Fleur de Portofino

Fleur De Portofino - here is the picture, “You land in Greece (I know is portofino, but this reminds me of Greece, sorry), a white balcony, looking around the surrounding nature with the sun burning on your skin, you smell a wall of white florals next to Lemon trees, hearing the wind moving on the crashing wave, and you see a beautiful white cat staring at you that probably was a beautiful girl in another life, life is good.” I don't know if this matters to anyone but, This is a scent that i sprayed every single time i changed planes in an airport (the test one, as i didnt had that much money at the time), and allow me to flirt with anyone on the plane, girls come next to you, i find that funny. This is the ultimate white pure floral scent; it opens as citrus forward with the Honeysuckle being close, but the dry down goes into floral paradise. If you are Asian and you know Magnolia in nature or Syringa and Black Locust, this is the keynote you smell on top of those flowers. Still, also in the air, Magnolia in large groups is very powerful in nature and creates this beautiful note that isn’t just the first notes that many scents try to blend in, but is a constant exploration of the pollen and the core of the flower, when you walk in the jungle. You feel this on the nose, you will never forget it, this is the purest form of that key note blended to perfection with other elements that keep it stable and lasting in a bubble. Is an airy scent that gives a feeling of clean, precise, and extremely elegant without doing much. It is a very complicated scent to make because if you make any note wrong, you go instantly to a cleaning freshener product, but this isn’t; this is so serious that is laughing at the people who lower it down as such. Contrary to many comments out there, this is a crowd pleaser and specifically women love it, it isn’t hard to understand why, but is one of those simple fragrances that are made to perfection, and this is the reason why is in the private collection, is extremely complicated to create something like this. Overpriced? Yeah, for retail price, you can find alternatives, but there is nothing that gets even closer to this beautiful balance of fresh and white floral notes. You have to understand that this type of fragrance, in general, doesn’t last, dissipates in the air as they are delicate, and leaves you as it comes, exactly as the Magnolia flowers, but this is locking it in the best way possible. Someone said it is discontinued, and it makes sense as the more I searched, the less I found it on the shelves. It’s a pity that many didn’t understand the power of this scent, but is fair to say that the retail price is really made for rich people, unfortunately, and that didn’t help at all. This could beat easily even more expensive Tuberose scents of the same ingredients and 11y later is still standing, Long life, the best White Floral scent.

Finally a Tom Ford perfume for women that I actually like! Everything else I have smelt by him so far has proven to be quite masculine, smoky and woody smelling, but this is a beautiful and slightly citric white floral that smells so fresh and lovely. I can smell the citruses with the syringa (with some honeysuckle nuances) at the top straight away, giving me a very serene and tranquil vibe that makes me think of being under a white flower covered tree near a lake. I get some green nuances from the orange and violet leaves too. In the heart notes I can smell most prominently the black locust note, followed by the notes of jasmine and orange blossom in that order. Fleur de Portofino has a very full and lush white floral heart and the black locust note is one of the most realistic and naturalistic black locust notes in a perfume I have ever smelt. It feels like this perfume is built around the smell of the beautiful white flowers on a black locust tree for sure. I have to say that I don't really smell the osmanthus or rose in this. It must just add some complexity, depth and floral lushness to this particular fragrance by Tom Ford. At the base I can smell the black locust honey and the musk mallow. I feel the honey draws out the sweetness of the black locust scent in this perfume and makes it even more lush and heightened in its fragrance. The musk mallow makes this perfume slightly more musky and slightly more powdery, but I wouldn't call this a powdery scent. It's still quite fresh smelling. I can't smell the civet note in this, but I think it is probably drawing out the animalic properties of the white flowers in the heart and again making this a more intensely floral affair. I don't smell any of the other notes in the base. Fleur de Portofino lasted 5 hours on my skin and this perfume had moderate projection on me as well. I don't personally think it is a weak perfume but I don't think it is a beast in terms of longevity or sillage though. You'd still need to re-spray it at the end of a working day. I find this perfume very elegant but at the same time inoffensive (not necessarily a bad thing at all!) and I think that you could wear it anywhere both day and night, including in one's office at work. You could wear it in both spring and summer too, when its notes would be intensified more and its fresh quality would be perfect for the warmer weather. I also love the bright aqua blue glass bottle this fragance comes in. It's quite beautiful in its streamlined simplicity to look at. All of the above is why I'd give this perfume a 9/10 for sure! I'm glad to be the proud owner of it.

