Tom Ford OUD FLEUR

Product Information

On my skin, the scent starts off with a decent dose of oud. This reminds me very much of the beginning of Tobacco Oud (without the smoky elements). This has something very spicy with a small shot of boozyness. At the same time you can also draw parallels to Tom Ford's London. Here, however, without the too sweaty cumin note. Nevertheless, the The longevity was also good, I got somewhere in the 8-9 hour range, during testing. Was it amazing, in that regard? No. Though, it does its job for almost any event or standard work day. Part of Tom Ford's exclusive Private Blend line for 2016 presented the four new interpretations of the classic "green" notes in perfumery: Vert d'Encens, Vert de Bois, Vert Bohème, and Vert de Fleur.

I have to say that, to me, Tom Ford Noirfeels like the snuggliest body powder imaginable, a fantasy of a groomed body waiting to be ravaged. Delicious on clothing too, with its lingering balsamic and lightly animalic notes. It takes some getting used to, for men raised on butch "blue" scents of the latest crop, but it's so worth it. I love this on men, and it gets so rarely worn, compared to others in the line, which is a shame. Out of the lot that I have sampled and god knows I haven't sampled them all, I rate WHITE PATCHOULI the best for its wearability and unique special character. Issued in 2011, the fragrance includes top notes of Indian spices, cumin, cinnamon, carrot seeds, and fenugreek; heart notes of jasmine, ylang-ylang, and rose; and base notes of Australian sandalwood, cedar, benzoin, musk, and oud.To give you an idea of the debate and divergence in opinion, here are some snippets from Fragrantica: This first half feels very rosy to me. I’m not sure how many times, that I’ve had to test out a oud and rose combo fragrance, but it’s getting repetitive. This one, however, is actually one of the better examples I must say. Oud Fleur is of course, another unisex scent from Tom Ford. This one does lean much more feminine, in my opinion. Wearing it was closer to a standard female perfume experience, than any male cologne of the market. I like its darker and spicier aspects. I find it intriguing and the somewhat damp woodiness and rose note, was much better than I would normally find it to be. The resin and spice is a nice touch in Oud Fleur to create a more distinct aroma versus all of the others on the market.

Seasonally, this is a colder weather scent. Though, in a temperate climate, it wouldn’t be too out of place. I would avoid the heat. It does have good versatility, as it can go formal, or serve as a romantic wear. It has more of an elegant profile, but I wore it casually, without it feeling too out of place. If you're expecting just another "rose/oud" candidate from Oud Fleur (something the majority of comments and statements here would lead you to expect), you're mistaken. Oud Fleur finds a completely different approach to this already worn out topic. Ombré Leather (2018) was launched in 2018. The nose behind this fragrance is Sonia Constant. The top note is cardamom; middle notes are jasmine sambac and leather; base notes are patchouli, amber, and moss.

The opening of Oud Fleur is much about the oud, at least to my nose. What I do get is a pretty strong use of sandalwood, but mainly rose, with a very resinous amber. That’s a positive for me, as I enjoy sandalwood and amber, more so than oud.

As its name suggests, Private Blend Tobacco Oud features a tobacco accord inspired by “dokha,” a blend of herbs, flowers and spice-laden tobacco that was smoked in secret five centuries ago during a ban on smoking — and retains its allure as a widely used tobacco today. Do I like Oud Fleur? As much as I can, personally. Again, I’m not a big fan of rose or oud, and not at all the target demographic for this fragrance. I definitely don’t hate it and wasn’t at all put off by it.

My Account

Oud Fleur, as a whole, has one major problem that runs through Tom Ford's entire Prive Blend line. The naming. Really, this fragrance is not floral in my eyes. Sure, it has a floral approach due to the rose, which becomes one of the main components over time. But the entire fragrance is so much more trimmed towards spices and oud by its make that the epithet "Fleur" should have been left out here. "Oud Spice" would have been a better and more appropriate name for this fragrance. Only in the course then the rose comes out with me. No soft, bright but a somewhat coarse and slightly "dirty" rose. Paired with this oud accord from the opening of the fragrance, this becomes a very spicy composition, which is completed in the drydown by earthy patchouli. Our reader Jonan got this right, saying, "If you are looking for a crowd pleasing club monster to get the attention of young girls with, then please move along, nothing for you to see here." Sometimes it is enough to pause for a moment and enjoy. Existence, life, love and the feeling of not having to have an answer to everything.

According to CaFleureBon, Tobacco Oud was created by Olivier Gillotin of Givaudan who made Tobacco Vanille for Tom Ford. The Moodie Report describes the fragrance and its notes as follows: Men, however, have been well-catered to in the masculine section by Mr. Ford. One of his very best, akin to a modern-age Habit Rouge is the above shown Tom Ford Noir eau de parfum for men. Tom Ford Noir was conceived as a masculine counterpart to Ford's previous and since discontinued Violet Blonde in 2012. There is an underlying spice which peaks through the composition, during the entire wear, but really feels at its strongest in the opening act. Most of that, is the patchouli note, though some of it is due to the wood notes interacting and the amber. There is one image which immediately comes to my mind with this: shotgunning cigar smoke into a kiss by someone who just ate a crème brûlée...scrumptious.The opening of Oud Fleur has a bit of that pissy oud funk the Western synthetic oud materials from Firmenich and Givaudan like to implement, aka "civet oud" if you really want to get down to it. The sadly-discontinued Dior Leather Oud (2010) used it best, and I missed the boat on that one, so anywhere else it appears with few exceptions just makes me upset that it isn't done as well, and with Oud Fleur, it fades into saffron after some time. Cardamom, damask rose, pimento, davana, and dates seem to come in next, offering a bit of dried fruity spiciness with the rose oud blend, before things peter out into pedestrian patchouli and benzoin with the Tom Ford "raspberry leather" accord the house clearly overuses. The brand seems to think castoreum is in this perfume, but I get none unless it is so micro-dosed as to not matter. Caron Yatagan (1974) or Bogart One Man Show (1980) this is not. By the end of it, we get what is basically fruity synthetic oud/rose/patchouli soup that has been done way better and way more boldly than Yann Vasnier did it here, and cheaper too. Performance is average, and best use is pretty much when you want because this is still a rose oud out of context for most situations. Projection will be very loud at first, as Tom Ford private blends tend to be front-loaded to sell at the counter, but afterwards things begin falling apart into a single one-two base accord. A juicy, completely dark and mysterious rose enters the ring, which wants to fight a battle with the spicy oud. So at least the first impression.