It is pretty funny to say we do have an autumnal vibe in Northern California, specifically in the East Bay where I live because once November comes, the weather is still around 65F. When we see leaves around my neighbor change from green to yellow and Pumpkin Spice Latte is on the menu at local Starbucks, I know the autumn is officially here. That’s when I need to find my perfume option for a new romantic season. This week, I pick a new one from Tom Ford named White Patchouli. Well, you may already know, Tom Ford never have anything belongs to affordable range products but I think Tom Ford is the brand that “you get what you paid for”. However, this particular Tom Ford White Patchouli kind of disappointed me. The original price is $122 for 1.7oz from Sephora (crazy, right?) but I got this one when I have promotion discount from Frargance.net, a website only sells fragrance and some other beauty products. I got 30% off, truly it was a bargain. I got it after 7 days free shipping, the website is nice and professional. However, the problem here is I was overestimating my knowledge of fragrance. Since I’ve been collecting and using fragrance for over 13 years, I think I can understand notes from ingredient list. My favorite notes are mostly amber, musk, patchouli, vanilla and white flowers. I’m very specific with what I love. So when it comes to pick a new fragrance, you know how picky I am. On Sephora website ingredients are mentioned : White Patchouli, Rose Absolute, Coriander, Patchouli, Incense. I like most of them except Incense, which reminds me of my grandma’s house. We are Vietnamese and traditionally, we use incense a lot in our family to worship our ancestors. I like incense in the house, but not on me. But again, I thought it would not me too crazy on this perfume. But again, I was wrong. The moment I got it on me, I felt immediately the incense note hit me like a brick, much stronger than other notes. I was patient enough to think maybe this is just top note. The real note will come out after maybe 1 hour or longer than that. Again, I was wrong. Tom Ford fragrances are famously known as one of the masculine ones in the market, even to women fragrance. I smell other notes too: a bit of rose and patchouli. The rest I smell is very strong incense and it makes me feel headache. At the end of the day, my lovely hubby said I smell like a potpourri and he likes that smell, very woody and calm. FYI, potpourri is mix of dried fragrant plants to provide gentle scent inside buildings. I questioned myself if I want to smell like inside a building. I don’t smell luxurious or addictive or lavish or seductive either. I smell like I just left my grandma’s house. This bottle gets almost 4.5 stars on Sephora.com and people keep mentioning it is very sophisticated. Well, not sophisticated for me. All beauty products are very different when it comes to use on everyone, I know that for sure.
Personally, I feel like I smell like an incense all the time so this perfume will be a pass for me. I will keep it for spraying in my closet to keep all the clothes smell nicer but never on my body. Very sad because it’s a pretty packaging, pretty bottle and pretty name. But again, when it comes to fragrance shopping, my biggest lesson now is never trust your knowledge, only trust your nose and your body chemistry. They will decide for you.