Tuberose. Love it or hate it, it cannot be denied its place in the Pantheon of Flowers. Tuberose is a Beautiful Beast. Consider Colette’s sublime essay (from Flowers & Fruit, one of my favorite Winter bed-books), titled The Gardenia’s Monologue, wherein Mme Gardenia dismisses the charms of jasmine, nicotiana (!) and other scented beauties, save one:
“I put up with all of these humbler bearers of nocturnal balms, certain that I have no rivals, save one, I confess . . . before whom at times I do worse than confess: I abdicate.
“On certain meridional nights heavy with the promise of rain, certain afternoons rumbling with casual thunder, then my ineffable rival need only show herself, and for all the gardenia in me, I weaken, I bow down before the tuberose.”
In Love Tuberose, Christopher Chong has created a subtly gourmand tuberose that has all the couture restraint of my beloved Beloved … but don’t be fooled by her outward demeanor; Love Tuberose is the Mrs Peel of ladylike tuberoses – she’s got it and she knows it – but there’s no flaunting – if you want to experience her charms you will have to give this beauty the respect she deserves and demands. And we are happy to do it!
Wow! Am I projecting or what!? Let’s get back to the actual perfume!
It’s SO beautiful. There’s no denying this is a tuberose perfume but it has just a hint of the tubey indoles. It is a soft (but not weak) tuberose, with a hint of warmth similar to …well, if I had to describe it (and I guess I do, right?) I would say ‘clotted cream’. Not as heavily buttery as Fracas, it has a warm vanilla undertone to it. Now. Let me tell you why I love this: when I first got the sample I was thinking ‘hmm…why am I craving whipped cream all of a sudden’ (sweatergawd, I really did think that). Love Tuberose has a sweet, skin-scent vibe that isn’t quite a gourmand – and that’s good, because I’m not a fan of heavy gourmand scents – instead it drifts nicely across the skin, as if you’d rolled around in a bed strewn with tuberose flowers on a hot Summer’s Day. With Idris Elba. Yes. I said it. And I mean it. It has a sensual, rather than sexy, feel to it, very indolent. In creating this Christopher Chong referenced classical Russian arts – and while he is not Russian Idris is classical, right? Classical Fabulous (and I can imagine a chaste-ish slow dance, with him suddenly leaning in to sniff my neck, saying ‘omg, you smell incredible! What are you wearing!?) Right?
So…anyway (sorry, the whole Idris Elba thing made my mind go blank for a second), when I got the notes I saw that one of them is Chantilly Cream! Yum! So. I am NOT delusional. Here are the simple, gorgeous notes:
Top: Tuberose, Gardenia, Jasmine
Heart: Chantilly Cream, Vanilla
Base: Cedarwood, Sandalwood (the base is like a spicy wooden bowl, holding the flowers and cream – really well done)
It’s available at Bergdorf and Saks and, of course, at amouage.com – and the only thing that could make me happier is if Amouage comes out with a body cream of this beauty. A skin-scent tuberose in a product for your skin? Yes, please.
I know this is an exceedingly inelegant review of what, in my opinion, is an exceedingly elegant perfume. But it is gorgeous!
Btw – I grow tuberose for the Autumn & Winter months. During the day, it’s like ‘eh, what’s the big deal’. But when the sun goes down….oh, baby! And…let there be a warm rain? You have to leave the room to keep from swooning.
Skynet hates me – won’t let me rotate the photo. Sorry!
Okay! I am wearing the jeebs out of this one (like, DAILY) – but I am a generous soul and would like to share. Who wants to sample this? To be entered in the draw, tell me how you feel about tuberose! The Girl will do a spin on random.org and we’ll pull a winner or two. I am actually getting things out to folks in TIMELY FASHION! so strike while the iron is hot!
I adore tuberose! Fracas and EL’s Tuberose Gardenia are GORGEOUS, and Aftelier’s Cepes & Tuberose is wonderfully weird. Curious to try this, though I’m not big on gourmands.
Wore a spritz of Love Tuberose today Musette. Like Fracas + Cake!
Portia xx
Sounds beautiful!
