VELVET ORCHID
by TOM FORD
ingredients: bergamot, hyacinth, suede
I could not really figure out the Tom Ford fragrance demographic until I remembered who owns them. Then it all became clear: Tom Ford is Estée Lauder in full feather, all dolled up for a cruise ship gala evening. As a veteran Lauder fan, It always seemed to me that they should a) charge more for their fragrances to impress the perfumistas and, b) for the sake of honesty, desist from packaging mammoth orientals like Youth Dew in the same pale pastel colors as luminous florals. Be careful what you wish for: almost the entire TF line, both the widely distributed fluted bottles and the embarrassingly named “Private Blend” collection, costs real money, looks as dark as Hades and smells as heavy as sarcophagus lids.
In line with this, Velvet Orchid is a creature of great intricacy, harboring plenty of good ideas. The top note, for example, manages to be both creamy and dusty at the same time, an effect I do not remember smelling elsewhere. The core of the fragrance is a balletic brawl of high-impact materials from which, as from a Tom-and-Jerry fight, bits fly out at intervals. Fully four perfumers, and good ones at that, are credited with the composition, which may explain the melee. The drydown is solid as rock. This crowded-synthetic perfumery style is perhaps the hardest of all to pull off, and to my mind only the first Boucheron (1988) ever fully succeeded. Velvet Orchid is nowhere near those heights: a good, competent fragrance, albeit one that smells a bit too much of effort.
woody floral
