Tom Ford Private Blend ‘Neroli Portofino’ Eau de Parfum ($195, $265)
I’ve been testing Tom Ford’s ‘Neroli Portofino’ for couple of weeks now, and still can’t wrap my mind around it. There’s nothing wrong with this fragrance – its notes are wonderfully exotic, and the blue bottle is a beauty, but the scent simply clashes with my skin.
Notes: bergamot, lemon, mandarin, lavender, myrtle, rosemary, orange bitter, Egyptian jasmine, neroli, orange blossom water, pittosporum, woody amber accord, ambrette seeds, angelica root.
Neroli Portofino opens up with strong splash of lemon, spiced up with rosemary and bergamot. Then it softens with sweet floral notes, balanced by an earthy accord, and dries down with distinct flavors of orange and amber. The fragrance cozily lingers around and doesn’t fade the whole day. When I sniff the bottle, the scent transports me to Mediterranean sea coast where I imagine myself sitting in a cool shade of century-old Cypress trees, sipping crispy Pinot Gris from a frosted glass. Everything sounds and smells wonderful until I spritz the perfume on my skin, and that’s when it changes into a fancy soap aroma. What gives?
Overall it’s a very light, delicate and breezy summer fragrance. It energizes you and lifts your mood with an artful combination of all of its components. Neroli Portofino is soft, and bright, and elegant all at once, expensive, and addictive – a dangerous combination for a bank account.
