Tom Ford's Black Orchid Eau de Toilette. There are fragrances said to be unclassifiable, so much does their personality diverge from the norm. Such is the case with Black Orchid. It draws its inspiration from a mysterious flower called the black orchid.
In 2006 Black Orchid, Tom Ford's very first fragrance, won over a wide audience thanks to its bewitching, very “dark” scents shifting between a precious truffle, beautiful flowers and powerful sensuality. Ten years later, Tom Ford and the two original perfumers of Black Orchid offered this time a brighter, sparkling version of the black flower under the name Black Orchid Eau de Toilette.
The quest for an absolute fragrance: Black Orchid Eau de Toilette
Black Orchid is nothing like an ordinary fragrance, and that was precisely its purpose. Tom Ford, the designer with a luxurious and contemporary style, wanted to create a perfumery that would exude his sharp sense of elegance and rarity. By asking David Apel and Pierre Négrin to compose his very first fragrance, Tom Ford chose brilliant composers who would know how to combine rare ingredients into a fragrance of evident luxury and intoxicating scents.
I came across a great many wonderful raw materials, followed all sorts of leads that were later abandoned because they were not “mainstream” enough or too expensive. But, while preparing my store on Madison Avenue, in New York, I thought it would be nice to dedicate a lounge there to perfumery. And we brought back those ideas. Tom Ford for L’Express.
Black Orchid immediately won over all lovers of Tom Ford haute couture and many others besides. However, for its tenth anniversary, Tom Ford once again called on David Apel and Pierre Négrin to compose a new formulation of Black Orchid in which the accords would be more dynamic; it would be named Black Orchid Eau de Toilette.
However, despite the Eau de Toilette designation and the intent to highlight the fresh notes of Black Orchid EDT, this new version managed to preserve most of the power of its elder.
Black Orchid Eau de Toilette, or Tom Ford's love for rare ingredients
Black Orchid Eau de Toilette draws heavily on its brilliant elder Black Orchid in many respects. The great floral notes of the heart remain, and black orchid, jasmine and gardenia continue to form an opulent velvet with the spicy notes. As for the depths of Black Orchid Eau de Toilette, they too do not hesitate to play on their ultra sensual and gourmand splendor to better bewitch us.
However, Black Orchid Eau de Toilette was composed so as to highlight the beautiful sparkling citrus top notes in order to offer an explosive start to this Tom Ford journey, always beginning with a surprising black truffle blended with a voluptuous ylang-ylang. The two perfumers also added to this precious Black Orchid Eau de Toilette fruity scents that are far more present than in the original in the heart, so as to sweeten the abundant flowers with a touch of gourmand character.
Make no mistake, Black Orchid Eau de Toilette is meant to be an explosion of freshness; however, it remains a Tom Ford fragrance, a fragrance where everything is possible, where the most burning sensualities are essential ingredients to the beauty of the bottle.