Moss Breches (2007)
by Tom Ford

I haven't smelled Tom Ford perfumes before and I had high hopes indeed. I obviously shouldn't have started with this one... The sticky, mossy, honey opening makes me feel like I am actually experiencing genuine perfume nausea. The spice is dominating everything that should be nice on my skin at the start. After the stickiness subsides, the fruitier notes emerge and I can see the old spice similarity. It does improve marginally towards the end. My overall feeling is of a mismatched jumble of clashing notes. It is possibly one of the few perfumes that has actually turned my stomach and I have to wash it off. It gets a prize for that. I can't take any more of it.

7th June, 2011.

Perhaps one of the most unique frags I've smelt. I can see why TF is discontinuing it as I can't imagine it has a mass appeal. In a nut shell, it smells green and I think it's name describes it aptly. I would give it a thumbs up though I'm not sure how many people will be clamoring to get a whiff of your neck other than out of curiosity. I love the TF line and own, in 4ml samples or full bottles, all but Oud Wood, the entire collection. This one may be the most unique but one of the least appealing in the sense that I want it to fill my nostrils again and again.

21st January, 2011.

I was pleasantly suprised by Moss Breches -- I thought it would smell woodsy...Boy was I wrong...I *love* it -- it has this sweet smell to it that makes me love it and a faint mossy smell to it underneath, and then a spicy base. No thumbs up though because these are not really my style of fragrances...even with the sweetness smell to it.

8th December, 2010.

I loved this fragrance very much . I really cannot explain why because it did not smell mossy to me at all. It was warm,musky and sweetish, verging on gourmand. I 'can' say it is addictive and look forward to perhaps owning a bottle .

9th April, 2010.

Moss? This is a spicy gourmand fragrance, not some walk in the woods. The first few minutes are excruciatingly sweet to my nose, as honeyed green hay notes ride on a huge wave of cinnamon to quash any of the forest floor accord I'd hoped for in this fragrance. With time the green notes recede, leaving cinnamon and honey on their own. The honey in Moss Breches is raw, pungent, and animalic, a bit like that in Serge Lutens's Miel de Bois, though far less potent.

As it dries down Moss Breches leaves a trail of soft woods and vanilla. A pretty exit, but disappointing if it's a chypre you're expecting. Taken as a whole, Moss Breches is far from revolutionary, and even a little bit dull. If it's a spicy oriental I'm after, I'll stick to Noir Epices, Eau Lente, or Cimabue, thank you.

23rd December, 2009.

The top notes have the most personality in this fragrance. There's a distinct dried-herb accord; a touch of the garrigue, and then an upwelling of sweetness. This warm, sweet honeycomb note gives Moss Breches a sore-throat lozenge feel.

The balance is brief, however, and quickly the herbs and honey vanish, leaving a pleasant and unassuming vanillic amber with a mossy touch.

It's nice, but it doesn't motivate me to restock in either bottle or decant form once my sample runs out.

6th September, 2009.