Tom Ford Black Orchid Voile de Fleur {Perfume Short (Review)} {New Perfume}
Black Orchid Voile de Fleur is one of the latest Tom Ford additions to his house catalog of perfumes. As its name indicates, it is a twist on his previous major feminine launch, Black Orchid. It was originally conceived as the lighter eau de toilette version of the dark heavy floral that is Black Orchid, which is such until its dry-down, which toys with the idea that the best endings should be light-hearted. Voile de Fleur was created by perfumers David Apel and Pierre Negrin.....
Some may be attracted to or repelled by Tom Ford's persona but one thing you can give it to him is that he knows how to leave his signature mark, however vulnerable to criticism, on his products. You may accuse him of mercantilism and opportunism and you would not be proved wrong as you inhale the first whiffs of Voile de Fleur which seems to borrow from the success of one his previous creations for Estée Lauder, Azurée Oil and Skinscent, yet you would also have to recognize that the part of the perfume which remains very "Black Orchid" is consistently there and far from being shy and unassuming. Tom Ford does take the risk of injecting a few drops of ugliness into his brew so as to make it more witch-like and potentially more spell-binding to those who are fascinated by slightly repulsive traits.
To summarize, the perfume Black Orchid Voile de Fleur opens at first on two intertwining accords, a tropical white floral one and the now signature black orchid one based on a unique breed of Tom Ford orchid. The beach-y white floral bouquet smells overly familiar and almost stereotypical at first with its notes of gardenia, pikake, woodsy tan oil and what not. The black orchid bouquet accord then jumps in and its indolic cheese-like facets are somehow even more pronounced than in Black Orchid the original scent. The thought that the much advertised Blue Stilton cheese perfume of last year might smell very nearly like this crosses the mind, except that the morsel of blue cheese is accompanied here by rosy floral jam (to be layered on Swedish crackers of course).
Although Voile de Fleur reveals a bit too transparently its tools of seduction at first, it finally merges in a linear fashion into a deep and sensual skin-scent accord that is harmonious with a hint of dissonance (the more difficult and less conventionally pretty indolic cheese-like facet). The perfume plays on a contrast that seems technically rather daunting, that is to appear to be both heavy eye-lidded like bedroom eyes and a bit transparent, like the veil around a bed. The pearly glow lotion, rouge, and false lashes let themselves be forgotten and instead one sees the radiant face of youth and more particularly in this case, one smells the dewy scent of youth on fresh moistened skin.
The perfume is available at Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman for $90 and $65.
