rouge from any of the department stores listed above, in-store, but you can also order a sample from Surrender to Chance, starting at $3 for a 1/2 ml vial.

36 thoughts on “Perfume Reviews – Tom Ford Private Blends Black Violet & Jasmin Rouge

  1. Great double review! You’re a fan of those Tom Ford Private Blends, aren’t you? Your description of Black Violet make it sound really good and there’s a slight chance I would like it. Jasmine Rouge – I’m not into soliflores and I don’t mind some jasmine but you say that it’s a concentrated, jasmine bomb. I have a sample of this one. Now I understand why I was kind of afraid to give it a try and I have in unused for a couple of months 😛
    Great read!
    Happy weekend!

    • I tend to like the more woody ones and not the florals, so Jasmin Rouge was a bit of surprise for me, especially as a soliflore. I still don’t like it as much as Oud Wood and Tobacco Vanille, but then I’m not the sort to wear pure florals often. That said, I truly would wear it because I really like Jasmine. Those who don’t, should really stay away. And I certainly don’t think it would be *your* cup of tea, my sweet. As for the Black Violet, I think that would be much more your style but I found its haziness, poor sillage and terrible longevity to be very frustrating. I hope you have better luck with it, if you get the chance to try it. I know Tom Ford isn’t common in your country, so hopefully, you can get a sample in a swap. 🙂

  2. Great reviews, dear Kafka. Lucas and I are indeed Scent Twins because, like him, I was reluctant to try Jasmine Rouge and I’ve had my 5mL travel spray for a year, neglected. I think a jasmine bomb will suffocate me given my jasmine = moth balls sensory experience.

    • I can’t see you wearing a saturated jasmine soliflore, my dear. With your tastes, I fear it may be Death by Jasmine, indeed. LOL! That said, I’m not sure it would turn to mothballs on your skin because this is too green to be indolic. And it’s the indoles which can lead to the mothball impression. This is about as far away as Jour Ensoleillée’s jasmine as you could get. Seriously. Still, it’s probably too much of a soliflore for you, my dear.

  3. in my humble farm-boy opinion, tom ford private blends’ greatest claim to fame is to challenge creed & by killian as the top rip-off in perfumery. slick image hype (Tom Ford!!!) coupled with consistently mediocre products – with the odd notable exception – is what they generally tend to deliver, all at extortionate prices… Jasmin Rouge seems to really jive with you, and when that happens you just gotta go with it, the hell with the price, bottle, image etc.
    i find that lutens takes the indolic wonder of jasmine to the red line with sarrasins, which is in my top five, whereas a la nuit is too ‘fresh’ and feminine for a guy to wear. for a vibrant & elegant violet, lutens pushes the right buttons again with bois de violette; if you like (the trademark cedar of)feminité de bois AND violet, this will swoony-swoon you!
    love the stendhal quote; one of the great romantics 🙂

    • Heh, at the rip-off comments and the hilariously true inclusion of Kilian in the group. (I totally agree!) As for Jasmin Rouge and me, I rarely wear pure florals but, when I do, I like them to be concentrated power bombs, so this certainly qualified. Initially, at least. And I really liked the green, spicy aspect to it. (That was probably my favorite part.) It was quite a surprise to me as I tend to prefer Tom Ford’s more woody, spicy efforts like Tobacco Vanille and Oud Wood. Those two are actually worth a full-bottle, in my opinion. Arabian Wood, as well, if it lasts on someone’s skin (which it doesn’t on mine, alas). That’s a beautiful chypre, if you haven’t tried it.

      As for Serge Lutens, well, you know how much I adore the line, so I will certainly look for Bois de Violette. Thank you the suggestion. Sarassins is already on my list of Lutens things to try, but, damn, it’s such a long list!! I’ll never get through all 50+ of them! 😀 (And, yes, your beloved Fille En Aiguilles is on it, too. LOL. ) As for the A La Nuit, I definitely can’t see you wearing it!

      Do you love Stendhal, too? You know, I’ve never managed to finish Le Rouge et Le Noir. I’ve tried repeatedly over the years and something — time, circumstances, something — always interrupts me. One of these days, I really have to get to the end of the book, as I love his style and writing. Not as much a favorite as Balzac, though, who is one of my all-time favorite authors.

