Tom Ford – Metallique – First Impressions

I stumbled across the new Tom Ford Metallique in a perfumery I popped into the other day, so of course, a spray was in order. As you know, I don’t normally write about first impressions here, but I’m not sure when I might have a chance to write a full review, so I thought I’d publish a few, hastily-scribbled lines.

The most prominent aspect of the scent follows a predictable path: in perfume-speak, ‘metal’ means ‘cold’ which means ‘aldehydes’. But for one thing, ‘predictable’ isn’t necessarily a put-down in my book: a predictable formula can still produce a thing of great beauty if it’s a gorgeous formula. For another, the candle-waxy, sucking-on-chilled-steel opening is juxtaposed with an unexpected, intriguing, wintry floral note – mimosa? lily? – and a scattering of chestnuts and almonds. It all felt commendably detailed and multi-layered.

In short, I was taken with it and I’d like to seek out a sample for a proper test drive. The name is somewhat ‘harder’ than the scent – as is the advertising imagery, with its nod to Stéphane Sednaoui’s Fever video for Madonna – but that aside, I was pleased that Mr Ford has given the mainstream something other than a sugar bomb. Hopefully, I’ll be able to write more about it soon.

Persolaise