Myrrhe Mystère entered the Private Blend catalog in September 2023. Tom Ford builds an Eau de Parfum here on two myrrh extracts, an essence and a resinoid, held by an Australian sandalwood and a vanilla accord, with absinthe and a black leather darkening the edges. Critics praised the restraint and disputed the price.
The critic Persolaise credits Myrrhe Mystère with a restraint rare for Tom Ford, and faults it for lacking an identity of its own at a price he deems indefensible. The resin pleases; the mystery promised by the name, however, does not arrive.
Olfastory’s review
Persolaise's verdict
The British critic Persolaise, four-time winner of the Jasmine Award, reviewed the fragrance in late October 2023, from a sample provided by the brand. His judgment is mixed, and he begins with the credit due.
He praises a resinous woody that does not shout, does not cling for days and does not smell of the laboratory: three failings he attributes to the production of the period. He sees in it a sign of a return to low volume.
What is missing
Restraint is not enough, he writes, to give the fragrance a personality that justifies its existence, and the price strikes him as disproportionate. In the drydown, synthetic sandalwoods break through, in his view, more often than they should.
His point of comparison speaks for itself: Myrrhe Mystère never sinks, he writes, to the level of Penhaligon's Halfeti, which he ranks among fragrances to avoid. The compliment remains thin, since not being bad is not enough to justify existing.
His conclusion is harsh without being contemptuous: he struggles to see what Myrrhe Mystère contributes to the genre, and suggests that the mystery of the title may lie there.
What is at issue is the relationship between what the name promises and what remains on skin. Tom Ford sold a mystery; critics found only a fine resin, and made it pay for the difference.