Guerlain exclusives to more new Tom Ford releases

First, I am in need of someone in Greece to help me with a small project. 🙂  Click on contact us over on the left if you are a someone who could/would help or know someone that can help!  I just need someone that could get a package that they’ll only ship within Greece, and would reship it to me, of course with my paying for the shipping costs and any little favors I can do in return.

Second – winners of the Tom Ford Musk sample set are: : Lora and Sue and Billy D.  Just click the contact Us on the left, send me your address, remind me what you won, and I’ll get these mailed out to you!

This will be annoying perfume house creation day.  Nothing gets people a more irritated than Tom Ford and Guerlain’s prices on their more exclusive scents, and I’m right in the front of that line.

After grousing last week that I only got some of the new Tom Ford musk samples from BG, this week the Grey Vetiver and PB Arabian Wood showed up from the lovely people at BG, Jhanie and Raquel S., along with three more of the musks I already had.  Hey, are you guys reading? *blowing kisses* Love your work, ya’ll rock, seriously and everyone should call you at the Tom ford Beauty Counter and buy product from you – 212-872-2813 – even if it’s for other stuff in the store.  Seriously, this kind of great service, and I know they do it for a bunch of customers, not just because I write for a blog, is spectacular and should be rewarded.

Tom Ford Grey Vetiver is going to at least be in their more mainline scents, with White Patchouli and Black Orchid, and will be $85 for 50 mls, and I’m guessing probably about $120(?). Notes of grapefruit, orange flower, sage, nutmeg, orris, pimiento, amber woods and oak moss make up grey vetiver, along with, I assume, vetiver.  It’s not a heavily earthy vetiver, leaning more to the “banker” vetiver – an elegant, restrained take on vetiver, but it’s still pretty darn wonderful as it is.  There’s some really nice spiciness with this and a touch of rootiness coming in with the iris  after a more traditional fougere’ish open. On my skin, I’d really say it tends to be more masculine because of the more traditional men’s fougere notes.  I think that’s just more my expectation or sense of masculine scents than it actually is.  A woman could very easily wear this, and I’m sure I will!  It’s got a great length to it, lasting for several hours and smelling even better, less fougere’ish, more vetiver and spice, which is the cool aspect of this scent.

It’s a great vetiver scent.  I don’t find it incredibly ground-breaking, but it is a great take on vetiver, especially the spicy aspects that get played up more after it’s been on a while.  Tom Ford will sell a billion of these –  I’ll absolutely guarantee that – and it will become a men’s classic.  Again, not because it’s ground-breaking, but because it is well-made, easy to wear, easy to like right out of the bottle, and holds your interest as you wear it without driving you to distraction trying to figure it out. And it smells great.  AND it’s not $180 for 50 mls, it’s just $85.  I’m never wrong on this stuff, so you heard it here first.

Arabian Wood, also from Tom Ford, has notes of lavender, Bulgarian rose, freesia, orange blossom, galbanum, bergamot, rose de mai, ylang ylang, rose absolute, jasmine, gardenia, honey, orris, patchouli, cedar, oak moss, sandalwood, tonka bean and amber.  It was exclusive in Kuwait before it released generally to the rest of the world. I don’t know why I was thinking this would be highly oud’ish and middle eastern. It’s just not.  It’s a fairly well rounded fougere with some great floral notes that don’t take up too much space and a sharp’ish base that’s interesting – green sharpish, definitely the galbanum.  The woody parts of it are more green wood and continue to lean that way all through the drydown, though much of the sharpishness blends in nicely.  They have an interesting taken on dealing with the wood, and it seems almost Dior’like on me.  I still don’t think the name really suits it very well.

Then I made the mistake of throwing some Kilian Pure Oud up next to it, which prompted a phone call to Luckyscent to order another bottle, but I asked them instead if they thought this was going to go in wider release, and the answer was — MAYBE!! Not sure on the refill situation yet, but they’re going to check and get back to me.

Now for the most annoying scent created this year, Guerlain’s Mon Precieux Nectar.  62 bottles were made and sold at 6k Euro, I believe, apiece.  You do get 1000 mls of pure parfum and a great Baccarat fountain.  Well, one showed up on eBay – Ha, take that on exclusivity, Guerlain! we lowly perfume minions always find a way – and it sold for about half the price, which a bunch of us reckless fools went together on and split it about 30-40 ways to get the darn thing bought.   I know many of you were opposed to this ridiculous, opulent Guerlain display, but there is something about breaking that exclusive system or bringing a perfume into the hands of some ordinary perfumistas without having to fork over that kind of dough individually that just makes my little cracker heart glad.

For those of you that hate the Sylvaine Delacourte trajectory Guerlain’s been on and who hated Quend Vient la Pluie, you will be happy to know that you don’t need this one.  Notes of petitgrain, bitter almond, jasmine, orange blossom, sensual woods, incense, vanilla and white musk are the notes.  Word for this – gourmand, indulgent. plump and plush. Grain de Musc reviewed it and she’s pretty spot on.  I’ve really liked what Sylvaine has done. I like the old school Guerlain too, but I find the La Matieres and Double Vanille much more to my everyday wearing and liking than L’heuere Bleue and Jicky.  Fine, you can boo and jeer if you will. I admire those fragrances very much, but they just aren’t things I can or will wear every day. I could happily wear the La Matieres or Quand Vient or Nectar or Double Vanille every day, if necessary, and be quite content. They are full-on comfort scents, all round edges, warm, inviting. They call you in to get closer, not make you back up and wonder what in the world is that smell.  Mon Precieux Nectar is very much like that.  It opens a little sweet, vanilla and almond enveloping you.  If it stayed that sweet, it would be a problem, but it doesn’t.  It gives way to a more lush woody floral quality overlaying the gourmands that just feels like velvet to the  nose.  The incense is a bit player in this scent, but I certainly pick up on it as it dries down,  as well as the petitgrain, and the gourmand qualities continue to diminish, leaving a more ephemeral, beautiful scent that’s much more interesting than the big gourmand open.  The white musk gives it a nice, soft base to land on.  Not a skanky musk in the least, just a plush one.  I think it’s beautiful, but I like this kind of scent a lot, so there you have it.

The price point is ridiculous, even considering you’re getting 1000 ml of pure parfum.  It’s for collectors and the idol rich, but as much as I want to protest this silliness and make Guerlain sell to us in smaller quantities without all the hoopla, I’ll still give in and try to find a way to get ahold of them.

Now, for my happy fools that love to bust Guerlain exclusivity vats, how do we get our hands on the Habit Rouge extrait?  Thoughts? BG has it, as does the Guerlain boutique. I don’t even know how much it is or how much you get in a bottle, but it seems like enough of us should be stupid enough to try and get some, right?

For those of you that still would like a taste of the Nectar, I will give out four small samples of it to four lucky commenters.