Love and adore tuberose! Mainly I’ve enjoyed it in Naturals receently, Moon and Stars by Velvet and Sweetpea’s and Ayala Moriel’s Treazon. I’ve wanted to smell vintage Fracas more than anything for the past 5 years (wtf is my problem? ?!) Also will be sure to try the Aftelier Velvet Tuberose and the Cafe Tuberosa cuz they sound enchanting, as does this one…sigh
Thanks for the draw! ! Sooooo exciting
Sorry…can’t stop thinking about Idris Elba sniffing my neck. Well, it sounds lovely. The perfume does too.
Ohhh so would love to try this one! I never tried Fracas and often get headaches from indolic scents, but Amouage is always worth trying!
Hello,
Thank you for the draw!
I love Nuit de Tubéreuse but my favorite so far is Mona di Orio’s Tubéreuse.
Very curious about the Amouage take on the “Night Queen”…
Ahhh…Idris. Back to tuberose, it used to be my drug of choice (with Tuberose Criminelle being the fave). Nowadays I am leaning towards more soft-spoken ones such as Le Beau Perfume. This sounds interesting, though. Thanks for the generous draw and good luck to everyone!
Oh pick me, pick me random.org!
Carnal flower is my 1st “wow “perfume.
Your description of tuberose makes me think of Sophia Loren, just over the top feminine, completely wonderful and you just have to surrender.
Tubey fanatic here! I’m really excited about this one, and thank you Musette for the chance to try it! I love the Mrs. Peel gift. I know you love your Amouage body cream. I’ll bet they’ll come out with one for this, too!!
I wore the 1970’s Chloe in high school. I loved it!
My favorite memory is driving with friends in a pick up truck through Mexico in our twenties and descending into the Valley of Oaxaca. Women were walking into the covered market carrying tuberose stacks on their heads and I could smell it as we approached though still in the vehicle I was enthralled from that moment. Please enter me in your draw!
Yesterday I wore a few swipes from an almost empty sample of Masque Milano Luce ed Ombre. It is gorgeous, the tuberose sits at the heart. I adore tuberose over woods. Add in vanilla Chantilly and it sounds like heaven.
I love tuberose, especially if I can find a soft one like in L’Artisan La Chasse or that Sonia Kashuk Pink Innocencia thing. L’Artisan Nuit de Tubereuse is a tuberose, pepper, cloves and angelica mix that smells a bit like Juicy Fruit gum. (Someone else pointed that out, and I can’t unsmell the resemblance now.) I used up a couple decants of it. I’ve worn Fracas in the past, and I’ve sampled and loved Carnal Flower and Tubereuse Criminelle, For me, tuberose is easy to love but harder to find the perfect one. This new Amouage sounds dreamy! 🙂
Tuberose tends to wear me, rather than the other way around, but this sounds like it could be the one for me. Thanks for the drawing!
I love most Amouage fragrances and look forward to all their new releases. My fave Amouage is Fate, followed by Lyric, memoir, and Ubar. Lilac is my favorite from the newer releases. I have a difficult time with Tuberose and I don’t know why. I suppose I haven’t found the Tuberose fragrance for me yet?
I too find tuberose a big bully. The old wfw aka white flower wallop. It would be great to find a non-wallopping yet authentic wf perfume sometime.
Oh I would looooove to try this! Even if I don’t win, I hope this shows up on Surrender to Chance soon. Cheers!
Tuberose. She spits in my face, yanks my hair and scratches my arm with her blood red talons. She’s the school yard bully. But oh! she’s just so cool, confident and gorgeous. All the girls want her to like them. Tuberose has chosen some of them to be in her inner circle. They’re so lucky!!!! Why does she hate me so much? Some of her friends really like me. Saffron and I always play hopscotch together. Vanilla, Balsam, Rose and I play hide and seek. Violet even gives me a card on Valentine’s Day. I so badly want to be friend with Tuberose.
So please enter me in the draw!
I love tuberose so much now I’m not sure I’m going to have a productive day – I’m sure to be distracted thinking about which scent to put on when I return home. And Idris Elba may be distracting me as well :^)
Another tuberose lover here! I have so many but not exactly a gourmand (slightly!) one. You have made this sound so enticing, it will be a must try for me. And I would love to find an Amouage that likes me. I haven’t exactly had resounding success with this brand, and it’s probably it + my skin, but tuberose….if there is a note that never goes wrong on me, this is the one.
I adore tuberose! Of white flowers, I think it wears the best on my skin. The ones most in use in my collections are Fracas and l’Artisan Nuit de Tubereuse, and I’ve also had my eye on Tauer’s Sotto La Luna Tuberose.
