#TOM FORD BLACK ORCHID OR SOLEOL ANDROID#

You can read my review of Black Orchid, but I didn’t get along with it for YEARS and then it clicked with me one day.

Orchid Soleil is the most obnoxious perfume that I’ve smelled since first trying Black Orchid. It eventually gets this powdery incense and sharp, dry woods thing going on that reminds me of the dry-down of Black Orchid but with more spices and more bittersweet vanilla. It’s starchy, sweet vanilla with dry spices. The dry-down is sweeter and reminds me of Jamaican cornmeal pudding/pone. However, those around me said I smelled like “pretty tuberoses” so it’s possible that I’m noticing more than I should. But, really if you aren’t really paying attention, it smells like a huge white floral that wears you like you’re the vintage fur thrift store coat (that really needs to go to the cleaners first).

The lilies sometimes come across as fruity like stewed plums or other times spicy and a little meaty, like chorizo. The heart is an “IN ‘YO FACE!” tuberose with pollen-y lilies. As the fragrance dries down, it’s still like vintage Fracas sprayed all over a thrift store coat (mothballs) but it gets a little sweeter with steamed basmati rice and funeral lilies. Like all of the other regular ‘ole lineup of Tom Ford perfumes, this one is polarizing. I imagine the metallic, mothball (slightly green) but most definitely a white floral opening has most people running away in the first 30 seconds. And like Black Orchid, there’s a weird cucumber-y thing going on in the opening that can either come across as fresh or swampy.

#TOM FORD BLACK ORCHID OR SOLEOL ANDROID#

It’s like an android wearing jasmine and tuberose perfume. Orchid Soleil opens as this sci-fi, metallic white floral. The intent was probably “Buy this it’s a new Tom Ford” but hey, I’m a Perfume Person, I’m going to add more to than what was intended. It really keeps me engaged with its olfactory associations. I want to say its genius but then I realize maybe this is just what happens when you make a perfume that has everything going on at once.

Like the rest of the Tom Ford designer/non-exclusive¹ perfumes, it’s weird but I don’t know if that was its intent. Orchid Soleil is one of those perfumes that manages to be pleasant while also being repulsive. As someone that is fascinated by how our society defines, shapes and reacts to sex symbols, I’m fascinated by the Tom Ford brand. This Tom Ford aesthetic is something that you love or something that you hate (just like pop-cult sex symbols). This abundance can come across as sexy/glamorous or even tacky/vulgar (just like pop-cult sex symbols). So much is going on in a Tom Ford perfume at any given moment. It’s a lot of everything and I think the brands perfumes also resemble Tom Ford’s runway aesthetic. He’s all about a mix of leopard prints, bronzed skin, fur, stilettos, daring necklines and high hemlines. When you see the “sex appeal” that Tom Ford constructs, you can tell this is a guy who grew up in Texas and has enjoyed many nights in disco-glamour-era NYC. Apparently, this means exposing a lot of skin, wearing a lot of shiny things at once and never underestimating the power of a glossy lip. Mainstream Monday – Sniffing a Popular PerfumeĪs a designer, Tom Ford is known for “sex appeal”.

Tom ford black orchid or soleol