Tom Ford Venetian Bergamot

Tom Ford Venetian Bergamot is the latest release in the Tom Ford Private Blend collection.  My first thought when I saw the name was  – how in the world do you make a perfume around a note that traditionally is a note for the open of a perfume or a staple for a cologne?

Okay, I was intrigued, thinking it would be good, but maybe not that interesting.  I deliberately didn’t read the background on this, thinking it took Venice as its inspiration. Venice is a magical city. I’ve been there once, and there is no city like it in the world, and that includes that little restaurant we found in a back street that served the best Italian food I have had.  Ever.  In my whole life.  It’s been two years since I ate there, and I still think about it from time to time.

Sorry, that was a memorable meal rabbit hole.

Bergamot is typically used as an opening note or in colognes.  Short-lived, bright and sunny, and bergmot appears in better than half of the perfumes made.  It is a perfume workhouse, much like the base notes of musk, sandalwood and vanilla.

What else goes in it then to retain the bergamot, but make it last and be much more interesting.  Notes of Bergamot, black pepper, pink pepper, ginger, ylang ylang, gardenia, cedar, pepperwood, magnolia, sandalwood, tonka bean, amber, cashmeran go in.  That makes this an interesting perfume. Tom Ford Venetian Bergamot opens with the casual bergamot brightness you expect, surrounded with some fleshy magnolia and gardenia, sprinkled with pepper. It feels plush and bright at the same time.  Elements of cologne with a gorgeous woody floral base.

It is an interesting tightrope it walks, trying not to veer too far from the bergamot it is named for, but keeping enough other things going on so you don’t lose interest.  I wound up liking this a lot.  It goes on joyous and immediately deepens into more than a cologne.  Tom Ford Venetian Bergamot walks the line of unisex really well – a little floral, a little cologne, a lot of woods and pepper, smoothed over with tonka.  Easy to wear, it would work well in the office or for a night out on the town.

Tom Ford Venetian Bergamot takes a perfume note workhorse and turns it into a perfume that is a workhorse as well – unisex, day, night, softly sexy.  And, bergamot, congratulations, you now have your own perfume, you are a grown up note now!

What does Tom Ford Venetian Bergamot have to do with Venice?  I’m thinking that makes it unique like Venice.  Both are sophisticated, having things that aren’t singularly unique.  The whole makes it unique.  And, like Venice, it is a beauty.

Hey, have we heard that Tom Ford Amber Absolute is back for a short period? Yeah. That’s the one my son reviewed as “like putting a beehive on your head.”

Is there any other pure bergamot-centric fragrances out there that you can think of?  BTW, I did read all the suggestions about what to do with PFG once a month posts, and we will keep doing that. Summer is slow for everyone fragrance-wise. I know I get less interested in perfume, as do the other PP writers, and I think all of you are waiting  for summer to pass so we can get to the great fall new releases and pull out our beloved vanilla and vetivers and orientals.

Any new releases this fall you’re looking forward to? I haven’t even been paying attention yet, except to those Annick Goutal oud things that come out in the next month or so.  I’ll give away four samples of Tom Ford Venetian Bergamot to commenters drawn at random.

Yes, I’m working on that Big White Floral post. I hope it doesn’t kill me first.