Amouage Samples Giveaway

Today I want to offer you a Amouage woman sample set as a giveaway. All you have to do is to link this post on your blog and send the link from your blog to me via comment on this site.

And here are the scents of which I want to give you samples:

Amouage Epic

Amouage Epic Woman by Amouage is a oriental floral fragrance for women. Amouage Epic Woman was introduced in 2009. Top notes are caraway, pink pepper and cinnamon; middle notes are rose, geranium, jasmine and tea; base notes are amber, vanilla, incense, orris root, patchouli and agarwood (oud).

Amouage Lyric

 Amouage Lyric Woman offers petals of eternal rose bloom in red nuances. The song introduced by this fragrance starts with bergamot game with spices – ginger, cinnamon and saffron in the top. The rose awaits us in the heart, just like in the version for men. It is joined by angelica and floral support of jasmine, ylang-ylang, geranium and iris root. The base notes introduce oak moss, sensual musk, woody accords, patchouli, vetiver, sandalwood, Tonka bean and incense. The perfume is available in the amount of 50 and 100 ml from 2008.

Amouage Gold

 Amouage or Amouage Gold is the first fragrance of Amouage. It was created by Guy Robert 1983. This is an intensive floral for evening wearing and special occasions.
The top notes blend wild rose, lily-of-the-valley and silver frankincense. The heart notes include myrrh, orris and jasmine. The oriental base is of ambergris, civet, musk, cedarwood and sandalwood.
The luxurious bottle is reminiscent of the Palace Ruwi Mosque which is made from 24% French lead crystal adorned with 24 carat gold plated decoration.

Amouage Jubilation

Jubilation for Women by Amouage is a Oriental Floral fragrance for women. Jubilation for Women was launched in 2008. Top notes are ylang-ylang and rose; base notes are amber, patchouli, musk, vetiver, incense and myrrh.

Amouage Reflection

This delicate floral fragrance starts with fresh notes of water violet and purple freesia with a hint of green tropical leaves. The royal couple: splendid magnolia and the king of seduction jasmine blossom in the very heart of the fragrance. The base is oriental, warm and noble, consists of cedar, sandal and amber. The perfume was created by Maurice Roucel in 2007.

The samples which the winner will receive amounting to approx. €50,- are:
- Epic,Lyric and Gold as Original samples almost full
- Jubilation and Reflection as decants 1/3 full samples
 

The winner will be decided by drawing lots!

DEADLINE is 20th January 2011

Tops and flops of 2010

The perfume community in which I am a member made a topic about tops and flops according perfume in 2010. It was quite interesting to read the several impressions.

2010 was a very impressive and important year for me according perfume!

TOP:
1. I discovered arabian perfume
2. I decided to start a perfume business and so can combine my passion with professional life
3. I started this perfume blog
4. Best of my perfume discoveries of this year for myself: Tom Ford - Oud Wood and Amouage - Attar Homage

FLOP:
1. I am spending more and more money on perfume
2. some discoveries like the stinky Al Oudh - L'Artisan Parfumeur

Would you like to share your top and flops about perfume? I really would like to see your favorits or the no-goes!

Amouage - Attar Homage

Amouage - Attar Homage

The perfume brand Amouage originally from Sutanate of Oman enjoy great popularity all over the world.

There are editions of Eau de Parfum for man and woman and............not that famous Amouage Attar.

As I could not find a suitable scent for myself among the famous Eau de Parfum (already tested Lyric, Dia, Gold, Reflection, Epic, Jubilation IIV - review will follow soon) I came across the Attar collection and ordered my first sample: Amouage - Attar Homage.

Just to let you know up front: it is gorgeous!

The house Amouage created Homage for their 25th jubilee and the professional critics were great. So it made me even more curious to test it!

So perfumeur Christoph Chong created a floral scent with the main accent on Taifi rose which is very popular in the Gulf region for its fully and romantic sense.
To fill one bottle of 12ml perfume oil there are used roses of one whole yard. But there are also ingridients arround this wonderfull rose which make the wonderfull composition: silver frankincense, orange, jasmin, amber, oud, lemon and sandlewood.

The fragrance is so smooth and fresh and I would declare it as soft-oriental as it is not heavy in any way. It is a scent which everyone even in the West can wear daily. It is very pricey: 12ml = €270 but it is absolutelly worth. And you have to consider that you need even a drop to smell intesivelly the whole day long.

