Orchid Soleil

Oh man, instant love. I never had much luck with TF frags in years past. I guess I just wasn't sampling the right ones! I fell in love with Soleil Blanc years ago after buying a mini. I bought a full bottle and I'm not sure if the scent was a fake or what, but all the magic was gone, it was flat, basic, and short lived -- probably a fake :( . I recently fell in love with Black Orchid and have been trying to sample the rest of the Orchid line. I also am a huge tuberose lover. I found a bottle of Orchid Soleil for a decent price and blind bought. First spray was instant love. I haven't been able to stop smelling myself since. It has all the creamy tropical nuances I fell in love with in Soleil Blanc, with an added realistic carnal flower-esque tuberose. This isn't a dupe for Carnal Flower by any means, but if you're a CF fan and wish for a slightly more solar tropical summery version with a little less green, this is your gal. I'd say this could be unisex. I do not get tortillas from this, but I can somewhat see how the indoles create an almost earthy musky gourmand sense. Might be dependent on individual chemistry. Luckily I have great luck with tuberose remaining flowery and sexy on my skin without turning sour or funky. I can't believe this is discontinued. I will be adding backups to my collection asap. This blows soleil blanc out of the water. I'd say it's much closer in scent profile to soleil blanc than black orchid. It's incredibly addictive and is one of the most luxe summery/solar/sunscreen-type frags I've ever smelled. It isn't cheap sunscreen by any means. This is what millionaires sunbathe in while on tropical islands. I've sampled a lot of summer/sunscreen type scents over the years. I'd say this is a mix between soleil blanc and has something in it that reminds me a bit of Aerin's Hibiscus Palm. Orchid Soleil is much better than either of those scents, in my opinion. As for the negative-first, this isn’t as sweet or vanilla heavy as the accords state. I’d put sweet/vanilla at the bottom of the accords list. It also doesn’t last long on my skin or hair, and projects softly, so I do need to spray a lot. The biggest warning I have though is DO NOT spray this on clothing unless you’re wearing black. The orange-pink juice does stain clothing. I woke up this morning to find that the light blue shirt I wore with Orchid Soleil last night looks like someone stained it with pink blush/makeup everywhere 😩 I tend to wear my perfume more in my hair (I have very long smooth shiny hair and have done this my whole life every day for 20+ years with no damage to my hair as so many sources warn) and clothing as scents don’t last on my skin and I try to minimize the chemicals I directly apply to my body. I also wear white a lot in the summer, So I need to figure out how to wear this and make it work without spraying clothing. I’d warn against spraying this in your hair if you’re blonde, especially if you dye your hair, as it may stain your hair with pink spots. I still love this scent and bought 2 backups. It’s utterly gorgeous. Hopefully TF will rerelease or make a new version of this type of scent in the future.

WARNING: IF YOU ARE AN EXTRA-SENSITIVE MILLENIAL STOP READING I will tell you why the hate on Orchid Soleil is huge: millenials; they don't know what PROPER PERFUMERY is and they are accustomed to watery nothings and childish vanilla almond cake perfumes. If Orchid Soleil was released in the '80s it would be a hit. Millenial talking here, a millenial who had the chance to meet PERFUMES not "food in perfumes". But this is not a gourmand topic thing and I shall concentrate on the beauty Orchid Soleil. Let's start from the drydown, which for the first time in my life I cannot tell for a perfume. A boozy slightly medicinal drydown of a perfect blend. All notes work together and none stands out. Did millenials say mothballs? Don't listen to them and go train your noses with more perfumes than La vie est belle, or Si, or Fantasy etc and then come back to Orchid Soleil, you are not worthy of her yet. Has the typical Tom Ford note underneath, which I love, it must be the patch he uses, although here it is not prominent at all, but still, if I keep sniffing I do detect it. Little less skanky than Black Orchid. Yes, I was asked what I'm wearing, so it does project and it lasted on skin, hair and clothes more than six hours. A fair time in my opinion. What kept me away from it, were the notes: cream, vanilla, chestnut. I thought this was a take on gourmands... How silly! NOTHING GOURMAND, it's totally aromatic and sensual. A wrist crack. Yes it has the medicinal mothbally opening, but give it time for f*** sake. Personally I like it from the opening till the drydown, but be patient. It smells weird, unusual, then greenish and bitter. Tuberose is initially sharp but for very little time, it turns smoother with the help of cream. So forget the screechy Michael Kors Michael tuberose; I love her too, for other reasons, but I gotta admit she is screechy... Cream, on the other hand, is not gourmandy at all and neither is vanilla, for which I'm grateful; such a beautiful scent, it would be a shame to cause me headaches and make me vomit. Now, for some reason, on skin I can smell the orchid much more than on clothes. But it is a slight difference. Last but not least patchouli and cypress balance the whole juice. The animalic is the sweetish salty sweat-thing it might emulate, but it's not animalic for the most wear time; maybe berofe it starts to soften out on the skin. Well it's Tom Ford, you should expect it to have some skank. It's a perfume with character, distinct. Very lucent and appropriate for daytime, but honestly it's so strong and stunning that it deserves to be worn every time! For a LADY, but if you are not one, you can rely on Orchid Soleil's potency; she will turn you into one

