La Yuqawam Femme

Story time: My love affair with Tom Ford's Black Orchid began when I was in Year 12. I'd never liked a guy my age, always seeming to find the older boys more interesting than the naive ones I was friends with. The Christmas holidays came around and my male best friend and I met up with a few other friends. He wore Tom Ford's Black Orchid and I began to see him in a new, manly light. Romance soon took centre stage to friendship and my first romantic relationship soon after began. Although we parted ways 3 months later deciding that friendship suited us better than romance, I was never able to part ways with BO. It became the fragrance I associated with masculinity. So much so than when I was in my 1st year at University, I suggested it to my 2nd boyfriend as the fragrance that he should wear, and also bought my new male best friend a mini (and he's always had a bottle of BO in his collection ever since). Unfortunately BO seems to have fazed out from being the fragrance most men prefer to wear, but I have always been enamoured with the scent, even tried and failed to wear it myself (BO + my aura = mismatch). Then La Yuqawam came along and finally I smelt a fragrance much like BO, but unisex enough that I can wear it with my lovely dresses and not feel like I've borrowed my brother's cologne. Others have described this fragrance in great detail, so additional input in that arena, is not necessary. If there is anything missing in this fragrance vs BO, it is a smooth, full bodied expression of truffle. But if it was here, this perfume would lean too masculine. The lasting power leaves much to be desired of.

TRUFFLE LEATHER floral magic! An opening burst of bergamot, incense and nutty gardenia (not listed) deepen into an orchid & chocolate truffle heart resting on a creamy sandalwood & tropical ylang base. This beauty lasts for hours spawning gourmand wafts of indolic florals. There is also a suede vibe here from the musk et al. A little goes a long way with this beauty. Overall: A guilty pleasure, it's a love for me. Enjoy! Contrast to Black Orchid Tom Ford: Although there are mixed opinions about whether this is a dupe of Black Orchid or not, to my nose (and I've had Black Orchid since 2015 so I know the scent pretty well) it's a dupe with a good approximation of the scent profile and impressive beast mode performance. They have the same orchid-chocolate with a suede vibe, although the drydown gets just slightly more tropical than Black Orchid to my nose. Performance of LYF is probably superior, but I've had my bottle of Black Orchid since 2015 so difficult to say for sure. It's also possible that reformulations of Black Orchid don't smell the same.

I just received my bottle and this is gorgeous and, like others have mentioned, very similar to the infamous Black Orchid, that I love wearing from time to time in the Winter months. I am a huge fan of the La Yuqawam line and purchased the Femme version for my girlfriend. There are slight differences (not major) between the two fragrances (similar to how La Yuqawam Femme is ramarkably different but slight different than Tuscan Leather) but I'll have to spend more time with it. Big Love and I will update my review later. Update: I got to compare these side-by-side recently and, while this fragrance is similar to Black Orchid, my girlfriend and I feel that Black Orchid takes things to another level in quality and performance. The orchid and floral tones are simply amazing. Regardless, La Yuqawam Femme is still really, really nice.

Very close to Black Orchid at some point but much much better, in terms of concentration and longevity. La Yuqawam smells a good 8 hours on my skin whereas Black Orchid was gone by midday from both my wrist and my sleeve. Not sure whether that was a fair idea to put on the market something being so close to a top-selling product but really, this is an improved version at much lower price. I purchased two backups while I could find it cheap. Will probably become my signature scent.

Some perfumes have to sit for awhile. I purchased La Yuqawam pour Femme 2 years ago. Back then, I thought it was pungent and harsh, like Black Orchid. Now 2 years later, I am wearing it on a warm, humid evening (80F). The creamy yellow floral aspect has finally emerged. It still smells like Black Orchid but so much more mellow and warm compared with 2 years ago. Sometimes, perfumes need to "mature" to finally become all that they can be. It is quite lovely.