It is declared as unisex, though I can not imagine it on a man!

Puristic rose - My rose

Dark Rose - Czech&Speak

Here comes a very special rose fragrance, I have recently tested. And I am totally fascinated - never smelled a rose fragrance in that way!

First I have to say, myself as a person I can describe like cold-elegant and in this way are my favorite colors, cold but lively like pink, purple, dark green, grey and same way are scents I adore: cold but lively and deep!
And this fragrance is like that!

Did I ever mention that I love roses??? Yes, I love them in all senses: seeing, smelling....

So far, let's take a look at this scent:

Would I have got the sample without declaration I would swear that it was a rose fragrance from Montale, because of the exact same medicinal scent which you get thrown in your nose right after the first spray!

All in all it is a scent which is cold but very, very deep! I see dark red almost black roses and snow white oud! And the roses are original roses, deep and georgous smelling roses.

The picture in my head would probably be interesting for a commercial spot:

There is a puristic hotel a la Armani, and absolutely everything is WHITE! From the floor to the walls, the whole interior are competely white!
In the lobby, there are roses blowing, red-black roses....

And in the middle of this scenario there is a lady, a mysterious lady - wearing a black costume, dark red lipstick having a short, puristic hair cut......................................

So if you love roses and want to test a different kind of rose perfume, Dark Roses could be very interesting!
But take care, there is no sweetness and no heaviness, just deep cold roses mixed with cold Oud!

Perfume samples for testing

Where do you get perfume samples for testing???

I think it is of big importance to test perfume thoroughly before you make the decision to buy one.

For me it wasn't possible almost never to buy a perfume on the first smell in the perfumery. I need to smell a perfume a couple of times to get a feeling and even more to test it  a couple of times on my own skin.

Recently I got a sample of "Amber Absolute" (Tom Ford Private Blend) which I tested twice in a perfumery and fell in love with. So as I got the sample and put a drop on my skin I was very surprised, not to say I was shocked how it smelled.
In the perfumery it was kinda smooth amber and on my skin it was like medical ivy mixed with alcohol with a strong displeasing smell of frankincense. It was reminiscent of cough syrup my daughter used to take....

So it shows once again how important it is to test a scent on one's own skin!

The smell which you notice at someone else doesn't have to smell same on your own skin. It is because we all have different skin chemistries...

But where to get samples?

You can get samples at perfumeries when you buy something there but mostly the scent for which you are looking for is not available.

In general I have two sources where I get samples. And you can believe me that I am testing many several perfumes almost every day :-D

1) There are online perfumeries which provide samples by payment. Here I will name a few good one's where I use to order:
- www.luckyscent.com (located in the US)
- www.allaviolettaboutique.com ( located in Italy)
- www.theperfumedcourt.com (located in the US)
- www.ausliebezumduft.de (located in Germany)
and finally: on Ebay you can find amazing samples!

These ones I like most because they have a good choice and espacially a great choice of rare and international, exotic perfumes which are not easy to get!

2) There are some internet communities for perfume lovers where you can do several things (comment perfumes, read comments of different useres, exchange expiriences about perfume and most important you can make exchanges of samples)
For me this way it is quite amazing because you have the ability to get many samples for free in order you give your samples which you don't need any more! And you learn to know amazing people with the same passion...
And here they are:
-www.parfumo.de (located in Germany - it is my favorite!)
-www.fragrantica.com
- www.basenotes.net

For any questions, drop me a line ;-))

Chloe

Chloe has a perfume collection called Chloe with three several perfumes all called Chloe - how CONFUSING!!!
Actually all three of these perfumes are all about the rose but smell absolutelly different and you can keep them apart just by the color of bow tie at the flacon and the color of the packaging:

And here they come:

Chloe Eau de Toilette

Chloe Eau de Parfum

Chloe Eau de Parfum Intense

All of these three Chloes are built arround rose notes, presenting a rose garden!

The most confusing is the declaration of each one: Eau de Toilette, Eau de Parfum and Eau de Parfum Intense. So you would just think it is all one and same scent just in different itensity, right?
But no, it is not! All three are totaly different in smell and of course from their ingridients! I think the marketing strategy failed! It is too confusing.

Today I have got the Chloe Eau de Parfum Intense which I ordered at Ebay (as I love bargains) for a good price. But as you can imagine through all these confusing attributes twice I received the wrong one and was totally pissed off. I could not understand that a seller (it was a perfume seller, not a private person) couldn't keep it apart!

