Patchouli Absolu

I loved him so much, still do, he was my bad boy(Patchouli Absolu), but his love for me is over(the juice is over). From the initial spray on the skin, not even waiting for some drydown, I was in love! I was warned though: it's unisex but leans more on the masculine side. I see what they meant, but when you're in love you just don't listen to anyone, do you? Not everyone is going to like it. It seriously is a scent not easily tolerable by others, they think it's smells dirty; i sure had been told by my little nephew that i smell like garbage, when held him in my arms. And from other females that it smells weird, almost "dirty" in a sexual way, provocative maybe. Reviewers seem to detect more notes as i see it in their posts, personally i can't. I don't think there's anything else in here except patchouli. What might be happening is a mixing of the perfume and their body chemistry, and the perfume changes. Still, I'm no expert, so other people more specialized might be right. The opening is medicinal and disgusting. The moment i felt the medicine burst on my wrist, i said: yes please, I'm taking it, i want it, now! It's disgusting in a good way. It keeps like that for about half an hour, it loosens just a bit when it dries. It' earthy, herbal, HEADY, intense and pungent. It has a bite to it, not a friendly fragrance, i also find it a little depressing. The best performance of it though is when it heats up on your skin, i personally wore it all year round, and it got "dirty" on me after vigorous activity, or just workout. After some hours of wear, it turns woody on me and incensey. Hands down you will be noticed; the reactions vary a lot. It's long lasting, sillage is superb, no need for many sprays, although i did bathe in it gladly, and everyone will turn their head to look at you. While i was wearing it, almost every place i would sit, the person next to me would turn and sniff, some of them quite politely, others with a disgust on their faces, others shyly ask what am I wearing; you will get noticed. Full stop. Another thing that I liked about this fragrance, something that none other has done yet for me, is that trail of a scent you leave when you walk, and others walking by get it. When I was little I would wait for that trail of perfume, which a lot of women and men would leave, I wanted to smell it, and as a grown up I wish others to sniff my scent likewise. As I have noticed a lot of mainstream fragrances do not do that(with some exceptions of course), or women choose not to make a statement with their perfumes anymore... The only serious competitor in that trail is Jungle Kenzo (totally different perfume but equally potent, medicinal and long lasting) Another reason that intensified my love towards Patchouli Absolu is "the base" that it is. Realistically, it is a base. It's patchouli throughout and throughout, so i used it to intensify and alter other perfumes, which lacked that something interesting. So i layered a bunch of them, e.g. weekend by Burberry, it's so powdery sometimes it's unbearable, but layered with my bad boy, it's a completely different perfume. So London by Burberry, and all the Narciso Rodriguez ones, which are fabulous on their own and do not need any layering, smelled even deeper and more sensual with some Patchouli Absolu. I ve layered it with White musk oil from Body shop and it works wonderful as well Obviously this review isn't unbiased because i love patchouli absolu. So so much.

Ok, 3rd review of this gem because I am just so excited... The more I wear this, the more I LOVE it. In fact it has now moved up to my top 5 fragrances of all time. My 15 year old patchouli oil is still up there as well but instead of competing with patchouli absolu, it compliments it. Patchouli brings so many fine memories for me. I still don't associate patchouli with hippies but I do associate it with creativity and art. I discovered it in university when a very attractive man walked by me in the library. I followed his scent and almost fainted from it because I never smelled anything SO pleasing to my scent profile (I had no idea about scents prior to this experience, like literally none - I used generic gap fragrances). I had no idea what he was wearing and was too shy to ask but on my way home I entered a shop that sold statues and trinkets from Thailand. They had a huge incense collection and as I began smelling the incense sticks, I picked up the patchouli one and there it was - his scent. I instantly bought 20 of them and would you believe it that I put them on my nightstand and inhaled them through-out the night. Patchouli is supposed to be a very grounding scent like vetiver with sedative properties, but also as a known aphrodisiac which would explain my near fainting experience when I smelled it on that guy. I slept VERY well. In the end patchouli brought him and I together a few months later. Anyway, fast forward... my patchouli obsession is still in tact (don't know if this will ever go away) to the horror of most of my friends. My dad abhors the smell of patchouli - says it reminds him of a moldy, dusty, damp basement. My mother enjoys it but only because it reminds HER of the 70s and majority of my friends find it very jarring. Another problem with patchouli is that the more you wear it, the more immune you become to its scent. I once got to a point where I was dabbing large globs of patchouli oil onto myself because I could no longer smell it. But people inside CLOSED classrooms could smell it when I walked by, to the point where a guy opened the door and yelled at me across the long hallway "are you wearing patchouli???". So one has to be very careful with patchouli oil or prominent patchouli based scents such as this one. My point... The more I wear this the more I appreciate it. I have my patchouli oil which I love but I find this scent to be more accessible because it has other notes that make it a cleaner fragrance compared to the oil which is much more "dirty". This is also a very beautiful WARM patchouli compared to patchouli used in LM Parfums as an example. I also should mention that Tom Ford is a genius when it comes to marketing. He managed to envision a product that fashion editors deemed "dirty" and "unwearable" (patchouli) into something they PRAISE - yet it's still the same smell. So, what's in a name? A LOT.

