Anybody else find Moss Breeches to be one of the best private blends out there?

[MJM_77]

I just recently had the privilege of receiving a sample of Moss Breeches from a fellow Basenoter ( thanks Attuso 20 ). I find this fragrance to be devastatingly beautiful. I am really enjoying this one so far. It is going to be my scent of the day tomorrow and I look forward to finding a bottle somewhere on ebay or possibly even the sales boards here on Basenotes. Tell me what you guys think of my new infatuation.

[hednic]

Glad you have found you like it. Personally doesn't appeal to me.

[MJM_77]

I am hoping that I am going to enjoy this as much with the full wearing I am going to give it tomorrow.

[EarNoseThroat]

Yea

[L'Incandescent]

I enjoy Moss Breches a lot. Of the original bunch of Private Blends, it's probably my third favorite behind Noir de Noir and Japon Noir.

[fragnifiscent]

I think its one of the top notch TFPB scents

[sjg3839]

Green spicy gourmand. Very good. The name will fool ya.

[hedonist222]

I enjoyed it but found the name a misnomer. It wasn't very mossy.

[furrypine]

I treasure my bottle! It was one of the strangest brews Tom Ford concocted for the line and it was almost guaranteed to fail; a herbal, honey-beeswax fragrance, who wants to smell like that? Not that many, predictably.

I really love the push and pull between the bitter-aromatic herbs and the sweet beeswax and I think it's a great cold weather scent.

The official notes are: Wood, Warm Spice, Beeswax absolute, Moroccan Clary Sage, Hungarian Tarragon, Corsican Rosemary, Labdanum, Patchouli and Benzoin.

[hedonist222]

i know MikePerez loves it.

[LloydLlewellyn]

I like it, behind NdN and TV. It's an odd one fo' sho'.

[MJM_77]

I wore this today as my SOTD and even though I want to sample this one a little more, I could see myself getting in on a split if one was done here on Basenotes.

[HDDP]

i thought Moss Breeches has already been discontinued?

fortunate to have a flacon of this, however, it is not one of my top fav from the Private Blend

[Brian_Towers]

Another fan here, my first experience with a realistic beeswax note

[taint it sweet]

I enjoy it, but it's definitely not my favorite from the line. I'd put Tuscan Leather, Amber Absolute and Noir de Noir above it.

[Awakening950]

The first two to three hours had a weird note that I didn't enjoy. I can see its appeal but price puts it out of bottle worthy by a wide margin.

[HackerX]

Can't stand the sharp top notes. But dries down to a nice 80s powerhouse drydown. Not one of my favorte PBs. Lasts forever though.

[dougczar]

I found it to be middle of the road for the Private Blends for me... I find it very interesting, but I don't love it.

[hobbes22]

I recently discovered Moss Breches, and I really enjoy it. I love the beeswax note in it, as well as the herbs and sweet, earthy woodiness. The name is a bit of misnomer, since I don't get moss as much as beeswax after the open, but I find it very unique, comforting and warm. It's one of those scents where I keep smelling my wrist.

A real shame it's discontinued. I'd put it up there near my favorites from Tom Ford, although I don't wear it much.

[mesaboogie]

I was lucky enough to get a 50ml decant from a bargain bin priced split last year. Moss Breches smells like a 70's powerhouse. It smells very natural and has awesome sweet beeswax note to keep it from being too masculine. It's one of my top 3 fave Private Blend frags.

[Foustie]

Yes! I think it's gorgeous. I was really lucky to get a sample from a Basenotes friend. What a shame that it has been discontinued.

[Buzzlepuff]

I thought Moss Breches was one of the better Private Blends. Why they discontinued it so quickly is a mystery to me. It seemed similar to be similar to and possibly was an inspiration for Tom Ford Extreme Pour Homme. There are some similarities between the two - a distant alliance between mossy notes.

[mikeperez23]

Way back, 6 years ago, when the line was first introduced (back when online decanting websites were sort of a rarity), I bought a 12-pack of 1 ml of each of the PB's and smelled them the week they were released by the Tom Ford boutique on Madison Avenue (when they were released, this was the ONLY place you could buy the scents, there weren't sold in stores).