And for sure I feel very happy. I have tested it several times to make sure I really like it, because before I have tested the Chloe Eau de Perfume which really smell nice, but leave a feeling of being an old madame!
But the Chloe Intense is just wonderfull. It is warm and fresh at the same time so you can wear it during all seasons of the year! It is all about the rose, but include also accords of pink pepper, sandalwood and tonka. It has a soapy, clean smack.

It is an elegant, lively and vibrant scent! The intensity and wear are very high so I think it is one of the best Eau de Perfumes regarding the quality which I only found in Amouage untill now!

So for everyone of you who love rose perfumes, this is a very MUST!!!

Dahn al Oudh - in original

Here I want to tell you about dehn al oudh perfumes in its purest, original, arabic form!

From my first sampling-order I got several Dahn al Oudh perfumes to test for my upcoming business.

As I knew oud just as an ingridient of perfumes made in the west, and I fell in love with it, I was very excited to get my nose finally on the purest form of oudh!

And what to say, my expectations really were disappointed. I just could not believe it! The smell of the pure oud can at any rate cause a choke impulse :-SSSSSS

All I could smell was kinda horse stable, a fecal, eathy scent...A friend of mine who I asked to smell it, told me she feels like smelling a puma's anus lol!

What I really don't understand, that the oud is so precious and high in price. You can pay many hundreds of dollars for a 3ml oil perfume of pure oud! And ever it is older, the price is higher and the smell is stronger!

And here they come:

Swiss Arabian - Dahn al Oud Shurouq

Ajmal - Dahn al Oudh al Shams

Ajmal - Dahn al Oudh Lujain

Swiss Arabian - Al Salaam Dahn al Oud

The next one I must admit that by time it display in a precious, but still a very, very strong scent:

Swiss Arabian - Dahn al Oud Kambodi

And the last one is much nicer to smell less the fecal note, but still very earthy! Probably because it is a "Mukhallat" what means a mix! I must admit I like it much:

Ajmal - Mukhallat Dahn al Oudh Moattaq

By the way, do someone know what means "Moattaq"???

What is your expirience with Dehn al Oudh? What do you think about the smell?

SoOud - new fragrance line EAST meets WEST

SoOud is a luxury niche perfume house founded by the famous perfumer Stephan Humbert Lucas in 2010. Since perfume is king of the Orient, Stéphane Humbert Lucas has created soOud to celebrate their heady scents by blending their olfactory exuberance with the refinement of French perfumery.

The name is maybe a reference to the Saoud royal family from Saudi Arabia. By a happy cooincidence it has the word "oud" inside, an olfactory reference to oudh.
SoOud is the hidden essence of oriental beauties and unknown harems, but also a harem of oriental scents (not very known to the western nose). It is intended as "a jewel on the skin and the perfume of inner beauty" and all of them contain agarwood in high concentration.

The oriental veil niqab served as an inspiration of mystery and beauty. Though on many online shops I could read that the brand Sooud deny the coherence to the idiological background! :-SSSSSSSSSS
What to say Islamophobia doesn't miss even in fragrances!!!

There are eight new fragrances which were launched in 2010 from Sooud and last week finally it was possible to get them in Germany. I had the chance to test three of them and I can say it is absolutelly following the current trend: East meets West! Eastern ingridients in french-way compositions!

Here are the eight fragrances of Sooud (the ones I tested will be commented thereunder):

Al Jana

Al Jana is a natural green fragrance with notes of thyme, star anise, helichrysum, ylang-ylang, cypress, cedar, vetiver, sandalwood, tonka and clary sage.

Asmar

Asmar is the dusty scentof earth and sun, tanned skin and sand. It is a scent of amber, strong yet delicate due to its warm notes. Notes: bergamot, white honey, roasted coffee, amber cigar, grape marc, amber, tobacco leaf, suede, musk and vanilla. Dorian Gray meets Scheherazade ...

Burqa

Burqua perfume is like pure blood, Chinese ink and and bewitched essences of dark wood Prestigious and elegant, it contains notes of jasmine, rose, black violet, cardamom, sage, benzoin, myrrh, black ink, rubber sap, black amber, patchouli, Guaiac wood, oud and teck.

