Tonka Imperiale

Tonka Imperiale Guerlain I really want to love this one, like really. I tried it 3 times already trying to find the aspect I like. I really prefers the way Guerlain use tonka. It is blends with Vanilla so well, mildly smoke. It is guerlain’s signature. But it pulls too creamy/nutty, too aromatic and too tobaccolike more than I can use. It is really masculine. Tonka Imperiale is that fragrance for best interpretation of high quality tonka. Not overly sweet, I just sad that this is not pulling in the way I prefers. Maybe, if my teste grow overtime but it is really too masculine to use everywhere I want to go.. For anyone who prefers to buy or bidding with the bullets. Please go ahead, My local Guerlain counter in Thailand had officially confirmed that this will be on "while stock last basis', it is like 6-7 bottles in 200 ml. left. In legacy of "Thierry Wasser", this represent his most strong DNA for the fragrance. both Guerlainade and Personal style, which beautifully transfers guerlain L'homme IDEAL. The modern Icon, this is his body of work. I wish, I wish I could buy. but I don't like the idea buying fragrance just for display. I prefers to spray the art over all my body and enjoy it as the way perfumer's intension. I don’t think Fève Délicieuse can hold the candle to Tonka Imperiale which go Amber-Fougere way and tonka was too interrupting by caramel and other support note. (Chocolate?) I don’t get the powdery tonka as good as this. The cloest one that I like for Tonka usage similar to this way is World According to Arthur Penhaligon's. But it's still so far-far away. Not mon-Guerlain for me ===== Edit 1 on March 11, 2024 I am lucky to land on 75ml. version of Tonka Imperiale. I got it around USD170 (60ml.) left. so I can appreciate this work from time to time. I can't commit 200ml. bottle as of now. I know I will be barely use. This is just ideal size to me. ===== Comparison (Book shape bottle 75ml. (formula 13656) vs 200ml.) This is so wried, this doesn't smell like anything I can remember.. from bigger bottle. This book shape bottle smell more like Cherry with soft powder almond at the base. It is somehow remind me of new "Feve Gourmand" being Cherry/Chocolate lay on powdery vanilla / almond gourmand. This 75ml. bottle smell beautiful and not at all Masculine, the Tobacco is not as strong as the bigger bottle one which almost reach "Vetiver Tonka" by Hermessense level. The Rosemary here is prominent in both but then it is softer quite fast and connect with velvety almondy vanilla powder at the base. it is not go as aromatic as the new version. The 200 ml glass falcon, as I mention above.. it is very masculine. This is somehow land perfectly in unisex level being Cherry-like scent that linger. Stay present very long time cohesively stay with other element. Newer one, just show this aspect too little then it walk to smoky almondy gerualin vanilla kind of way. I really enjoy this version more. Is this one also face unfaithfully reformulation when it changes to glass falcon as well?!?

I just spent the last few weeks testing an original 2010 gold box batch; 2019 purple leather box (black cap) batch and the supposed “super potent” 17751 batch of the last bottles (the rectangular bottles) of Tonka Imperiale. ——————————-——— While the most recent batches (17751) do have strong presence in the opening, the bitter almond and Tonka was more like the dense black cherry cola feel from Tonka Sarrapia Extrait. It doesn’t smell as balanced with the herbs and incense/tobacco. I found after 30 minutes it sat closer to my skin and didn’t last nearly as long as the older formulas*** (6 hours of low projection 12/13 hours longevity) _____________________________ The gold box (batch 04796M) had the most balanced feel - the almond, herbs and incense being felt from start to finish. This batch has a strong gourmand feel, almond cream anglaise with earl grey tea comes to mind. This one seems to grow. It starts a bit quiet but leaps off the skin like an aura as it warms giving very strong projection for 10 hours (longer on clothes) a get a total of 18 hours before I have a hard time smelling it on my skin. ______________________________ The purple box (batch code 13656) Had a slight alcohol scent when first spraying but quickly dissipated- this formula was the most herbal: the rosemary, pine and bergamot being felt more than the almond and Tonka but hours later melted into the bitter almond, incense and a creamy tonka with nutty, leathery nuances. The base had the same creme anglaise gourmand feel as the gold box batch. Surprisingly, the 2019 batch was the longest lasting on me; going 20 hours on my skin (projecting well for 8/9 hours) ———————————————- Note:I did test the latest/last batch from a 3ml sample (thank you Maggie!!) So perhaps if I sprayed from a bottle I would get more fragrance on skin, but I was sort of let down by the “super potent” batch. It was as if they took the last of Tonka Imperiale and mixed it with Tonka Sarrapia. I hope that helps anyone who cares -Kimberly Rose **** I haven’t tested other 50/100/200ml rectangular bottle formulas. There are at least 6 different batch codes for TI though that doesn’t necessarily mean the scent was tweaked. Many of the nuance differences can come down to the aging process.

