Mix it up Monday: Jo Malone’s Tuberose Angelica (and friends)

What a happy surprise I got recently when I zipped through my nearest Nordstrom and saw that they had added two new (to them) product lines: La Mer (not that I can afford it, but I like to get a dab of their hand/body cream when I pass by) and a very nice Jo Malone display. JM’s Cologne Intense line, in their black and silver bottles, was displayed front and center. It turns out that somehow I had overlooked most of these as they debuted; I think I registered too many of them with “oud” in the name and tuned out. Anyway, I spied Tuberose Angelica and the kind SA sampled me up.

My first impression was of a bright, freshened-up tuberose, which I found refreshing on this 90-plus degree day. The angelica contributed a green, slightly spicy swirl, which kept it from going too far into that rich, buttery territory that Fracas and a few other tubeys visit, at least on my skin.

Somewhere along the way the scent turned somewhat reminiscent of L’Artisan’s Nuit de Tubereuse and I was wishing that a nearby store carried that line so I could spritz and compare. After that, Tuberose Angelica went into mostly linear mode, easing into the amber and woods, albeit still pleasant throughout.

After wearing this solo a while, my thoughts turned to adding a bit more variety, and since Jo Malone encourages fragrance combining, I decided to play the layering game.

Glancing over the semicircle of Jo Malone bottles, my eye latched onto Orange Blossom, a longtime fave of mine. Perfect. So I spritzed it lightly over the JM new kid. And what do you know? Yum city! The OB punched it up, adding another layer of deliciousness. (One other layering choice I would have liked was JM’s sadly discontinued Verbenas of Provence. Perhaps I can scare up my sample around here one of these days.)

At this point, I didn’t have much skin real estate left, so I headed home. But several hours later, however, I did a bad, bad thing: 😉
I played mix-master with Frederic Malle’sCarnal Flower (please don’t pull my perfumista card, all you purists out there!). You probably shouldn’t mess with a masterpiece, but it was nice –- the Tuberose Angelique gave Carnal Flower more tuberose punch but also seemed to amp the coconut note, too. On the downside, it did tamp down CF’s sparkle somewhat. Won’t necessarily be doing this again, but I’m glad I tried it, just to see.

Jo Malone’s Tuberose Angelica could be a good fit for someone who hasn’t found a tuberose they can wear, or for someone who finds Fracas and other heavy-hitters too much. It also might make a lighter alternative to Estee Lauder’s Tuberose Gardenia. I’ll be interested to see what my Fracas-loving pals think of this.

Notes per Fragrantica: Tuberose, angelica, amber, woods.

One note on pricing: Nordstrom and Saks have the 110-ml. size spray of Tuberose Angelica for $170; Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman list it at $155. Maybe they didn’t get the memo about a price increase? Still, $170 is getting on up there, flirting dangerously close to the big 200. If you really like this, snag it now and save $15. I will enjoy my samples this summer and see where it goes from there, as Surrender to Chance offers decants.

Anyhoo, do you mix any Jo Malone scents? Or any other scents you love layered? I know perfumers probably cringe at customers monkeying with their creations but I’ve found that you can make a good scent even better if you hit the right combination. And an addition of X or Y can even make a so-so scent into something much more enjoyable.

Photo borrowed from Fragrantica