I've been sampling this alongside Frederic Malle Monsieur, and even though at least half of my family and colleagues have described it as an "old man" smell, Patchouli Absolu has jumped to the top of my list! To me it smells like some kinda old school luxurious aromatic shaving cream for a proper wealthy gentleman lol...I'm torn between this one and French Lover/Bois D'Orage as both have such awesome "natural" woody/earthy green vibes. I find both to be full bottle worthy. I got my sample at a Neiman Marcus store, so I guess we can assume it is from a relatively recent batch. The opening 1-2 hours are loud, and slightly medicinal with the large dose of damp, woody, sweet-leaning herbal patchouli. It settles into creamy yet aromatic patchouli and woods. My testing demonstrated good longevity (over 8hrs) and at least moderate-to-heavy projection. Definitely try before you buy, as it appeared to be a polarizing scent during my testing. I'm gonna smell around more before committing to Patchouli Absolu. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Some of the other patchouli scents I sampled: Jovoy Incident Diplomatique Jovoy Psychedelique Montale Patchouli Leaves Nishane Munegu Ramon Monegal Mon Patchouly Tauerville Patch Flash Tauerville Fruitchouli Flash Histoires de Parfums Noir Patchouli Frederic Malle Monsieur Nasomatto Pardon (mystery notes ~ reminds me of Patchouli Leaves) By Kilian Straight to Heaven 5/22/18 Patchouli Absolu is seriously still my favorite...it's not chocolaty or fruity patchouli like some of those I sampled. It's a bit dirty-green and "medicinal," though not as medicinal as something like Incident Diplomatique. For sweetness, this blend from Tom Ford is sweeter than Monsieur but less than Mon Patchouly or Fruitchouli Flash. It's not luxury "soapy" like Noir Patchouli but it has this seductive balance of a "clean" classy gentleman's shaving cream with a woody, aromatic, and earthy patchouli style. 5/31/18 Found a great deal on a bottle, batch B55 (2015). Smells and performs identical to the retail sample which again I'm assuming is no older than 2017. Again it's neither a crowd-pleaser nor blind buy worthy, but I'm sitting here 12hrs later and the dry-down is like holy kryptonite catnip to me. I would have opted for a large flacon if I made the kind of money Patchouli Absolu smells like lol...but I'm probably crazy enough to get one after finishing this.

I am a fan.. the opening reminds me of the original Givenchy gentleman and I used to love that fragrance, but I remember at times it could smell almost medicinal to me. Too much of that was not a good thing. PA has that type of opening to me, a head turner but the way it retreats so kindly ..You ease into a more comforting type of Patchouli ,still ever present but not as loudly or with finesse. I am just starting to wear this. I love it for the same reason I loved the original Giorgio from Beverly hills for men. TFPA is macho enough for me. You do not need much of this to capture the magic of patchouli. If you enjoy patchouli in fragrances I recommend you sniff this out, it only reinforces my love of patchouli , a bit elegant and one of those that I think over time it gets comfortable. not 10 hours of beast mode. I feel a fragrance is best for me when it softens up a bit and the aroma is enhancing your persona rather than yelling out at the people around you, especially when those are the people you are around the greater part of the day. The fragrance then becomes an extension of you at your finest moments. I do believe most wear fragrance because we want people to know who we are.. This will announce who you are with class. another thought about this.. this is the most comfortable patchouli fragrance I have tried along with De Nicolai's patchouli pour homme, especially.around people I forgot I was wearing this. when the most attractive woman in my office says, wow , that is a sexy fragrance I know that I am on the right track..this seems to be safer around others , I sprayed a small dose on my sports jacket and the fragrance lasted a long while but never wore out it's welcome. This may make a perfect signature .There is something about patchouli that seems to get a women's attention.. with this one I think it is done with style. Tom Ford's are always pricy but always of fine quality, great sprayer , classy bottle. I suppose you pay something for that. Whether it is worth it or not is hard for me to say. Test it out.. , if you are a patchouli man it is worth getting a whiff of.

This new TF private blend is one of his better fragrances for sure ! It might be due to the fact that TF loves patchouli and put all the effort into this one scent rather than bringing out a foursome like in the past , some were hit and miss. Well this is a HIT !!!!! Rich ,mysterious, sensual and raw , PA feels fresh and clean and super classy!,, this is not your typical old school patchouli that smells of the 60 s and burning incence and pot , this is rather ,,,,,,,classy and fresh, clean yet rich and utterly gorgeous. Think white patchouli but amp it up 3 notches!!!! ,,, or maybe 10 notches ;) PA has patchouli all the way through it. Starts patchouli , middle is patchouli and so is the end. But it still has three stages. , it starts extremely fragrant with bay leafs and rosemary strait herbal mossy and super appealing. Then in the middle it smells a little more woodsy, fresh woodsy, still clean and slightly ambery then the end is heavy amber, musk and leather , honestly , this is out of this world , I ordered and prepaid my bottle , it's shipped to me the day it arrives in the store. Till then my sample has to last. You know there Are some TF where I think wow they are great , a master piece BUT they are "too much of something ". , like too much oud or too this or too that ,, this one is very well balanced and not too much of anything , truly stunning. PA may lean to the masculine side , especially for people that like their scents to be super feminine. It is pretty unisex though , this one has no gender in my opinion,,,,,, its ,,,,PERFECT !