  4. Strange how one’s body chemistry works with certain fragrances. On my skin Black Violet is so much more than what you described in your review. I must admit that BV develops differently according to various temperatures. In cold settings BV is all about citruces and floral note. But when it’s warmer it’s full bodied, lush, fruity woody floral mossy scent with high projection that lasts at least 6-7 hours on my skin. I love to blend it with Oud Wood as they compliment each other fabulously. I believe they are discontinuing BV as of this year.
    On the contrary to Black Violet, Jasmin Rouge present itself as boring, never changing jasmine tea on my skin. Jasmine tea- nothing more, nothing less! I wish it had more nuances but I become pretty bored with JR and its definitely not “my cup of tea”. I tried to blend it with couple of other Private Blend scents and the only one it works well is Santal Blush.

    • Oh Ross, you have no idea how sorry I am for disliking one of your favorites. I thought of you so much and I felt so badly. But my skin simply wouldn’t co-operate with me! 🙁 If I hadn’t read a number of other remarks (beyond the Non-Blonde’s) where people had similar experiences, I would have thought it was just a freakish abnormality. But, for some of us, the perfume doesn’t seem to reflect the beautiful way it is on you. And it really DOES sound lovely on you, my dear. To get the moss, lushness, and to have it last 6-7 hours….. wow!! On me, I initially thought it had gone after ONE hour! (And I tested it twice, same experience both times.)

      As for Jasmin Rouge, “jasmine tea” sounds absolutely terrible. It wouldn’t be my cup of tea, either, if I’d had that. In truth, I had expected my review to be reversed: loving the Black Violet and hating the Jasmin Rouge. If my skin had given me the experiences you had, I have no doubts that the review would have been completely different. I’m truly sorry, my dear.

      • Please don’t feel sorry! It’s so interesting to read someone’s reaction to the scent that you are familiar with. And BV isn’t my favorite one,as I mention its very picky to the skin type and the climate. So I enjoy it on occasion just to get all the things that I mentioned before. And as to Jasmin Rouge I guess jasmine is not a note that agrees with me at all. I have another scent with the prominent jasmine note Jasmine Musk and I find it hard to wear also. But with Tuscan Leather it’s pretty good mix 🙂 xxox

        • Forgot to mention that I was going to give Jasmin Rouge another chance the other day, and my friend said that the scent reminds her about “a lady who goes to brunch” lol. I stop trying JR after that comment

          • Ha, it’s a definitely a rich “ladies who lunch” sort of scent, no question about it. But I can just see you slowly putting down the bottle after that. *grin*

  5. I tried this one and I kind of liked it, or should I say, piqued my interest/ smell receptors. Granted, Tom Ford isn’t making a glorified stance with Black Violet, but I find the dark brooding nature of the florals quite interesting. The darkness that prevades BV reminds me of the black truffle accord in Black Orchid. On my skin I get a dark, barely there black violet accord that lingers ever so slighty under your olfactory threshold of detection. So would I buy a full bottle? Probably not, but I would welcome another decant to my perfume collection.

      • The sillage of Black Violet on my skin was mediocre to nonexistent, although it was great for the first 30 minutes then became a skin scent. Longevity was below average at about 3 hours.

        • Sounds like my experience, except the sillage was so low, I initially though Black Violet totally died after one hour. LOL. I was surprised it lingered for 2 more hours, but yeah, a total skin scent all the way with longevity being way below average. So, would it be worth it for you to get even a decant?

  6. I have to agree with the above points. Much better stated and elaborated then I ever could. My favorite Tom Ford is Tuscan Leather despite the fact it got that mediocre review from Luca Turin. I also like The Neroli, Japan Noir I think?? Its called, and the only one I have left right now is the Bois Marocain… I found the Oud wood strange but everyone likes that one, and that tobacco vanilla one.

