Even before I took my debut sniff of Tom Ford’s mainstream fragrance line, the retro-glam bottles captivated me. The opaque glass flasks are textured like needle-rib corduroy, with possible off-label use as a cellulite massager.
The elegant bottle is what drew me to Ford’s White Patchouli first. “Oooh...” I crooned as I fondled the bottle’s milky-white ridges. “Arghh!” I yelped as the eau de parfum seared my sinuses with synthetic-smelling florals the size and shape of a skyscraper. (And depleted a week's supply of words beginning with “s”.)
After sulking for a bit, I begrudgingly approached Black Orchid, which had already gotten the thumbs-up from men and women I knew who lived for loucheness and grand statements. You know, “theatre types”. And sure enough, Black Orchid is nothing if not theatrical: a little showy, a little contrived, but always entertaining. Encore!
Black Orchid is available from Amazon.com, FragranceX.com and FragranceNet.com, starting at $64 for 30 ml
YES! The bottle is amazing and it is a creation of Della Chuang, also an amazing chic!
ReplyDeleteNice fragrance.
+Q Perfume Blog
kissy kissy
This is the third time in 2 days that Della Chuang's name has been mentioned to me! (Both Nathan Branch and Avery Gilbert were telling me about their very festive little dinner together with Della.)
ReplyDeleteAnd I was not aware that she was the creator of those glamorous Tom Ford bottles! Thanks for this info.
Ohh I love those bottles too! Do you smell (Balmain's) Ambergris in this or am I crazy?
ReplyDeleteI just got White Suede this afternoon- it's not very interesting but I think it'll be pretty with gray cashmere sweaters this winter at the office.
Gypsy Bride, hey, you crazy kook, I never thought to connect the dots between Black Orchid and Balmain Ambergris, but I think you might have something, there! Ambergris is totally soft and "watercolored" and gentle, but you could take it as a sort of long-distance echo of Black Orchid. Neato! Thanks for the observation.
ReplyDeleteOh, and I disagree that White Suede is not very interesting. It seems pretty interesting to me. But I find that doesn't really gel on me. If you're digging that White Suede's smokiness, then you should get a load of Cartier's brand new XIII La Treizième Heure. That will float your charred, smoky suede boat, babe!
ReplyDelete"Bold and pleasingly weird"-- You got that right!! I think BO (Oh, wait... that can't be a coincidence, can it?) is the essence of derangement out of the bottle, but I agree with you that when it settles down, it's spent.
ReplyDeleteBut the aquatic part? I'm going to go have to crack my bottle and look for that-- I missed that altogether...
Cheers!
Rita @leftcoastnose
Rita, what I'm calling aquatic is perceived by others as cucumbers. Whichever way you slice it, there's a fresh wetness lurking in Black Orchid.
ReplyDeleteGreat, entertaining review as always...'shoots its wad at the top," god thats brilliant.
ReplyDeleteKatie, have you tried any of the new D&G's? I have to say I'm disappointed in the ones I've sampled. # 1 Le Bateleur is OK, but how some of them could be labeled unisex I have no idea. I'm pretty open minded about fragrances (I wear Lovely sometimes, for crying out loud)...but how # 3 L'Imperatrice could be worn by anyone other than young women is beyond me.
Maybe I'm just missing something.
BooRad, I'm getting my act together for a YouTube review of some of the D&G Anthologies. I agree that #3 is the one "for the kids". The girl kids.
ReplyDeleteMy crotch smells like Tom fords black orchid don't even own it yet weird huh
ReplyDelete*snort*
ReplyDelete