White Musk Collection White Suede Tom Ford

Desirability: Sample

Source: Fragrantica

Hot on the heels of two successful blind buys from Tom Ford- Champaca Absolute and Black Violet, White Suede was my third blind buy which is definitely shaped from a different mould. 

Almost a non perfume, White Suede smells of freshly laundered sheets gently swaying in the breeze on the clothing line. If you go up close to the sheets you might still get a faint whiff of an elegant and discreet floral scent, one with lots of hyacinth, galbanum and lily of the valley. It smells more like a wild meadow than a cultivated garden. Then there is musk, a clean musk reminiscent of how one would smell after a shower with Nivea/Dove soap. 

White Suede does smell like how my Isabel Marant Dicker boots smelt when they first arrived. Add a garland of wild flowers. It's a variant of Noa that I can wear (there's something about Noa that made me uncomfortable) but I don't reach for my bottle of White Suede very often as it doesn't move me. On the other hand it did make me think of a scene in one of my favourite movies "I Capture the Castle" and since the character favoured Penhaligon's Bluebells which could pass for the scent clinging on to the sheets. 

Scene from I Capture the Castle. Source: pinterest

Moderate projection and very good longevity.

White Suede is like abstract art to me, I'm sure there is more going on but I'm not getting it.

Honour Woman Amouage

Source: www.gopixpic.com

Honour Woman isn't my most loved BFWF ( big fat white floral) nor is it my most loved Amouage but if you are into luscious white floral perfumes, you should add this to your sampling list. 

A gardenia/tuberose/jasmine delight that opens with a strong lily of the valley presence and some peppery green notes before the focus shifts to the main players, the white flowers. The flowers are lusher than in Estée Lauder's Private Collection Tuberose Gardenia which is an elegant white floral bouquet but too polite and thin for my taste. However the meatiest mixed white floral for me is the super buttery Isabey's Fleur Nocturne even though my darling tuberose is replaced with a creamy magnolia and juicy fruit notes. Honour Woman sits between Fleur Nocturne and Tuberose Gardenia in terms of boldness and the "fatness" of the floral notes (medically speaking the BMI of Fleur Nocturne would be over 30, Honour Woman would be about 25 and Tuberose Gardenia would be 20). In the drydown of Honour Woman there is a light sprinkling of the peppery notes from earlier on and a lovely warm smoky incense under the white floral notes. A beautiful rich white floral perfume with a mellower ending compared to its first hour that any tuberose/gardenia lover especially should try. 

Thanks to chronic rhinitis that has addled my snifter, I tend to gravitate towards powerhouse perfumes and I particularly love how Amouage perfumes announce one's presence before one is physically even in the room and how everyone knows you have been in that room for an hour after you have left. This isn't the case with Honour Woman which is moderate in both the scent trail and longevity departments as compared to Memoir Woman or Interlude Woman for example.