    • Hi Mike, nice to see you again! And thank you for your kind words on the review. Luca Turin…… pfffftttt! I’ve gotten to the point where his negative reviews are actually commendations in my eyes. 😉 Japon Noir seems to be much loved, when its name comes up, but I’ve always been surprised that there is less talk about it as a general whole. I know quite a few people who seem to really like it. I think I have a sample (I know I have one of Tuscan Leather somewhere), but I haven’t tried it yet. I hear Bois Marocain is glorious! As for Oud Wood, I think people like it because it’s an approachable oud. At least, it was to me, though I far, far prefer vintage M7. (Mmmmmm, M7…. mmmm!) For me, I prefer a gentler, more well-rounded and sweet sort of oud than the more dirty, almost fecal, raw sort used in perfumes like Xerjoff or the new MFK Oud Mood fragrances. But that’s just me. 🙂

      As for Black Violet, I’m curious, did it last on your skin?

      • Thank you. I appreciate you having me. I know what you mean. There are some ouds out there I absolutely love. I have not tried the M7. The Black Violet did not last as long as the other ones do. So I know what you mean. I find some of the other ones last longer. Plus im not a huge fan of that scent. I like it, but I dont love it. There are so many other good ones out there, I am a kid in a candy store. There seem to be more “newer” ones that dont last as long. Even some of my newer ones that I LOVE, dont seem to last as long, even when the project! And are strong. I wouldnt expect those lifespans to be so short.

  7. Tom Ford again, the luxury brand that we don´t have here and that keeps on taunting me with it´s fragrances and makeup line all the time. I really wish we had the line here simply to see if it is as amazing as the prices make me think it is. I adore jasmin, to me it´s a very “spicy” if it makes sense, flowery scent and I love it as a fragrance, particularly if it gives an aura of luxury and elegance like this one seems to do. I´m currently still searching for a new fragrance to love, and this kind of woody and flowery scent has to be taken in to account definitely 😀 .

    • I’m sorry, my dear. I know how frustrating it must be, especially with regard to the makeup. I’m not sure the *perfumes* are as amazing as Tom Ford thinks they are, given his pricing for them, but some of them are good indeed. Jasmin Rouge would definitely fit the image of a very feminine, very luxurious smelling, “rich”/money scent, if that makes sense. It would not be a perfume that I’d recommend to everyone. NOT AT ALL! One has to love flower bombs and jasmine in specific. But, since you do, I think this would be up your alley.

      We’re going to have to figure out some way of getting you samples. I don’t get sizes big enough to have a ton left over, so there really wouldn’t be a whole lot available for you to give it a test. Well, maybe enough for one test, depending on whether you can detect perfume even if the amount is just a 1/2 or 1/4 ml vial. (It’s really not much at all — but for most of my samples, that’s all I have left.) But worse comes to worse, I can try to send you some stuff. We really have to get you some samples!!! I’m becoming frustrated FOR you! LOL. xoxox

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  9. Now you are going to have me heading to Nordstrom to check out Jasmin Rouge again. Anything red makes me a like a bee to a flower. I spritzed some on paper one day and couldn’t have moved away faster. I should no better than to leave it to the paper alone. I love jasmine, but it can be overdone. We currently have a jasmine vine on the back patio and I love sitting out there an letting the flower drift by in the breeze. Thanks for the lovely reviews as always.

    • You’re very welcome. Let me know what you think of the Jasmin Rouge when you try it. And, you know, I’ve never had luck assessing a perfume from a paper strip with one exception: one of the new MFK Oud Moods was truly as bad on my skin as it was on paper. LOL.

  10. I’m finally getting to the reviews I missed while traveling.

    We’re again on the opposite sides 🙂 I liked (bought a decant and wear from time to time) Black Violet and wasn’t too impressed by Jasmine Rouge. I haveno idea how a black violet should smell so I’m totally fine with the abstract flower composition. As to jasmine… I tried Jasmine Rouge in parallel with Dior’s Grand Bal and Lutens’ Sarrasins and thought that both were much more interesting than JR – if I were to go for a jasmine-centric perfume.

        • As a side note, it’s been reported that Tom Ford will discontinue Black Violet and Lavender Palm as of July 7th, 2013. Surprisingly, Oud Wood is also mentioned repeatedly as something that will be pulled but only in “decant sizes.” That makes it unclear to me if they’re talking about the smallest or the very largest, but either way, the issue seems to be the Brazilian rosewood in the fragrance and difficulty in obtaining the ingredient. I guess Estée Lauder doesn’t want to shell out for it on a mass-quantity scale or something. Either way, if you really adore Black Violet and only have a small decant, you may want to get a bit more before it’s too late.

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