Tom Ford will launch Patchouli Absolu, the latest addition to the limited distribution Private Blend range.
Iconic. Provocative. Urbane. Tom Ford reinvents one of his most beloved perfumery ingredients, Patchouli, in a visionary new fragrance of alluring depth. Patchouli Absolu transforms the iconic raw material - famed for its rich and mysterious sensuality and its long history in perfumery - into a hypnotic, modern fragrance.
I will update with fragrance notes when I can.
Tom Ford Patchouli Absolu will be available in 50, 100 and 250 (£330) ml Eau de Parfum.
(via harveynichols, hat tip to David!)
I do love patchouli, and appreciate Tom Ford’s aesthetic, but not for Private Blend prices.
I’ll give this a shot, but so far haven’t found a PB I’d pay for…
Haha really? Tom Ford prices look pretty middle of the road now with Serge Lutens charging £380 for 50ml of l’incendaire and even dolce and gabbana charging £185 for 50ml of velvet desert oud/velvet tender oud .
Tom ford velvet orchid / Sahara noir etc are mainline tom ford range and over £100 so even the non-private blend prices are creeping up to a point where they’re almost the same as the private blends.
Hey, but White Patchouli (signature range) is $112 for 50 ml (sorry, switching to dollars) and I think every single PB is at least $210 for 50 ml. That’s still $100! But you’re certainly right that none of them are cheap.
You are right about that Nathan Thomas! How jaded we are becoming. I found an Indie company I love (Imaginary Authors) that has some terrific fragrances at half the price of some of the others. However, I am very partial to Tom Ford fragrances…there is just something about them–even the ones that aren’t for me (which aren’t very many).
Trying to think of a brand I’m not jaded about, and nearly coming up blank.
I have been saying that there is a overwhelming sense of being jaded amongst the Perfumnista crowd for some time… But you know… I guess I was Just saying it in the wrong way… 😉
I have such respect for Mr. Tom Ford. I can’t wait to smell this fragrance. Love him and his unique style.
When roja dove (no stranger to aspirational pricing) did Diaghilev as a 1000 bottle limited edition EDT it retailed at £68 as it was being sold at the v&a museum to tie in with a Ballet Russe exhibition so they deliberately capped the price so it would sell in a museum gift shop setting. The EDT was great, but when he re-formulated it into a Parfum, suddenly the price rocketed from £68 to £750 !
Yes, it’s a Parfum concentration now and deeper and richer but basically it’s still Diaghilev and does smells like the EDT version – but as a richer concentration of the same fragrance is it really £682 better than the £68 EDT version?!? How much of it is just charging whatever you think you can get away with based on how much you value your own worth? As long as you have a name, and people want to buy into it that cachet the sky’s the limit on pricing – very little of the pricing has to do with the work that’s gone into it or the cost of raw materials.
At the end of the day it’s all about the fragrance – I’d think I’d rather have one bottle of a fragrance I LOVE and cannot do without priced at £500 than buy 10 fragrances I only quite like at £50 each.
Once again I completely agree with you NathanThomas50.
On the other hand I’v realized that I am much more relaxed about using my moderately priced perfume – and when I wear them I don’t stress about whether I am enjoying them enough to have justified the price…
Price is truly relative. Think of something that you’d TRULY Love to Own. Anything, Whatever it is. Think if you did HAVE The money or could acquire the money to buy said thing… Would you really be too overwhelmed at the cost If you can afford it? If it’s something that you truly desire? And something you know that would make you happy and you’d enjoy… does price really matter?
I am saving to buy a pair of Sunglasses from Chanel that are $1,000.00 But I MUST HAVE THEM So I am sacrificing for them. To some that’s way too much for a pair of Sunglasses, I prefer to think of it as it’s the price of my happiness. and i am not going to quibble with me being happy!
That’s All.
You have a point. I got a nice pair of YSL sunglasses years ago, no visible logo, great design for my face. It was a big splurge, but I wear them everyday and never get tired of the look, and they are really sturdy! A much better deal than the lame sunglasses I used to buy. Getting good stuff that will last is a sustainable attitude. 😉
nathanthomas just described capitalism. Welcome to the real world.
Haha It’s true, but some of us still like to think there is some artistry in the perfume trade and not just pure raw commercialism and £££$$$. As has been said before, when you see the budgets most perfumers have to work within it’s surprising anything half decent comes out of the major fragrance houses.
I struggle to reconcile the fact that a Parfum version of a fragrance can cost £682 more than the existing EDT version! If you can afford to make an EDT and hit the retail price point of £68 there’s no real reason a new version can’t hit the same ballpark figure other than pure profit. That truly is market forces at work and nothing to do with the intrinsic value of the product itself.
I guess at the very high price points you’re buying exclusivity & you don’t have to worry as much about walking into a room and having 20 other people wearing the same fragrance you are ! Lol
Of all his PB scents, I loved Moss Breches, Noir de Noir and Purple Patchouli best. If it’s worth it and I save up, I’d have no issue splurging.
But $225-250 is my absolute limit (for me) to spend on a scent. I do tend to wear anything patchouli very well, it just loves my skin chemistry.
Just bring back Purple Patchouli already.
Just received my sample, and it’s definitely distinctly TF. Too soon to tell how I feel about it, but it reminds me so much of TF Italian Cypress and not as patchouli-forward as I was thinking it might be. But it’s still lovely! SmokeyToes, if you like those then I think you’ll dig this.