This sounds wonderful. I’m hoping to find a tuberose scent that works on me… generally find them too much, but a skin-scented version might be the ticket. Thanks for the draw! And the Idris image on a Tuesday morning : ))
Oooh this sounds so good. Must have! And Idris Elba.
I’ve loved tuberose for as long as I can remember and drained bottles of Fracas, Oscar de la Renta and the original Chloe many many years ago. You got me on tuberose and chantilly cream. This fragrance sounds divine.
I’m not a tuberose “lover” except for Mandy Aftetlier’s solid Velvet Tuberose which I got last year at her open house. It’s divine, stunning, radiant, cheerful. The other tuberose hardly counts, but on some fall and winter mornings I have a “cuppa” Cafe Tuberosa which I love for that fast blast of caffeinated loveliness. Overall, for the white flowers, I’m all into gardenia and orange blossoms.
If I remember correctly, the original Chloe from 1976 or so was a tuberose fragrance. I was in ninth grade and I am always reminded of the song, Dream On, when I think about it. Now I love Carnal Flower, and I’m curious to see a different take on tuberose.
If this reminds you of rolling around with Idris Elba, please sign me up. Tuberose is a beautiful flower. Thanks for the draw.
While I do love the butteriness of Fracas, a spicy wooden bowl holding the flowers and cream sounds absolutely delish! And. Uh huh. You had me at Idris Elba. Lol!
I adore tuberose, if I could make a dress out of them I’d wear it every day ?
Tuberose and vanilla, sounds like heaven! I wore Carnal Flower yesterday, it was da bomb. Pleeeeeease pick meeee! 🙂
Tuberose is my kryptonite. I would love to smell this one.
Ooooooooh. Love me some Tuberose. Tried growing some this year but no luck.
Good thing the store where I work gets them in. The smell is intoxicating!
This scent sounds divine, right now my favorite Tuberose perfume is Aftelier Velvet Tuberose.
Thanks for the chance!
Yes, I love tuberose! I’ve worn Fracas for years, and I have to say it is definitely one of my favorite perfumes. Also love EL Tuberose Gardenia. So, yes, I’m in.
Oh man I must get my hands on this one. Tuberose is my downfall with gardenia being a close second. My favorite tuberose fragrance is Beyond Love but this one sounds like it might unseat it. Thank you for sharing!
I love tuberose! I just want to curl up & smell myself all day. Fracas, White Shoulders, Jardins de Bagatelles are the ones I have. All different mixes of tuberose. I’ve never tried Amouage as it’s not available locally anywhere I can test & I’m reluctant to buy blind.
I love tuberose, its such a beautiful flower and heavenly in perfumes.ive never tried the Amouage line, this one sounds amazing
I tried a lot of Amouage early-on and my nose was not happy with any of them so I gave up. I do love ALL white (and yellow) flowers though. You made Love Tuberose enticing! The notes sound wonderful. You won me over with *sensual*. *Sexy* is everywhere and gets boring but sensual is special and can lead to genuine sexy. So I’m in. 🙂
Tuberose and Chantilly cream. Yikes. Sounds amazing. Sometimes that camphorus thing gets me but I love a buttery tuberose worn with a light hand. Thanks for the draw!!
You should write novels. I know nothing of tuberose, but you make me want to go out and purchase a gallon of it. Great one!
OMG!!! I am the goddess of Tuberose (or at least I like to think so, since it makes me feel uber sensual and powerful! Probably TMI, LOL!). I am waiting to find the PERFECT tuberose scent. I absolutely love Carnal Flower, of course. What tuberose lover doesn’t! The only scents I wear have tuberose in them – so that makes me consistent, n’est pas? I would be THRILLED to be chosen to receive a sample of Love Tuberose… because it’s name is exactly true: I LOVE TUBEROSE!
Well dangit Ms A, you already know how I feel about tuberose. Once I wrote something to the effect that tuberose trash talked me on the playground and gardenia would stand behind her, nodding her head. Tuberose basically hates my guts but the flowers smell so fabulous! And in perfume, tuberose smells so FABULOUS…..on other people. Except that hope springs eternal, y’know? So when you go writing about the sensual, narcotic nighttime and Idris bending in to smell your neck and……what was I saying? Love Tuberose sounds quite wonderful. Tell the girl I’m in! Hugs