I’m actually surprised at how many people did not comment about the green opening of this fragrance. Tonka Imperiale, to my nose, almost exclusively smells strongly of rosemary in the opening. I almost didn’t like it, being that I’m not a fan of any kind of green note, but as it dries down, it becomes heavenly. It becomes the scent I was expecting. I’ll try to describe this as accurately as I can as it appears to me and my nose. The opening is strong, almost green due to the rosemary. That’s almost exclusively all I could smell once I sprayed it. I almost didn’t like it. I set it down and came back to it in about 20 minutes. Not to check to see if it had changed, but because I started smelling something creamy. I checked my wrist and arm and it was me! I smelt creamy, and sweet. But not your typical average “pastry” kind of sweet. This was a seductive, sensual kind of sweet. It’s dark and mysterious. It’s inviting. It beckons to whomever smells it. You’ll want to keep smelling it. It’s alluring. It’s exactly what I wanted. I can’t even stop smelling myself enough to write this review. I smell, for lack of a better phrase: delectable, classy, and expensive. The tonka, almond and vanilla are the notes peaking through in this dry down. You definitely pick up on the insense too mixed with the a bit of the tobacco. I believe that is what’s giving this fragrance it’s inviting characteristic. I’m not getting much on the projection and sillage, but I’m just at home. I’ll come back and update on that once I wear this fragrance out. This was a blind buy for me and I do not regret a single thing. If you are like me, and you just adore seductive, sensual, sweet scents, you need to try this one. Edit: The longevity is incredible. I got about 8-9 hours on this and probably would’ve gotten longer had I not gone to the gym and sweat some of it off. The projection was moderate for me, and was slowing becoming more of a skin scent as the day went on. It wasn’t sitting too close to the skin. If I moved, you could smell it. It still left a trail wherever I walked. Enough for people to get a whiff and ask me what I was wearing. Definitely a brilliant fragrance, very well executed.

Best tonka scent ever created? To me it is!! This is a masterpiece of perfumery, a legendary fragrance from an amazing house!! This opens resinous, herbal and green form the pine tree,rosemary, maybe amber, a bit dark from the incense and the tobacco but under that there is the gourmand part of the fragrance with creamy tonka almond and some jasmine. It's so well blended and not so easy to detect the notes, the quality is at the highest level. As it goes to the drydown this becomes more like a dough and this is the only similarity that this shares with Dior's Feve Delicieuse (to me they are completely different). I find it so unique and complex that doesn't remind me of any other fragrance! Performance is the only drawback, it doen't perform as i wish and the bubble sprayer is not that easy to use. I get about 5-6 hours longevity with moderate to soft projection. The smell is so divine and breathtaking that i would love to fill the room, to be able for everyone to smell me but this fragrance isn't that. It's more like a personal scent that has to be discovered. It's very versatile and easy to wear and to like, because of it's bad performance i will try it even on summer nights that it could project a bit more. It leans masculine because of the darker notes (tobacco, incense) but still quite unisex. Overall, this is one of the most divine smells i encountered in my fragrance journey! This is a masterpiece and in my opinion the clear winner in the tough "best tonka" battle. The performance leaves a lot to be desired but the smell makes up for it! A must try for everyone who loves the art of perfumery!

I wish I’ve met Tonka Imperiale earlier in my journey. Why? Because I’ve encountered fragrances alike but noisy, example is Tobacco Vanille. Now I also understand why Guerlain labels the L’arte et la Matiere line as intense but disappoints most people declaring its weakness in projection and horrible pricing. Well, I could agree but no. Guerlain’s (L’arte) fragrances are indeed intense because when you smell them and introspection comes, then one can confirm the coalescence of the notes rather than how other brands put them off: a promising top notes register but a weak and disappointing base. I seem to digress. Tonka Imperiale opens herbal or perhaps medicated and I believe that comes from rosemary and incense. If you had the chance to experience the edp of Shalimar then you’d know how this offers incense as an aftertaste rather than an all-encompassing ingredient. The transient tops notes give way to the tobacco and that vintage vanilla and amber pairing. It’s reminiscent of my Must and Dune but those are heavily-brocaded iterations. This on the other hand is quite restrained, giving you that overly sweet scratch at the back of your throat if you press your nose against skin sprayed with it. My critical mom approves of this along with Rose Barbare commenting as expensively-made. Specifically, this one translates in sillage as creamy, sweet and I agree with one reviewer: a quiet but intense scent. As the drydown comes, the creamier it gets and gives hints of the rosemary at the top. It’s beautiful and puts me at peace.