Burqa is a very spicy scent but it has a balsamic softness. Very interesting! But in the heart note it reminds me too much of Miss Cherie - Dior! Not my taste!

Fam

Fam (Mouth) is an intensive and flamboyant perfume of red spices combined with warm woody tones and powdery floral aromas. This sophisticated fragrance exudes all the charms of agar wood, with additional notes of saffron, chili, roses, cashmere, rose powder, rubber sap, vinyl accord, sandalwood, cedar, milk and red musk.

Hajj

Hajj ("Sage"), created around noble notes, reveals fresh spices on the background of warm tones. The scent of wisdom and spirituality, it is made of bergamot, candied mandarin, star anise, rosewood, osmanthus, licorice, ginger, patchouli, tolu balsam, tobacco leaf and vetiver.

Kanz

Kanz (Treasure) is black as coal, tough and tactile; a strange combination of opacity and transparency; the smell of agar worthy of Maharajas. Note: Sambac jasmine, Bulgarian white rose essences of nagarmotha, agar and Indian sandalwood.

Kanz is in my opinion the best and most interesting of these three I have tested. It is a soft, oudy scent and if I would have to choose a color to describe it I would take white like the white rose and jasmin which you can nicely notice here.

Nur

Nur or 'Light "is a pearly - powdery scent of amber; precious, elegant and refined. It contains notes of lemon, incense, artemisia, chamomile, cedar, apricot, orris root, musk, amber, Russian leather and vanilla from Madagascar.

Ouris

Ouris ("sublime") is a symphony of butterfly colors, which include notes of peach, plum and blackcurrant, sweet Turkish delight, jasmine, almond and pollen. This beautiful feminine palette contains additional notes of honey, tagetes, jasmine, white cedar, iris, sandalwood, vanilla and tonka.
For me Ouris is a fruity-honey compostition where I smell the plum and peach at first and the sandlewood gives a soft oriental note - interesting for summertime!

Designer Shaik - perfume collection

Shaik is a selective fragrance line born in Arabia, in fairy-taley Bahrain, created without much restriction in components, as a fairy tale does not know limitations, as well as its founder Mohammed Al Asfoor in his desire to present it to us.
The bottles of his fragrances speak for themselves. They look extravagant, with pieces of silver and Swarowski crystals.

The first collection is named Opulent Blue, launched in 2007, and is composed of two jewels:

Opulent Shaik No. 33 (Women)

Opulent Shaik No. 77 (Men)

The compostition is created of spices as well with woodsy, musk, and wild flowers note.

The second collection is called Chic Shaik, launched in 2008 and has also following two jewels:

Chic Shaik No. 30 (Women)

Chic Shaik No. 70 (Men)

The chic shaik collection is much lighter fragrance than the previous one from the Opulent Blue Collection.
The women fragrance includes aromatic, floral and woody notes and the for the men it is a aromatic, woody note.

I personally ordered a sample from Chic Shaik No. 30 to test it and here are the results:

My first impression was, wow what a rich fragrance, full of thousand different flowers. It is a bit sweet, a bit spicey but not woody. The vanilla makes it smooth, but just a bit in the background. All in all it is a flower bomb! And you will deffinetly stand out with this rich and very feminine fragrance.
So for the quite and decent tastes: don't waste your time with it!
It is described that this one is lighter than the Opulent collection. But for me already this one is so strong, that I really can not imagine how the Opulent fragrance is.
Anyway I will test it and let you know!

I'm so inlove with Tom........

Ford's Oud Wood ;-DD

I really love it and I finally got it yesterday, alhamdullilah! I am really soo happy, because I could not think about any other perfume to buy since I have tested it last month. Since the Private Blend Collection of Tom Ford is only to find at very exclusive perfumeries mostly in big metropolisis; and since I don't live at one I had to drive over two hours to get to Dusseldorf, where I go for shopping from time to time.
So yesterday finally it was the day of the days and now it's mine. It is like a drug to me, I can't stop smelling it since yesterday ;-)))))))
Yes I am - crazy, when I get in love with a perfume...And this one is one of the best I ever had...
So you see my joy is unbreakable and won't blabber too much I will just give you a short discription and for every perfume lover a very MUST-TEST!!!