It was tough spending 12 days wearing 1 sample a day, but I did it and of course there were some that I initially loved and others that took more time to grow to love - and of course, others that I hated and I still hate.

Moss Breches was one that I felt very indifferent about. Yeah, it's 'green', it was 'mossy' to my (at the time) inexperienced nose but it sort of bored me. I remember being (like many guys here on BN) immediately drawn to Tobacco Vanille and Tuscan Leather, but not really MB. Fast forward a year or so, I sort of fell under the spell of Chypres when I bought vintage Mitsouko and the fantastic modern, masculine chypre, Numero Uno by Carthusia. All of a sudden, the bergamot/patchouli/moss combination that is features in a chypre really clicked in my head. I finally 'got' it. It was immediate and very pleasing and it was then that I retried Moss Breches and immediately I realized that TF had released a very unisex Chypre, well a sub-Chypre, since technically I don't think it actually has oakmoss in it, it just smells like it does.

When they discontinued this, I really felt sad, since I think it's just a beautiful modern, new interpretation of the Chypre category. Which fell in line with the aesthetic that I think Tom Ford has championed for years: the retro glamour that he has sought for in many fragrances (when he was at YSL he released Rive Gauche Pour Homme which harkens back to Barbershop fougeres, he released both Grey Vetiver and Noir - both of which nod affectionately to Guerlain masculines, Vetiver and Habit Rouge, his feminine for Estee Lauder, when he worked for them, Azuree Soleil Eau Fraiche which re-enlivened the feminine classic in a new, beachy way, etc...).

If you can find a bottle/decant of this, please get some. It's a beauty and IMO none of the more recent PB's have delighted as much as this one did.

[MonkeyBars]

I find most Tom Fords rather dull and this is no exception

[Foustie]

Hi Mike, I loved your post there at #23. It intrigued me. I went back to my sample ( I had kept a little), and I have learned something more about this lovely fragrance. The opening is crisper than I remembered, and today I am surprised to find a definate relationship to Cabochard, and to EL Azuree (original, I don't know Soleil Eau Fraiche). In other words the opening of a bitter chypre. Galbanum or even verbena, and yes, oakmoss. Reviews often emphasise the beeswax note but today I have realised that the opening is that of a glamourous old style bitter chypre! It would be fantastic on either a man or a woman. Ten minutes in and it is beginning to soften. Oooooh I think this is good!

....and yes MJM_77, it's great.

[Diamondflame]

Count me a fan. Moss Breches has a deep dark green rather bitter profile, paying tribute to the great chypres of old even if it doesn't quite achieve similar levels of depth and complexity. It's not for the uninitiated and certainly not popular with the tutti-fruity generation hence the discontinuation. I'd buy it in a heartbeat if only I could find it.

[mikeperez23]

(original, I don't know Soleil Eau Fraiche)...

Glad you're enjoying it F.

Azuree Soleil Eau Fraiche was not a chypre in the least, it was a beach-inspired white floral, very unisex though. The oil version, which you smoothed on, was the most popular version because it was so soft and sheer. The first time it was released (this was the very first scent Tom Ford did when he was at Lauder) it sold out in like 2 weeks or something like that. It was a very limited release and then because so many people created hype about it Lauder must have heard about it so they re-released it. If you buy Bronze Goddess, which is what Lauder renamed it (when Ford left Lauder) it's very close to the original ASEF.

[cello]

I purchased a bottle of this on a whim after sampling it, and have not worn it as much as I should. But I agree with Mike, Foustie and others who mention the tribute factor with this fragrance. It is not a chypre of old, but that is exactly what I enjoy about this fragrance. It is a new twist on an old classic, fun and exciting, warm yet with an aloof chill. I'm not sure about it as an everyday fragrance, but I love to pull this one out to revisit.

[MJM_77]

I am very excited to say that I picked up a 30ml decant at a very good price!

[mikeperez23]

Congrat's MJM_77!