White Patchouli (2008)
by Tom Ford

I have changed my mind about this scent after smelling it on my skin. I thought it smelled awfully dated at first, but now, I get what this scent is about and it is quite interesting actually... Very lush and loud. Slightly sour and sweet at the same time. Tame, but also supple and generous in its travel on your skin. The base may smell too masculine if you are a very feminine-fragrance lover. It is really sexy and boozy at the same time.

I like this, and I daresay I am embarrassed to pass such a harsh judgment before. But this is a strict skin scent that requires experimentation, and the right chemistry. If you have it, it is really elegant and well-behaved and if not, you DO smell like an 80 year old.

The bottle is sublime beyond belief.

I came across White Patchouli by pure chance. I actually thought that this fragrance was a spin off of Black Orchid so I did not pay much attention to it. When I went to the store, I was looking for Black Orchid but the lovely saleslady told me that I will be more suited for White Patchouli…….and I was.
This is the smell of a confident, classy woman who has the ability to have people eat out of her hands without being vile, loud and tactless. It is for a woman who understands the fine line between good and evil. It smells like air and water. It is truly unreal. The scent does not bog you down and strangle you – it lingers in the air and only attracts those who know gold when they see one…..even if the gold is rocky and unrefined. A true beauty indeed. My partner does not like it but I don’t really care…..this is one fragrance that I wear simply because I love it.
I have both Black Orchid and White Patchouli and I must say, Black Orchid is the devil and White Patchouli is the angel. When I wear White Patchouli, good things happen to bad people but when I wear Black Orchid….bad things happen to good people!!!

Smells like melting plastic and cold onion soup. Ughh!

[Original submission date: 24 October 2008]

Elegant, chic and modern ~ this white floral/patchouli combo is winning in every way! For starters, the white ribbed bottle with gold accenting is stunning. It is also a great vessel in which to preserve the integrity of this juice while giving us the option to display the bottle as a work of art. This perfume contains all the glamorous flowers too ~ rose, peony, jasmine, along with ambrette seed and the perfect amount of patchouli. For those discriminate in sillage and longevity of their fragrance, I'd say Ford has attained perfection there as well. I'm secretly hoping this one will remain under wraps for awhile, so I can be the head turning one smelling especially fabulous!

As an update, I bought a bottle of White Patchouli and wore it a few times. It ended up smelling plastic or chemical like to my nose, and sadly, it is with a new owner. My review is changed from a thumbs up to a neutral.

I like a lot of Tom Ford's line but this one does nothing for me...basically because it has no sillage (on me, at least) and no longevity.
So if I can't smell it and what little smell there is, doesn't last ...I have to give it a big THUMBS down.

its a light and gorgeous smelll but as for longevity...not the greatest...lovely bottle and design