So here the notes of this wonderfull perfume: amber, cardammom, oud, pepper, rosewood, sandlewood, vanilla and vetiver

Just the opening of this scent make you speechless..There comes a spicy freshness due to the authentic oud and seems just a bit mossy, and the rose and amber make it wonderfully smooth, the pepper underline the sharpness of the oud so naturally and discriteely, mmmmmmmmmmmmhmmmm

It is a deep and full fragrance, at the same time fresh but warm and smooth and it is absolutely out of the ordinary. If you wear this you will anyway attract attention because it is all in all a very classy scent!!!

MY VERY NO 1 at the moment!

If you are interested in any of the Tom Ford's Private Blend fragrances, you can ask me for a tip or description, as I tested almost all and the most are really great! Just drop me a line...

As I have tested many new exclusive scents, I will post about Chic Shai, SoOud,..... these days, inshaallah - STAY TUNED

My Fata Morgana

This is a story which happened last summer in Abu Dhabi at the Emirates Palace during my holidays.

My daughter and me sat in the restaurant in the morning eating our breakfast when they came in.

I never saw eyes like these, hazel, gold-shiny color beautifully formed...They were so beautifull and shiny, full of happiness and they looked at me behind the niqab of that young, elegant lady, hand in hand with her handsome husband.
They looked like a typical local couple. She was wearing a beautifull but simple black abaya having a wonderfull Louboutin clutch in mint python and he a white candura. But they were the first local couple I saw there, who were so intimate and lovingly to each other.  So due to this impression I was sure they were at their honeymoon.

The waiter placed them right beside our table. And at the moment they passed our table it happened....as they were taking place I sensed something so beautifull in the air that I never smelled before. I was sure it was a fragrance passing over from that couple.

They sat down, and she took her veil off. I was already asking myself how she will manage to eat with the niqab, as I never saw a woman with a niqab in a restaurant before.

It is very hard to describe the scent, but I still have it in my memory.
When I would choose a color to define it, I would choose the color salmon! It was soo smoothly and just a bit soapy, clean with a light oriental note but not oud, since it had nothing sharp in it, probably with a base of musk.

I wass kinda obsessed of it at that moment, as I am a total scent-freak! And every time she moved, or stood up a wave of this wonderfull note would come over to our table. I was really speechless.

I looked some times over to their table, but not too often, because I am normally a decent person and I know from my experience, that you don't feel comfortable when someone looks too often and too long in your direction.
I enjoyed this wonderfull smell during my whole breakfast and was really sad as we finished and had to leave.

But later in the afternoon as we came to the pool and took place at a sunlounger it happened again.

Again I was speechless and looked arround from where this scent is coming. There were just an older local lady in black who sat at the sunlounger beside us. And I thought she also is wearing the same fragrance as the young woman from the morning.

Then I went in the pool with my daughter and after slipping down the water slide I saw a young woman in front of me, wearing a nice burqini in front of me. And the same eyes looked at me again.

After a time I went to the sunlounger where I could see that the older lady beside me was the mother, or probably the mother-in-law of the mystical young lady, as they sat by each other sorrounded by a few kids and two men!
So they were not on their honeymoon and seemed to be a few years already married to each other, judging by the kids' age.

Just a few seconds later they took their whole stuff and went all together away.

I hoped so, to meet her again, as I really wanted to ask her about the fragrance and was not able in any of the situations I met her because of the intimate situations and the fact she was in company!

I never met her again!

Unfortunatelly!

And since then I am searching for that scent and I hope so, I will find it someday inshaallah, because I think it is probably the most beautifull smell I have ever sensed.

Enthusiasm vs. deadlock & desperation PART II

It can change so quickly the enthusiasm-thing ;-DD

It is really amazing shortly after my last post, I have got an email of one of the perfume companies I've inquired! It was a misunderstanding: They answered my email but I never received it! And they resent their mail once again today and asked if I've got it.
I guess there is something wrong with my email account, because I did not get it. My spam inbox I am also checking daily, so I really don't have an idea whats wrong with it ;-SSS
Due to this misunderstanding it is in all probability that the other companies had the same problem. I will call them inshaallah to check out if they got it!
So maybe it is not all lost!!! And I have to revise my allegation against the arab companies!!!!!
ALL WILL BE WELL INSHAALLAH!!!

And many thanks goes to lovely Blue Pearl who immediatelly went in action to help me! Love you <3

So my lovely followers, stay tuned, I will report the upcoming news ;-D

Enthusiasm vs. deadlock and desperation

Right now I am at one point where my enthusiasm is changing in a deadlock and almost deperation concerning my business plans.

