Tom Ford Black Orchid Parfum Review – 2020

I felt the urge to channel my inner Joan Collins (or something!) in a recent episode of Love At First Scent, because the scent that I wafted beneath my nose was the new Tom Ford Black Orchid Parfum. If you’d like to watch the video – and find out how the live chat got on to the subject of chocolate cucumbers – here’s a link: Tom Ford Black Orchid Parfum review.

For several reasons, I’m on a bit of a parfum odyssey at the moment. And one of the questions that keeps appearing during the journey is whether these modern so-called ‘parfums’ would have been labelled as such a few decades ago. I believe I’m right in saying that there are no specific rules governing what may or may not be called an extrait or an eau de parfum or eau de toilette. We all have this notion that the extrait (aka the ‘pure’ perfume) is the most concentrated version of a scent, but precisely what that concentration may be is a matter deliberately kept secret by most brands. Indeed, what counts as an eau de parfum by one fragrance house could well be released as an extrait by another.

With that in mind, I wonder if the likes of this new Tom Ford composition, as well as the Byredo Night Veils collection and perhaps even the ‘parfum’ versions of Terre D’Hermes and Voyage D’Hermes are worthy of the tag in the same way as, say, the classic Guerlain extraits. It’s a query which won’t easily yield answers, I’m sure.

Putting that aside, my view of this latest incarnation of Black Orchid is that it’s the best yet, although I say that as someone who’s never been able to muster much love for the original. That viperish, saline-chocolate-cucumber hiss is intact, but it’s markedly softer here, thanks to the addition of a boozy, woody plum note. The word that comes to mind is ‘softer’… suggesting that perhaps Joan finally found someone to scratch that itch.

Persolaise

[Tom Ford Black Orchid Parfum review based on a sample provided by the brand in 2020.]

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