Well. A bit over 3 years ago i very stupidly bought a 100ml bottle of this blind.. after a failed black orchid blind buy a few years earlier lol. I didn't understand it, I was expecting a sweet summery, typically beach scent. But this isn't like that; the description says " captures the most brilliant sunshine " Well it really is like an abandoned beach on a scorching hot day, the air is still and a slight hot salty breeze is the closest thing to wind. The sand is white and burning hot under your feet and the smell of white flowers in the dune shrubbery is wafting in the air. If you want your typical sweet coconutty- tiare- lime type scent, then this really isn't it, but it is still very beautiful. My chemistry has completely changed since then and it dries down beautifully on my skin, I get a whole lot more Lilly than tuberose. It's slightly bubblegum-y and sweet, with a lovely creamy milky tone. Some fragrances make me think of colours, but this actually makes me think of bright white beach sand. ThE opening is a little off though, I don't know how or why but it reminds me of when you'd rub an eraser to hard in into the paper at school and it would get hot. That only lasts a few seconds though, then it's creamy but citrus and from there it's all white flowers, vanilla and milky cream. It really makes me want to go outside on a searing summer day and sit on an empty beach Update Nov 24 2020: I had tucked this away through winter and pulled it out 3 days ago. Those who believe this is a cold weather only scent, I must respectfully disagree. In cold, on my skin it sits somewhat heavy, overbearing and strange. On a 30 degree summer day though..oh man. It absolutely blooms. The vanilla and cream become luscious and marshmallow sweet. The lily and tuberose have a slight bubblegum smell and the patchouli becomes pleasantly fragrant and a little balsamic. So so Sooo addictive. I get little whafts of fluffy sweet cream now and again. I find it weird though that to smell directly on my skin, it's how it smells on first spray, and I find the opening unpleasant lol. But to smell it wafting in the air around you, and on fabric, it's completely different. Bummer it's discontinued though, if i finish this bottle I'll def have to repurchase before it's gone completely

This is the closest thing I have to a signature scent! I bought a small bottle as a huge splurge on my teacher salary and I wore it every day while I was teaching. I'm down to about a half an inch at the bottom, and I'm devastated it's discontinued. I've never gotten the weird corn tortilla smell, but there's definitely a neutral grain-like smell that's just slightly sweet, so maybe that's what people mean? It starts out with a strong plastic barbie doll kind of smell, but quickly dries down to a gorgeous creamy, nutty, vanilla-milk floral. It's not really a sweet perfume, but it's a soft and velvety lactonic floral. It dries down to a soft, papery, nose-tingling musk that reminds me way more of old books than Whispers in the Library does. It reminds me of a lightly sweetened white hot chocolate. Sillage is medium, and longevity always surprises me—I'll smell this one for at least a day or a day and a half! I wear this one year-round in Central Florida, though I typically wear it more at night during the summer. I've got an Oil Perfumery dupe on the way to me. The closest scents I've found so far are Ellis Brooklyn Vanilla Milk, with Aerin Hibiscus Palm in second place. Vanilla Milk isn't as nice and nuanced as Orchid Soleil, but it captures that super unique dry milky vanilla note. Hibiscus Palm is a little sweeter and more tropical, but it's balanced by a vaguely driftwood note to keep it from being overly saccharine, and that woody note comes out more as it dries down. For a chocolatey and cold-weather take on this milky, nose-tickling-dusty, old-book luxuriation, I adore The Body Shop Black Musk. Black Musk is lacking that lactonic note. It reminds me of leather book covers while Orchid Soleil is the dusty pages inside them. I pair this one with Far Away deodorant and find they layer nicely. Still looking for for the perfect dupe, though! Vanilla Milk with a little floral pink pepper and chestnut would be perfect.

Unexpected Compliment Getter I got this perfume yesterday. The opening is a little harsh for some but it dries down quickly. It's starts with lilies heavy indolic lilies, a little tuberose, cypress, the pepper, the patchouli, everything! As it dries down it starts becoming creamier. Any "dirty"/earthy note soon gets rounded out and disappears. And it gets creamier. And more floral. More tuberose. And creamier. Creamier and chestnuty. And then creamier. All the way till it dissappears at least 8 hours after... What I figured is even though I couldn't smell it unless I put my nose on my wrist after two hours today (yesterday I could all day so I suppose I'm somehow becoming anosmic to it after a while??) others can smell it on me. So I suppose longevity is good and as for projection I understand that it projects a lot more than I'm able to smell! Today I received compliments from 3 people on my perfume. And it's only the second day that I own and wear it...! Update! : it's been a while since I started wearing this, I believe the perfume has settled or mancerated? I'm not sure how it's called but you get it! What I see now is that it becomes very creamy (like a flower-spiced chantilly cream) and stays like this after the first 50-60 minutes wearing it. My favourite part is around half an hour wearing it when it is creamy yet it still has some sharpness from the cypress and the bitter orange which I find myself enjoying at this stage a lot. Maybe my nose gets used to it after a while and I smell only the creaminess, I hope that's the case because I don't feel like smelling straight up like a desert usually.