I made a whole concept from a logo to a operating system and everything else. But still the most important things I need are not fullfilled!
I still don't have a product-line and I still don't have serious suppliers.

It is really strange and it makes me mad that no one of the big suppliers (Ajmal, Al Haramain, Swiss Arabian etc.) whom I emailed have even answered my emails not to mention they haven't replied my inquires...Aren't they in need of new customers :-SSSSS
The wholesaler are giving me purchase prices which aren't acceptable in any way if I want to make any profit. The prices are about the prices which you have in retail! Where is the logic here???

I already made a sample order at one wholesaler but it is far not enough to create a product line for my shop! So I would have to order more and more and test more and more! But this way is very expensive and the problem of finding the right supplier still remains!

With a heavy heart I made the decision that I make a deadlock for my search untill March 2011. Then there will be a perfume trade in Sharjah and inshaallah I am assuming that there I can solve both of my problems.

In the meantime I will concentrate on market researches and educating myself more in perfumery stuff and sales policy.

Though I know that a trade fair is necessery I never thougt that I won't be able via internet to make my first contacts.
I don't know if it is a mentality problem of the Arabs, not to answer and to show so little interest in new customers but it looks like that. Nevertheless my passion for everything arabic still remains ;-D

From my experiences in Germany I know that these kind of behaviour is not acceptable in business and I never made those experiencess in my career!

The scent of Arabia

The scent of Arabia

A very good report which was released in khaleejtimes.com about arabian perfume and its history aswell the production process and marketing...

Oud in Western Perfumes - Test Part II

So as my testing of western perfumes goes on and on here the next ones:

Rose Oud by Kilian

It is disappointing, because it is artificial sweet. It reminds me on the smells of a fun fair and all those sweeties you can get there like candyfloss.
All in all it smells very artificial and trashy!

Aoud - Micallef

Aoud Micallef is one of the best western Oud perfumes I tried. Actually it is a men's perfume but I would not mind to wear if by myself! It is authentic and nicely fresh!

Al Oud - L'Artisan Parfumeur

And finally I got to test today Al Oud from L'Artisan Parfumeur, a very well known parfumeur by the way!
This is the worst scent I have ever smelled. You won't believe it, but all I am smelling here is the smell of sweat. It is such a stench, that I can not believe that anyone pay even a cent for this much less the high amount it costs!

Oud in western perfumes - Test I

Juliette has a Gun - Midnight Oud

Well, Juliette has a Gun - Midnight Oud sounds so heavy, that I imagined this would be a deep scent where Oud is in its deepest form and will be the main scent dominating everything else!
But NO it is not! It is not deep, nor it is dominating, nor does it smell like pure Oud. It smells very syntetic somewhere in the background.
The fragrance itself smells fine and fresh but don't diserve this name!

 MONTALE:

Montale has a very wide collection of Oud perfumes which are very popular among all nations, both Arabs and western people. The nose behind the Montale fragrances is Pierre Montale, who spent a long time among Arabs on the Arabian peninsula and created even private perfumes for royal families!
So I started to test this sort of Oud perfumes and here are the results:

Montale - Royal Oud

Royal Oud sounds to me as the best of the best, so I had very high expectations on this! But I have to admit that I got disappointed.
Right after the first spray all you can smell is a very strong medicinal smell which is so dominant and last over an hour in its itensity.After an hour it the medicinal note deminish but stays all the time in the background!
All in all it is a deep and fresh note based on the ingridients of kumquat and grapefruit but this medicinal scent make you fell like you are in a hospital :-((

Montale - White Oud

Montale White Oud is a very soft and warm scent, more feminine in my opinion. But there is also the medicinal scent which is dominant but not that much as the Royal Oud. Damascus Rose and Vanila make the scent very smooth and powdery, but the medicinal scent is also always present.
So here also a NO from me!
Though I think it is worth to take a smell on some other Montale fragrances...

What about you? Did you make some experiences with these scents?
Any suggestions my dears?

