Tom Ford Violet Blonde

Mostly cool, powdery and slightly rooty, closer to makeup than to a flower. Underneath that, soft and dusty, somewhere between face powder and clean laundry.

It opens on violet leaf, pink pepper and mandarin orange, moves through iris, orris root and jasmine, and settles on suede, benzoin and musk.

• violet leaf: green and dewy with a cucumber-like coolness. Nothing like the sweetness of violet flowers
• pink pepper: light rosy pepper that sparkles rather than burns

It lasts well and carries into a room.

Built from the note listing and the measured performance figures. We have not smelled this one.