Most of the times I'll love a Tom Ford perfume. This time I saw "Fleur" on the bottle and as I love florals, especially white floral perfumes I thought to give it a go. To my surprise Fleur de Portofino turned out to be an intense honeyed white floral with underlying indoles and some mothballs. Vintagey even. My description might not sound appealing for potential buyers, but by no means it's a negative one; not everything in the perfumeworld has to smell like burnt cotton candy. You gotta love white florals to be able to wear Fleur de Portofino. It's primarily a dense jasmine mixed with some rotten-fruity-apricot osmanthus and a honey-dripping black locust. Jasmine heaven for jasmine lovers-other florals do shine through here and there, but the most important is the jasmine, and more jasmine and then some more jasmine. No bubblegum sweetness, it's very honeyed and tropical smelling. So what if it's linear? Tom Ford has a bunch of more complex perfumes, go grab those; some of his perfumes happen to be linear, I'm okay with that. Leans heavily on the feminine side and lasted for five-six hours with good projection for the first couple of hours. For ladies, that look like ladies and behave like ladies, that are also a little naughty and sensual, still in a ladylike way. Not for the girly girl cotton candy masrshmallow princess. Very happy with my newest discovery which might become an acquisition for a spring-summer white floral, even though I've already bought Miss Dior Original, another white floral gem.

When I first sprayed this on paper, I really didn't see what the fuss was about. To me, it smelled like air freshener. Now, having spent the day wearing it after acquiring a sample, all I can say is: wow! This is a light and refreshing, citrus, white floral scent. It also has good sillage and even better longevity. Now, it would be easy to say: "Sure, but there are lots of citrusy white florals with pretty good staying power that are half the price." This would be true, but here is what I noticed. First of all, bright sparkling citrus notes, oranges and lemons. Pleasant enough. Then, on the drydown, honeysuckle notes come to the fore, which is even more pleasant. But what sets this apart from everything else I have ever worn is the musk mallow and the animalistic scent to this, which comes through after about half an hour of wearing this. It is honestly GORGEOUS and addictive. I can't stop sniffing my wrist. It makes this feel grown up, sexy and places this perfume in a whole new class. Another element to this for me, which sets it apart from the crowd, is an undertone that's reminiscent of fresh, salty sea air. But you need a bit of patience before this comes through. This is the perfect balance of light, refreshing and sexy. It would suit any age and, although it's billed as unisex, to my nose this leans towards being a more feminine scent. Certainly a fragrance for the summer - day or night. It's going on my wishlist.

I agree with the other commenters in that this is a super linear, not very long lasting fragrance. The opening is a tad antiseptic, with just a touch of honey. After a moment or two, a really authentic smelling magnolia comes through, one that reminds me of feeling their petals and stamens crumble away into my hands when I'd toy with the low-hanging branches of magnolia trees as a kid -- come to think of it, Fleur de Portofino smells almost EXACTLY like a magnolia tree in full bloom to me. It moves on to blend with the jasmine and honeysuckle to create a really intoxicating, exotic bouquet that is crisp enough to be distinctly summery. By the end, I'm left with only a pure jasmine scent lingering on my skin -- it sits close, but oh my god does it smell wonderful. There's something very light, clear, and sunscreeny about this fragrance that fits in with its bright blue bottle and sexed-up, summery ads. None of the white florals get heavy or unappealing, but investment-wise, longevity should definitely be a concern, as this one evaporates fast! ★★★