Tom Ford Private Blend

Private Blend is first and exclusive collection by Tom Ford, which includes twelve eau de parfums, each of them can be used solely or in combination with other fragrances from the collection.
Private Blend Collection was launched in 2007. The fragrances are available in 50ml and 250ml bottles.
"PRIVATE BLEND is my own scent laboratory: it's where I have the ability to create very special, original fragrances that are unconstrained by the conventions of mainstream scent-making. PRIVATE BLEND is designed with the true fragrance connoisseur n mind." Tom Ford

The Tom Ford Private Blend includes the following 12 unisex perfumes:

1. Tom Ford Private Blend ‘Oud Wood’ Eau de Parfum with fragrance notes of: exotic rose wood, cardamom, Chinese pepper, rare oud wood, sandalwood, tonka bean, vanilla, and amber.
2. Tom Ford Private Blend ‘Tobacco Vanille’ Eau de Parfum with fragrance notes of: tobacco Vanille, tobacco leaf, aromatic spice notes, tonka bean, tobacco flower, vanilla, cocoa, dry fruit accord, and sweet wood sap.
3. Tom Ford Private Blend ‘Purple Patchouli’ Eau de Parfum is a 60′s inspired floral woody fragrance with fragrance notes of: orchid accord, citrus notes, noir leather, purple patchouli accord, exotic spices, amber, Peru balsam, and vetiver.

4. Tom Ford Private Blend ‘Noir de Noir’ Eau de Parfum is a dark chypre oriental, with fragrance notes of: woven saffron, black rose, black truffle, hints of floralcy, vanilla, patchouli, oud wood, and tree moss.
5. Tom Ford Private Blend ‘Bois Rouge’ Eau de Parfum is a woody oriental perfume, woth fragrance notes of: citrus and spice, cedarwood, patchouli, jasmine, muguet, sandalwood, vetiver, amber, vanilla and tonka bean.

6. Tom Ford Private Blend ‘Moss Breches’ Eau de Parfum  is a dark and complex perume, with fragrance notes of: fresh wood and warm spice notes, beeswax absolute, Moroccan clary sage, Hungarian tarragon, Corsican rosemary and labdanum, patchouli and benzoin.
7. Tom Ford Private Blend ‘Japon Noir’ Eau de Parfum  is a contemporary perfume, with fragrance notes of: bergamot, a spice bouquet, purple patchouli, porto noir, night blooming jasmine, leather, amber and vetiver.
8. Tom Ford Private Blend ‘Amber Absolute’ Eau de Parfum is a honey colored scent, with fragrance notes of : the purest form of amber, African incense, labdanum, rich woods and a touch of vanilla bean.
9. Tom Ford Private Blend ‘Black Violet’ Eau de Parfum with fragrance notes of: citrus, a modern pulpy fruit accord, black violets, woody accents, and oakmoss.

10. Tom Ford Private Blend ‘Neroli Portofino’ Eau de Parfum is a modern intercontinental version of an iconic fragrance theme, with fragrance notes of: citrus oils, floral, and amber.

11. Tom Ford Private Blend ‘Velvet Gardenia’ Eau de Parfum is a heady floral blend, with fragrance notes of:  of ripened black gardenia, orange, jasmine, rose, muguet, tuberose, dark plum, honey, beeswax, incense and labdanum.

12. Tom Ford Private Blend ‘Tuscan Leather’ Eau de Parfum with fragrance notes of: Tuscan Leather, saffron, raspberry, thyme, night blooming jasmine, leather, and black suede

I am totally crazy about these perfumes and at the moment my favorites are:

OUDH - taking the western world in storm

Oudh is becoming the most popular ingridient of western perfumers. The insider are talking the year 2009 and 2010 are the years of Oudh and there is no end in sight!!! So here I want to show you some of the western oud perfumes.

At this point in time I am testing these kind of ouds and must admit that it is not nearly compatible to arabian oud perfumes. The most of the western oud perfumes I have tested smells very syntetic, too medical, not heavy enough, what means that you can just smell it a bit in the background and the other ingridients are the dominant in the composition.

From all these perfumes I would say that the Tom Ford Oud Wood is the only one which can be considered as authentic oud scent!

Armani Oud Royal

Christian Dior - Leather Oud

 Jo Malone - Oud & Bergamote

Juliette has a Gun - Midnight Oud

L'Artisan Parfumeur - Al Oud

Pure Oud by Kilian

Tom Ford - Oud Wood

There are even more Oud called perfumes from popular western parfumeurs and by and by I am testing them to compare them with the original arabian scents. I was asking myself if this trend is good or bad for my upcoming business?! It shows that there is the demand about oud but also it shows that these Oud perfumes are diminished and adapted to the western  customers taste so that they still smell french and not arabic.